From opportunity to live position in one click. Preflight checks, entry execution, and session monitoring explained.

Opening Your First Delta-Neutral Position

You've found an opportunity, simulated the returns, and you're ready. Opening a delta-neutral position on ArchiNeutral takes one click — but understanding what happens behind that click matters. This guide walks through every step: configuration, preflight validation, entry execution, and what to watch while your position fills.

Step 1: Configure Your Position

Navigate to the Position Manager at /deltaneutral. This page requires authentication and an active trading account with at least two connected DEXs.

Select your trading account

Use the account dropdown at the top of the page to select the account you want to trade from. If you have multiple accounts, each one maintains its own credentials, positions, and settings independently.

Choose the DEX pair

Select the long DEX and the short DEX. The dropdowns only show DEXs with validated credentials on the selected account — if a DEX doesn't appear, its credentials either haven't been added or didn't pass validation.

The long DEX holds your long perpetual position. The short DEX holds the offsetting short. Choose the same pair you identified in the Opportunities Scanner.

Select the trading pair

Use the trading pair combobox to choose the asset. This filters to pairs supported across both selected DEXs. For a first position, ETH or BTC on established DEXs gives you the most liquidity and the narrowest spreads.

Set your position target

The position target is the total USD notional you want deployed on each side. A $5,000 target means $5,000 long on one DEX and $5,000 short on the other — $10,000 in total deployed capital. Set this to a size your balances on both DEXs can support.

Set the max spread threshold

This is a ceiling on the spread between the two DEXs at the moment of each trade iteration. If the live spread exceeds your threshold on any given iteration, the entry pauses and waits. It does not abort — it holds until the spread comes back within range, then resumes.

Use the historical spread data from the Simulator to calibrate this value. A threshold that's too tight will cause frequent pauses; too loose, and you're accepting worse entry conditions than you intended.

Set max size per iteration

Each entry cycle, the system places orders on both DEXs for this amount. Smaller iteration sizes mean more cycles, slower overall entry, and less slippage per order. Larger sizes fill faster but move the market more.

For most positions under $50,000, the default iteration size is appropriate. For larger positions or thinner markets, reduce it to minimize price impact.

Quick shortcut: If you arrived from the Simulator via the "Create Position" button, all of these fields are pre-filled based on your simulation parameters. Review them, adjust if needed, and proceed.

Step 2: Preflight Check

Before any order is placed, ArchiNeutral runs a full validation of your configuration. This is not optional and cannot be skipped — it protects you from entering a position in a broken state.

What the preflight checks

The system verifies six conditions:

Credentials accessible — both DEX connections are responsive and authenticated
No existing position — no position is currently open on either of the two selected DEXs. ArchiNeutral enforces one position per DEX to prevent any management conflict
Correct position directions — the long and short legs are configured correctly relative to each other
Sufficient balance — each DEX has enough margin to support your target size at current prices
Configuration completeness — all required fields are filled with valid values
Valid increment — the iteration size is compatible with the minimum increments accepted by each DEX

Each condition displays as a pass (green) or fail (red) with a plain-language explanation. If a check fails, the message tells you exactly what went wrong.

The 60-second timer

Once all checks pass, a 60-second countdown starts. You must click "Start Entry" before it expires. This timer exists because market conditions shift — a preflight that passes at T+0 may no longer be accurate at T+90.

If the timer expires before you start, run the preflight again. It takes only a few seconds.

If a check fails

Fix the issue indicated in the failure message and click "Run Preflight" again. Common failures and their causes:

Insufficient balance — transfer more funds to the DEX or reduce your position target
Conflicting position — close or reduce the existing position on that DEX before opening a new one
Credentials not accessible — go to account settings, verify the credentials, and re-validate

Step 3: One-Click Entry

With preflight passed and the timer running, click Start Entry.

What happens immediately

The system starts execution in the background. Closing the tab will not interrupt the entry — the position continues filling autonomously.

How the execution works

The system operates in cycles. Each iteration:

Checks the current live spread against your max spread threshold
If spread is acceptable: places orders on both DEXs for the available size at best price (best ask/bid), capped by your max iteration size
Waits for fills to confirm
Updates progress in real time
Repeats until your target size is reached or you stop manually

If the spread exceeds your threshold on any iteration, that cycle is skipped. The system waits and retries on the next cycle. This can extend entry time during volatile periods, but it means you never enter at a spread you haven't accepted.

Monitoring progress

The session progress card updates in real time:

Iteration count — how many cycles have completed
Current size — how much has been filled so far on each side
Progress percentage — current size as a share of your target
Status — ENTERING while the runner is active

Stopping mid-entry

You can stop the entry at any time by clicking Stop Entry. The system halts after completing its current iteration. Whatever has filled on both sides remains in place — the position moves to ACTIVE status with whatever size was reached.

This is intentional. A partially-filled position is still a valid delta-neutral position at the filled size. You can continue monitoring it, exit it, or manually add to it later.

The position status flow is: DRAFT → ENTERING → ACTIVE.

Step 4: Position Active

When your target size is reached, execution completes and the position status changes to ACTIVE. The session progress card is replaced by the active position card.

What the active position card shows

Long and short sizes — the actual filled notional on each DEX
Entry prices — the average fill price on each side
Live liquidation prices — updated in real time as funding accumulates and prices move
Unrealized PnL — the net mark-to-market value of both legs combined
Funding earned so far — cumulative funding received since the position opened

The unrealized PnL on a well-constructed delta-neutral position should stay close to zero as price moves — gains on one leg offset losses on the other. The funding earned line is where the strategy generates returns over time.

Your position is live.

Understanding Max Spread Threshold

The spread between two DEXs represents the cost you pay to be in the trade — entering wide means your position starts at a deficit relative to your projected returns.

The max spread threshold is your floor for acceptable entry conditions. When the live spread is below your threshold, the system trades. When it's above, it waits. You're never forced into a bad entry.

Set this value based on what you saw in the Simulator's historical spread data. If the spread has consistently been between 0.05% and 0.12%, a threshold of 0.15% gives you room to enter while filtering out spike conditions. A threshold below the historical average will cause near-constant pauses.

The tradeoff is time. A tighter threshold produces a cleaner entry but may take longer to fill. A looser threshold fills faster but may include some higher-spread iterations. Neither is wrong — the right choice depends on how much the opportunity window matters relative to entry precision.

Understanding Iteration Size

Iteration size controls the granularity of your entry.

Smaller iterations place smaller individual orders across more cycles. Each order has less market impact, which typically results in better fill prices. The tradeoff is time — a $10,000 position in $500 iterations takes 20 cycles.

Larger iterations fill faster but each individual order may move the market slightly, particularly in thinner order books. For liquid pairs like ETH or BTC on major DEXs, the difference is minimal at typical retail position sizes.

Practical guidance:

Under $50,000: default iteration size is appropriate for most liquid pairs
$50,000–$200,000: consider reducing to 1/20th of target size or smaller
Above $200,000: reduce further and expect longer entry times

In practice, the system always takes the available size at best price (best ask/bid), capped by your max iteration size. Setting a lower max iteration size limits slippage when execution takes longer on less liquid markets.

What's Next

Your position is live and earning funding. Two things to set up before you step away:

Protect it with SL/TP — set automatic stop-loss and take-profit levels so the system manages your exits without manual intervention: Set up SL/TP
Configure monitoring alerts — receive alerts before liquidation levels are reached and on unusual spread movements: Configure Monitoring

A delta-neutral position is low-maintenance by design, but it is not zero-maintenance. Setting up protection and alerts before leaving a position unattended is the right practice.

This guide is part of the ArchiNeutral Guide Series.