name: bison-strategy
description: >-
BISON v1.1 — Conviction holder for top 10 Aftermath assets by volume. Enters on 4h trend structure
+ 1h momentum + SM alignment convergence. Holds through pullbacks with DSL High Water Mode
(mandatory). Re-evaluates thesis every 5 min — exits when conviction breaks, not when price
retraces. Wide Phase 1 floors, no time-based exits, infinite trailing at 85% of peak.
v1.1: daily entry cap only enforced when day PnL is negative. When profitable, reloads
in batches of 3 — BISON keeps trading as long as it's making money.
license: Apache-2.0
metadata:
author: jason-goldberg
version: "1.1"
platform: senpi
exchange: aftermath

BISON — Conviction Holder

Top 10 assets by volume. Multi-signal thesis entry. Thesis-based re-evaluation exits. Wide DSL bands that tighten as profit grows.

MANDATORY: DSL High Water Mode

BISON MUST use DSL High Water Mode. This is not optional. Do not substitute standard DSL tiers.

On Aftermath, initial SL is set inline with the entry order via the slTp field. DSL cron handles trailing updates only.

Spec: https://github.com/Senpi-ai/senpi-skills/blob/main/dsl-dynamic-stop-loss/dsl-high-water-spec%201.0.md

When creating DSL state files for any BISON position, you MUST include:

{
  "lockMode": "pct_of_high_water",
  "phase2TriggerRoe": 10,
  "tiers": [
    {"triggerPct": 10,  "lockHwPct": 0,  "consecutiveBreachesRequired": 3},
    {"triggerPct": 20,  "lockHwPct": 25, "consecutiveBreachesRequired": 3},
    {"triggerPct": 30,  "lockHwPct": 40, "consecutiveBreachesRequired": 2},
    {"triggerPct": 50,  "lockHwPct": 60, "consecutiveBreachesRequired": 2},
    {"triggerPct": 75,  "lockHwPct": 75, "consecutiveBreachesRequired": 1},
    {"triggerPct": 100, "lockHwPct": 85, "consecutiveBreachesRequired": 1}
  ]
}

If tiers or lockMode is missing from the state file, the DSL engine falls back to flat 1.5% retrace and High Water Mode is silently disabled. This defeats the entire purpose of BISON. Always verify the state file contains these fields after creation.

Phase 1 conviction-scaled floors (also mandatory in every state file):

How BISON Trades

Entry

Scans top 10 assets by volume every 5 minutes. Builds a conviction thesis from:
- 4h trend structure (higher lows / lower highs) — required
- 1h trend agreement — required
- 1h momentum ≥ 0.5% in direction — required
- Smart money alignment — hard block if opposing
- Funding direction, volume trend, OI growth, RSI — boosters

Minimum score: 8. Conviction-scaled margin allocation (isolated per position): 25% base, 31% at score 10, 37% at score 12+.

For each entry, pass the selected allocation explicitly as collateralChange and confirm unallocated capacity with POST /api/perpetuals/account/max-order-size before opening.

Pre-Entry Validation (Aftermath)

Before placing any order, preview it via POST /api/perpetuals/account/previews/place-limit-order (or place-market-order).

Check before executing:
- error field present -> abort and log reason
- percentSlippage above threshold (for example 0.5%) -> abort or reduce size
- collateralChange breaches per-position risk cap -> reduce size
- hasPosition: true when expecting a fresh entry -> refresh state and re-evaluate

Preview is free (no gas cost, no state change). Always preview before committing real funds.

Hold

Every 5-minute scan re-evaluates held positions FIRST, before looking for new entries. The thesis is intact as long as:
- 4h trend structure hasn't flipped
- SM hasn't flipped against the position
- Funding hasn't gone extreme against the position
- Volume hasn't dried up for 3+ consecutive hours

If ANY of these break → output thesis_exit → agent closes the position.

Exit (DSL)

DSL High Water Mode handles mechanical exits. Wide early, tight late:
- +10% ROE: no lock (confirms trade working)
- +50% ROE: lock 60% of high water (+30% ROE locked)
- +100% ROE: lock 85% of high water — infinite trail from here, no ceiling

A trade at +500% ROE has its stop at +425% ROE. The 85% geometry holds forever.

Aftermath Funding Rate Integration

• For funding direction checks, use premiumTwap sign from /api/perpetuals/all-markets (premiumTwap / indexPrice), not estimatedFundingRate
• "Funding extreme against" thesis exits must trigger on premiumTwap sign reversal against the position direction

Cron Architecture

Both crons MUST be isolated sessions with agentTurn payload. Use NO_REPLY for idle cycles.

Notification Policy

ONLY alert the user when:
- Position OPENED (asset, direction, thesis reasons, margin)
- Position CLOSED — either by DSL (breach) or thesis exit (which signal broke)
- Risk guardian triggered
- Critical error

NEVER alert for:
- Scanner found nothing
- Thesis re-evaluation passed (position still valid)
- DSL routine check
- Any reasoning or narration

Risk Management

Bootstrap Gate

On EVERY session, check if config/bootstrap-complete.json exists. If not:
1. Verify Senpi MCP
2. Create scanner cron (5 min, isolated) and DSL cron (3 min, isolated)
3. Write config/bootstrap-complete.json
4. Send: "🦬 BISON is online. Scanning top 10 for conviction thesis. DSL High Water Mode active. Silence = no conviction."

Files