Why hasn't my strategy traded yet?
Updated Aug 13, 2026 · 5 min read
A funded strategy that has not opened a position is usually waiting on one of five things. How to tell selective from stuck, and what to check first.
A funded strategy that has not opened a position is not automatically a broken one. It is usually waiting on one of five things. Four of them you can check yourself; the fifth is a support case.
Key takeaways
- Silence is not proof of a problem. A strategy passes on most of what it evaluates, by design.
- Silence is not proof of health either. Some of that quiet is your strategy choosing not to act. Some of it is something getting in the way.
- The most common blocker is a strategy with no margin configured, and you can fix that one yourself.
- A strategy that never went live is a different problem from a live strategy being selective. Work out which one you have before changing anything.
- If your capital is inside a strategy you cannot close or top up, that is a support case, not a waiting game. The capital sits in that strategy's own wallet and support can release it.
Quiet, or stuck?
Two very different situations look identical from the outside. A live strategy passing on signals is doing its job. A strategy that never reached a live state, or that gets blocked every time it tries to size an order, is not. Tearing down a strategy that was working correctly is the most expensive mistake on this page, so establish which one you have before you change anything.
Quiet is normal. Blocked is not.
A strategy evaluates far more signals than it acts on, and passing on most of them is the strategy working rather than failing. What matters is the difference between a strategy choosing not to act and a strategy being stopped from acting.
The five causes below separate those two cleanly. Work down them in order and you will know which one you have.
The five things a quiet strategy is usually waiting on
The strategy shows as funded but never went live, and you cannot close it or add to it.
Cause
The deploy never completed. Closing and topping up both require a live strategy, so one that never reached that state has no self-service exit. A stale record of it can also block you from creating a new strategy.
Fix
Do not wait this one out and do not keep retrying. Message support with the wallet address you funded from, roughly when you created the strategy, and the amount you committed. The capital sits in that strategy's own wallet, and support can clear the state and release it. If the balance in the app also looks wrong, start with Missing funds: balance shows zero.
The strategy is live and healthy, but hours pass with no new position.
Cause
A risk cooldown is active. Your strategy's risk controls pause new entries for a period once certain conditions are hit, instead of re-entering straight away. This is the reason that touches more live strategies than any other, and it is the strategy working as intended rather than a fault.
Fix
Wait it out and check again later in the session. Cooldowns clear on their own. To see what your strategy has been deciding and why in the meantime, see Reviewing your agent's decisions and trades. Rebuilding is not the fix here. It costs you a full close and redeploy for nothing.
The strategy has been live for days and has never opened a single position.
Cause
No margin is configured on the strategy, so every order it tries to place is blocked before it reaches the market. This is the most common reason a strategy never trades, and it is the one entirely in your hands.
Fix
Open the strategy and confirm margin is allocated to it. Funding your account is not the same as allocating capital to a strategy: the capital has to be assigned to the strategy before it can size an order at all. Set it, then give the strategy time to reach its next signal. If the strategy will not accept a margin setting, send it to support rather than recreating it.
The strategy is clearly evaluating signals, but orders never appear.
Cause
The order size falls below the minimum order value Hyperliquid accepts. Orders under the venue minimum are rejected, so a strategy sized too thin keeps producing orders that never reach the book.
Fix
Raise the capital allocated to the strategy, or raise the size it trades at, so each individual order clears the venue minimum. On a mirror strategy the size multiplier is where you change this, covered in Mirror strategy settings. Thinly funded strategies hit this most often.
The strategy trades sometimes, but skips signals you expected it to take.
Cause
There is already an open position on that asset. A strategy will not stack a second entry on top of a position it is already holding, so further signals on the same asset are skipped for as long as that position is live.
Fix
Check your open positions. If the strategy is already holding the asset the signal was for, the skip was correct and nothing needs fixing. Once that position closes, the strategy is free to act on the asset again.
The self-check
- 01Confirm the strategy actually went live. If it never left a pending state, stop here and go to support.
- 02Confirm margin is allocated to the strategy, not just sitting in your account. This is the most common single fault.
- 03Check your open positions. A live position on the same asset explains most individual skips.
- 04Check the size the strategy would trade at. Below the venue minimum, nothing will ever fill.
- 05If all four are clean, the strategy is in a cooldown or waiting on conditions. Give it another session before you change anything.
Known issue: edits to a running strategy
If you changed a strategy that was already running and its behavior never changed, you are not imagining it. An edit to a live strategy can report success while the strategy carries on with its previous configuration. Removing the strategy and creating it again is what picks the change up. If your capital is committed and you would rather not tear it down, send it to support first.
When to contact support
- The strategy never went live, or you cannot close or top it up.
- Margin is allocated, no position is open on the asset, and the strategy is still silent the next day.
- You edited a running strategy and the change never took effect.
- Your balance does not match what you put in. Start with Missing funds: balance shows zero.
Send your wallet address, roughly when you created the strategy, and what you expected it to do. You do not need to send prompts or transcripts. The team can see what your strategy was doing.
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