News Sentinel — Design Spec

Date: 2026-03-23 Status: Phase 1 Implemented

Motivation

2026-03-23 incident: Trump/Iran de-escalation news published 21 minutes before a bullish spike that stopped out 2 SHORT positions. The news was available; the system didn't react.

Phases

• Phase 1 (DONE): Detect news events, send Telegram alerts, log everything. No automated position changes.
• Phase 2 (PLANNED): Auto-tighten stops on conflicting sentiment. Single config change to graduate.
• Phase 3 (BACKLOG): Entry gating + AI-driven sentiment classification.

Detection

1. Volume spike detection — articles in last hour > 2x 7-day baseline
2. Keyword escalation — geopolitical (war, sanctions, tariff) and crypto-specific (hack, SEC, FOMC)
3. AI sentiment — batch headlines into single sentiment call
4. Action matrix — maps sentiment + position direction to actions

Implementation

• Polls cryptocurrency.cv API every 5 minutes
• Stores events in news_events table in signal_service.db
• Runs as systemd service on VPS alongside brain and executors