Helmsman
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How Helmsman works

Four steps to set up, then a loop that runs until you pause it. Everything below happens in your own Hyperliquid account.

In private testing: the trading engine is not live yet. The console you can open today shows sample data and nothing is traded. These pages describe how Helmsman is built to work.

Setting up

  • Connect the wallet you trade with on Hyperliquid. Connecting only shares your address.
  • Sign in. Your wallet shows a short message naming this site; signing it proves the wallet is yours. It costs nothing and approves nothing.
  • Approve a trading key. This is Hyperliquid’s own permission for an app to place orders for you. It is valid for up to 180 days, then needs renewing.
  • Sign the fee ceiling — the most Helmsman could ever charge per trade. Both approvals are off-chain signatures: no gas.

Choosing a trader and your limits

The list is short and kept by hand. Each trader comes with the markets Helmsman is allowed to mirror and a cap on how many people may follow.

For each trader you follow, you set an allocation in USDC, a maximum leverage, a cap on the size of any single market, and a drawdown at which the follow stops itself. The drawdown stop is required.

The loop

Helmsman watches the trader’s positions on Hyperliquid, where every account is public. When a position changes, it works out your target size — the trader’s size scaled by your allocation over their account value — applies your caps, and sends the difference as an order.

It acts on changes in the trader’s position, not on price moves, and it ignores differences too small to be worth a trade. Hyperliquid’s minimum order is $10, so very small allocations may not be able to follow every position.

You will always trade after the trader does. Your fills come later and at a different price, and your leverage is capped where theirs may not be. Your result will differ from theirs.

Pause, stop, and the limits

  • Pause: nothing new is opened. Open positions stay as they are.
  • Stop: open orders are cancelled and that follow’s positions are closed at market. It can’t be resumed; following again means starting over. To keep your positions, pause instead.
  • Drawdown stop: when a follow’s loss reaches your threshold, its orders are cancelled and its positions are closed.
  • If the trading engine goes silent, the separate safety process cancels open orders.