Agents

Prompt Glossary

04/20/2026

Action verbs - The building blocks

Trading actions

Verb	What It Does	Example Prompt
Buy	Purchase shares/options at specified conditions	"Buy $5,000 of QQQ when RSI drops below 30"
Sell	Exit a position partially or fully	"Sell my entire TSLA position if it breaks below $150"
Trim	Reduce a position by a percentage	Trim 25% of my NVDA if it exceeds 10% of my portfolio
Roll	Close an expiring option, open a new one	"Roll my AAPL covered calls forward 30 days before expiration"
Rotate	Sell one asset and buy another	"Rotate $10K from bonds into tech if the yield curve uninverts"
Transfer	Move cash between accounts automatically	"Sweep any cash over $20K into my bond account"
Reinvest	Redeploy proceeds into a new position	"Reinvest dividends from VYM into the same stock whenever received"

Monitoring Actions

Verb	What It DoesExample Prompt	Example Prompt
Monitor	Continuously watch a condition and alert/act	"Monitor VIX and alert me if it crosses 30"
Track	Follow a specific metric over time	"Track the dollar index weekly and alert me on 2%+ moves"
Scan	Search across multiple assets for conditions	"Scan S&P 500 for stocks with RSI below 25 and P/E under 15"
Check	One-time lookup of a value or condition	"Check my portfolio allocation and flag any position over 10%"
Watch	Passively observe and notify	"Watch AAPL and alert me when it crosses its 200-day MA"

Position Management

Verb	What It Does	Example Prompt
Hedge	Add protective positions	"Hedge my tech exposure with SPY puts when VIX is below 15"
Rebalance	Adjust allocations back to targets	"Rebalance my portfolio to 60/30/10 stocks/bonds/crypto monthly"
Scale into	Build a position incrementally	"Scale into MSFT with $2,000 per week for the next 5 weeks"
Free up	Liquidate to create available cash	"Free up $10,000 from my smallest positions for a new opportunity"
Generate	Create income from existing positions	"Generate income from my AAPL shares by selling monthly covered calls"

Trigger words - Telling your agent when to act

Conditional triggers

Word	Behavior	Example
If	Checks a condition once, then acts	"If CPI comes in above 4%, sell $5K of consumer staples"
When	Waits for a specific event to occur	"When the Fed cuts rates, rotate $10K into growth stocks"
Whenever	Fires every time the condition is met	"Whenever RSI on QQQ hits oversold, buy $5,000"
Once	Fires on the first occurrence only, then stops	"Once AAPL hits $200, sell half my position"

Threshold triggers

Phrase	Behavior	Example
drops below / falls under	Triggers on downward breach	"If AAPL drops below its 200-day MA, buy $4,000"
rises above / exceeds	Triggers on upward breach	"If VIX rises above 30, hedge with SPY puts"
crosses	Triggers in either direction	"When BTC crosses $100K, alert me immediately"
within X% of	Proximity trigger	"If SPY is within 1% of all-time high, trim 10%"
between X and Y	Range-based trigger	"If AAPL P/E is between 15 and 20, buy $3,000"

Time-Based Triggers

Phrase	Behavior	Example
Every [day/week/month]	Recurring schedule	"Every Monday, buy $2,000 of QQQ at market open"
At [time]	Specific time trigger	"At 3:50 PM ET every trading day, check intraday positions"
After [event]	Event-relative timing	"After earnings, if stock gaps up 5%+, buy $3,000"
Before [event]	Pre-event positioning	"5 days before AAPL earnings, buy a protective put"
For the next [period]	Duration-limited	"For the next 4 weeks, scale into MSFT with $2K/week"

Order-Based Triggers

Phrase	Behavior	Example
"when my order executes"	Order fill trigger	"When my AAPL buy fills, immediately place a limit sell 8% above my fill price"
"place two orders, cancel one"	OCO (one-cancels-other)	"Place a limit sell at $200 and a stop at $180. Cancel one when the other fills."
"after I buy, set a sell"	Buy-then-sell	"Buy 100 MSFT at limit $410. When filled, sell a covered call at 0.25 delta."