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🤝 Karma & Community System
Everything you need to know about contributing, earning karma, and getting the most out of the TradePro community.
⭐ What is Karma?
Karma is TradePro's community currency. It rewards contributors and lets you access shared resources when your own API quota runs out. You start at 0 — but it's easy to earn just by participating.
💡 The free tier is always available regardless of your karma balance. Karma only unlocks extras — shared API keys, Pro/Elite tiers, and community features.
📈 How to Earn Karma
| Action | Reward | Where |
|---|
| 🔑 Share an API key (per call used) | ~0.9⭐/call | API Configuration → Share My Key |
| 📊 Post an analysis in Community Feed | +5⭐ | Community Swan Dashboard |
| 📋 Share a watchlist | +5⭐ | Community Feed → Share my watchlist |
| ❤️ Receive an upvote on your post | +2⭐ | Automatic |
| 💳 Buy karma with real money | 100⭐ per $1 USD | Karma Shop |
🔑 The easiest passive income: share your FMP, Twelve Data, or Alpha Vantage API key. Every time a community member uses it, you earn karma automatically — even while you sleep.
Community API keys let you analyse stocks even without your own API subscription. When enabled, the app automatically routes data requests through a shared key contributed by another community member — transparently, with zero code changes needed on your part.
Default setup for new users
When you first open TradePro, the following defaults are applied automatically:
| Setting | Default | Why |
|---|
| Stock Analysis data source | FMP | Best coverage for technical + fundamental data |
| Fundamental data source | FMP | Comprehensive company financials |
| Live Pattern Recognition source | FMP | Consistent with stock analysis source |
| ESG & Sustainability data | Yahoo Finance | Free, no quota needed |
| Economic Moat data | Yahoo Finance | Free, no quota needed |
| Community keys (FMP) | ✅ Enabled | Works out of the box |
| Community keys (Twelve Data) | ✅ Enabled | Works out of the box |
| Community keys (Alpha Vantage) | ✅ Enabled | Works out of the box |
💡 These defaults only apply the first time you visit. If you later change a setting, your preference is saved and respected on all future visits.
How much does one stock analysis cost?
Based on real measurements:
| Scenario | FMP calls |
|---|
| Technical analysis (price, indicators) | ~5 calls |
| Fundamental data (cold, not cached) | ~4 calls |
| Fundamental data (warm cache hit) | 0 calls |
| Full analysis, cold | ~9 calls |
| Full analysis, cached fundamentals | ~5 calls |
With a consumer limit of 5 000 calls/day, you can run roughly 500–1 000 stock analyses per day using community keys — more than enough for intensive research sessions.
How many analyses are available from shared keys?
Each shared key has a daily limit set by its owner. A single FMP Starter key contributes up to 10 000 calls/day to the community pool — enough for ~1 100 cold analyses or ~2 000 cached analyses.
The API Configuration panel always shows you the live status: 1 key available · ~9978 calls left today · your usage: 22/5000
What data sources use community keys?
- FMP — Stock quotes, technical indicators, fundamental data (P/E, revenue, margins, etc.), live pattern recognition
- Twelve Data — Price history, technical indicators (alternative to FMP)
- Alpha Vantage — Economic data, ESG sentiment, news
- Yahoo Finance — Always free, never requires a community key
⚠️ Community keys are a shared resource. Background auto-scanning (scanning 40+ symbols at page load) is disabled when you're using community keys — to preserve quota for actual analyses.
💸 How Karma is Spent
| Action | Cost |
|---|
| 🔑 Use a community API key (per call) | 1⭐/call |
| ⭐ Upgrade to Pro tier (Karma Shop) | 50⭐/hour |
| 💎 Upgrade to Elite tier (Karma Shop) | 200⭐/hour |
Karma is deducted automatically when you use a community API key. You'll always see your current balance in the top-right header.
🔑 Sharing Your API Keys
You can share your FMP, Twelve Data, or Alpha Vantage API keys with the community securely. Here's how:
1
Open the main app → API Configuration tab → find the "🤝 Share this key with the community" toggle next to your API key.
2
Your key is encrypted with AES-GCM before it ever leaves your browser. The plaintext is never stored or visible to anyone — not even platform admins.
3
Select your
Key Plan from the dropdown. This auto-fills the daily and per-minute call limits correctly:
| Plan | Max calls/day | Max calls/min |
|---|
| FMP Free | 250 | — |
| FMP Starter | 10 000 | 300 |
| FMP Pro | 50 000 | 300 |
| Twelve Data Free | 800 | 8 |
| Twelve Data Basic | 50 000 | 120 |
| Twelve Data Pro | 99 999 | — |
| Alpha Vantage Free | 25 | — |
| Alpha Vantage Premium (30/min) | 50 000 | 30 |
| Alpha Vantage Premium (75/min) | 50 000 | 75 |
| Custom | Set manually | Set manually |
4
Community members can now route calls through your key. They pay 1⭐ per call. You receive ~0.9⭐ (platform takes 10% to keep the lights on).
5
Track your income in Karma Hub → My History. API key income is grouped by day — you'll see e.g. "2026-03-21 · 87 API calls · +87⭐".
