Freqtrade kill-switch: when and how to stop your live bot
Operational kill-switch thinking for Freqtrade: drawdown stops, anomaly triggers, and how structured risk views in Kiploks complement bot controls.
Freqtrade kill-switch searches overlap with Freqtrade stop loss strategy bot and kill-switch trading bot because operators want a pre-written rule that stops trading when reality diverges from research.
A kill-switch is not a single setting. It is a policy: under condition X, you stop trading and review.
When to stop
Drawdown beyond a pre-agreed band
Size the band from research and account size, not feelings (Position sizing).
Live slippage and fees worse than modeled
If freqtrade backtest vs live performance diverges beyond cost stress, pause (Why live fails).
Operational failures
API errors, repeated partial fills, or data feed gaps.
Strategy drift
If your live metrics diverge from walk-forward expectations without a clear causal story, pause and reassess (WFE).
How to implement in practice
- Use exchange-level stops and bot-level stops together
- Log stop reasons so you do not rationalize after the fact
- Prefer reduce size before full stop when uncertainty is operational, not statistical
How Kiploks complements bot controls
Kiploks does not replace your exchange stop button, but it helps you justify thresholds using structured evidence before you go live (Verdicts).