# Cortex Trade Plans > Set up a long option trade ahead of time, approve it once in Trade Echo, and let Cortex run the entry, trims and exits. Beta, every paid plan. Source: https://tradeecho.com/docs/features/cortex/trade-plans (updated 2026-09-27) A **trade plan** is one long option trade you set up ahead of time. You approve it once in Trade Echo, then Cortex watches the entry conditions, buys when they are met, trims at the gains you set and sells on the exits you chose. Trade plans are available on **every paid plan** as a beta. | Plan | Account | Active plans | |------|---------|--------------| | **Monthly** and **Yearly** | One brokerage account: your active Copy Trading account. Change it in [Copy Trading](https://tradeecho.com/docs/features/copy-trading/overview). | Up to 3 | | **Lifetime** | Any linked account | Unlimited | > **Info: Beta** > > Trading and trade plans are in beta. We are improving them quickly; report anything odd in Discord or at info@tradeecho.com. > **Warning** > > Trade plans place real orders with real money in your linked brokerage account. You are responsible for every plan you approve. Trade Echo does not give investment advice, and a plan drafted by Cortex or an AI assistant is not a recommendation. --- ## What a plan contains | Part | What you set | |------|--------------| | **Contract and size** | One option contract (underlying, expiration, strike, call or put) and how many contracts to buy | | **Entry limit** | The most you will pay per contract. The plan never buys above it. | | **Entry conditions** | Optional. Every condition must be true at the same time (see below). With no conditions, the plan buys when the ask is at or below your limit. | | **Stop** | A percent or a price | | **Target** | A percent or a price | | **Trim steps** | Optional. Up to 3 steps of "sell X% at +Y%", for example sell 50% at +30%. Each step sells that percent of the original position when the gain is reached; the rest keeps its stop, target and time exit. A plan with trim steps needs at least 2 contracts, and each step must sell at least 1 contract. | | **Time exit** | Optional. Sell at this time if the position is still open. | | **Valid until** | The entry never happens after this time (at most 5 trading days out) | | **Account** | Monthly and Yearly: your active Copy Trading account. Lifetime: any of your linked accounts. Paper accounts are labelled **Paper**. | Plans are **long only**: they buy to open, then sell to close. No short sales and no spreads. ### Entry conditions | Condition | Met when | |-----------|----------| | **Price above / below** a level | The underlying trades above or below your price | | **Premium at or below** a price | The option can be bought at or below your price | | **Price above the gamma flip** | The underlying is above the dealer gamma flip | | **Flip Cross** (up or down) | Price crosses the gamma flip after the plan is armed, and stays on that side | | **Charm Stack at Anchor** | Price is at the Anchor with a positive charm stack above it | See [GEX Heatmap Guide](https://tradeecho.com/docs/features/dealeredge/gex-heatmap-guide) and [Anchor Points and Defense Lines](https://tradeecho.com/docs/features/dealeredge/anchor-points-defense-lines) for what the flip, the Anchor and charm mean. --- ## Creating a plan There are two ways: 1. **Cortex chat.** Ask Cortex to plan a trade, for example: *Plan 2 SPY calls for Monday if price gets above the gamma flip. Stop 40 percent, sell 50 percent at +40 percent, target 80 percent.* Cortex asks for anything missing, then shows the plan on an **approval card** in the chat with **Approve plan**, **Edit** and **Decline**. Typing "yes" in the chat never approves a plan; only your **Approve plan** click does. 2. **An AI assistant with Trading on** (Claude, ChatGPT, Meta AI (Muse) and others). The assistant previews the plan and, after you say yes in the chat, sends it to Trade Echo. You get a push and approve it on the confirm screen. See [Trading in Agent Connections](https://tradeecho.com/docs/mcp/agent-connections#trade-plans). **Every plan is approved by you in Trade Echo**, even when **Confirm each order** is off for that connection. A plan you do not approve within 5 minutes is never armed. --- ## After you approve 1. **Armed.** During regular market hours Cortex checks your entry conditions and the option's ask. 2. **Entered.** When every condition is met and the ask is at or below your limit, Cortex sends a buy for the full size at your limit. If the entry does not fill at your limit, or buying power cannot cover the full size, the plan stops without buying and does not try again. 3. **Open.** Cortex watches the stop, target, trim steps and time exit. When both the stop and target are percents, they are measured from your actual fill price. At each trim step, Cortex automatically sells that percent of the original position; the rest keeps its stop, target and time exit. Positions can be held overnight. 4. **Closed.** Cortex sells what is left on the stop, target or time exit, or before the bell on the contract's expiration day. Prices can move past a stop or target before the sell fills. You get a push when a plan enters and when it exits. If the valid-until time passes before the entry, the plan expires without buying. --- ## Following and changing plans Open **Plans** in Cortex (`/cortex/plans`) in the web app to see your plans (active first, then plans that finished in the last 30 days) with their conditions, position and exit story. - **Cancel plan** stops a plan that has not bought yet. - **Sell now** closes an open plan position. - To change a plan, cancel it and create a new one (in Cortex chat, **Edit** drafts a new plan). Turning off Trading for an AI connection, or removing the connection, cancels any plans from that connection that have not entered yet. A plan that already entered keeps its stop, target, trim steps and time exit, and you can sell it from **Plans** in Cortex. Plans drafted in Cortex chat are not tied to an AI connection. --- ## Related - [Trade Echo MCP overview](https://tradeecho.com/docs/mcp/overview) - [Agent Connections: Trading](https://tradeecho.com/docs/mcp/agent-connections#trading) - [My Agents and Approvals](https://tradeecho.com/docs/features/cortex/agents)