⚠️ You control your own daily call limit. If you'd rather not share, simply don't — there's no obligation.
💡 Alpha Vantage Free only allows 25 calls/day — not very useful for the community pool. If you have a Premium plan, that's a much more meaningful contribution.
💬 Community Feed
The Community Swan Dashboard is where TradePro users share ideas and analyses in real-time.
📊 Post an Analysis
Share your take on a stock — ticker, title, and body text. You earn +5⭐ automatically and your post appears live for everyone.
💡 Post a Tip
Share a market insight without a specific ticker. Great for macro observations or trading psychology notes.
❤️ Upvote Posts
Find a post useful? Upvote it. The author earns +2⭐ and the post rises in visibility. You can't vote on your own posts.
⚡ Live Updates
The feed uses Supabase Realtime — new posts and upvotes appear instantly without refreshing the page.
📋 Sharing Watchlists
You can share any of your saved watchlists with the community in one click:
1
On the Community Dashboard, click "📋 Share my watchlist (+5⭐)" in the toolbar.
2
A modal opens showing all your saved lists (Favorites, Main Watchlist, Alerts, etc.) with symbol counts. Select one.
3
Optionally write a short description — why you like these stocks, what they have in common, etc.
4
Click Share. The list appears in the community feed and you earn +5⭐.
5
Anyone can click "📥 Import list" on your post to add your tickers to their own active watchlist in one click.
⭐ Karma Shop
Use your earned karma to unlock enhanced features temporarily:
| Tier | Cost | Benefits |
|---|
| 🆓 Free | Always free | Full access to analysis tools, community feed, manual API key entry |
| ⭐ Pro | 50⭐/hour | Priority access to community API keys, extended scan limits |
| 💎 Elite | 200⭐/hour | All Pro features + highest-priority routing + extended history |
💡 Buying multiple hours at once stacks on your existing time — it doesn't reset the clock.
🏆 Karma Hub
Find the Karma Hub panel at the bottom of the Community Dashboard. It has two tabs:
🏆 Leaderboard
Top 20 community members ranked by karma. Shows username, badge, karma balance, and number of posts. Updated live.
📜 My History
Your last 50 karma transactions — every API call cost, key income, upvote received, post reward, and tier purchase. Logged in real time.
Your karma balance in the top-right header updates live via Supabase Realtime — you'll see it tick up the moment someone upvotes your post.
📐 Strategy Sharing
Share your custom trading strategies with the community directly from the Strategy Builder — and earn karma for every strategy you contribute.
How it works
- Share: Open the Strategy Builder on the Strategy Tester page, build or load a strategy, then click "Share to Community (+5⭐)". Add an optional description and confirm — your strategy appears in the community feed instantly.
- View: All users (Free, Pro, Elite) can see shared strategies in the Community Feed, including rule count and description.
- Import: Elite tier members can import any shared strategy directly into the Strategy Tester with one click. Free and Pro users are prompted to upgrade.
Karma rewards
| Action | Reward |
|---|
| Share a strategy | +5 ⭐ |
| Receive an upvote on your post | +1 ⭐ |
Tiers & access
| Tier | Share | View | Import |
|---|
| Free | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Pro | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Elite | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Elite can be earned via the Karma Shop (karma-purchased, time-limited) or via a permanent subscription.
🆓 Free Tier — Always Available
The entire core analysis suite — strategy scanner, watchlist, AI scoring, ESG tools — is available to everyone for free, forever. Karma is purely additive: it lets you borrow API quota from the community and unlock tier perks. Running out of karma never locks you out of anything essential.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Can someone steal my API key if I share it?
No. Your key is encrypted with AES-GCM in your browser before it's stored. The only entity that can decrypt it is the Cloudflare Worker — and only to forward an API call. Neither other users nor platform admins can ever read your plaintext key.
Why does it say "0 keys available" even though keys are shared?
There are two possible reasons: (1) The pool has no active shared keys for that service today. (2) You've reached your personal consumer limit (5 000 calls/day). Your usage is shown in the API Configuration panel — e.g. your usage: 22/5000. The limit resets at midnight UTC.
I just opened the app and already used 8 calls — why?
A few calls are made at startup to check connection status and fetch community availability. This is normal and intentionally minimal. Background auto-scanning (which used to consume 40–80 calls at page load) has been disabled for community key users.
What happens if I run out of karma?
Community API keys become unavailable, but everything else works normally. You can still enter your own API keys manually, use Yahoo Finance data (always free), and access all analysis tools.
Why does the platform take 10%?
The 10% provision covers infrastructure costs — Cloudflare Worker, Supabase, and keeping the platform running. The other 90% goes directly to the key owner.
Can I import someone else's watchlist into my own?
Yes! Click "📥 Import list" on any ticker-list post in the community feed. The symbols are added to your currently active watchlist. Duplicate tickers are handled gracefully.
Do karma rewards change over time?
Yes — all reward values (upvote reward, post reward, cost per call, etc.) are configurable in the platform's backend. Current values are shown in the tables above and reflect the defaults at launch.