Before the open
A written brief each morning covers how your book did yesterday and what needs your attention today. When an official economic release comes out, you get a prompt review of what it means for your portfolio.
Private workspace
Canary Desk
A workspace I built for my own Interactive Brokers portfolio: performance, risk review, a written daily brief and proposals to review.
Runs on a Mac, with the broker account and OpenAI.
A personal project by Oliver Sauer, not offered as a product or service.
Explore Canary DeskReal interface · synthetic data
Performance against the market
Compare your return with the market, change the period and see the drawdown. Deposits and withdrawals stay separate from investment returns.
The daily routine
What runs, and when.
Every minute
Your risk rules check the portfolio every minute, whether or not Desk is open. A rule that trips drafts the fix, such as a stop, an exit or a budget cut. An unhedged book is flagged; Desk does not hedge it.
While you’re away
Automatic protection is off until you explicitly authorise selected rules in Canary. Those rules can submit orders to reduce positions within your limits, after a notice period in which you can veto the order. That period is half an hour by default. The AI analyst cannot send orders.
Idle cash
A policy-based planner weighs same-currency government bills once commitments and liquidity reserves are covered. Off by default.
Read the brief and check daily activityThe written daily brief and the Operations view
Daily use
The daily brief
and the operations log.
The daily brief puts market context beside the portfolio. Operations shows completed work, upcoming reviews and items needing attention.
Opportunities
A watchlist you choose,
checked through the day.
Pick up to 20 stocks you know. Through the session, Desk checks them for unusual volume followed by a price that holds or rises, and shows the setup with the chart behind it.
Then choose the stock or a listed call, see the dated bid and ask beside your limit, and review the order before you confirm it.
An observation, not a forecast. Each entry needs your confirmation and must clear Canary’s risk checks. If one is held, Desk tells you why.
- 01 · WatchYour list, one setup
A volume event that continues stays one setup as new bars arrive, so your review and your Ignore choice keep their place.
- 02 · ChooseThe price before the limit
See a dated quote for the exact call, where your limit sits and the premium at risk as you type. Delayed or missing quotes are labelled.
- 03 · LearnYour review record
Mark each setup Worth a look or Skip. Quiet days count too, and entries placed through Canary get a timing review at two later checkpoints.
Timing reviews measure price before fees. They do not show realised profit.
Look closer
The detail behind each view.
Open the part you want to understand. Each one sets out its controls and their limits.
Understand currency effectsReturns from broker statements, with gaps shown
Portfolio performance
The currency effect
on P&L.
A foreign holding can rise while its currency pulls your P&L down. Performance → FX shows the currency contribution in your account’s base currency for the day, week, month and year to date.
FX contributionCurrency effectOther P&LPrices, income and feesPortfolio changeAfter external cash flows
Daily contributions reconcile to completed broker statements. The reporting cutoff and any missing days stay visible, and an incomplete period shows no total. The figure is the currency effect on valuation, kept apart from realised Forex lot P&L.
How FX is measuredAccount value marks deposits and withdrawals on the balance, so deposits are not counted as returns.
Research borrowing and short interestBorrowing costs, short interest and your lending income
Research
The price of borrowing,
and what your shares earn.
Compare borrowing costs across the stocks you hold or follow, and see whether a high rate persists across reporting dates or was a single reading.
Screen the wider US borrowing market by fee, price and liquidity, add FINRA’s reported short interest and days to cover, and add a name to your watchlist in one step.
Borrowing fees are a cost to borrowers, not income or a recommendation. Short interest comes from a dated, twice-monthly report and does not track live positions.
- 01 · Borrowing costsPersistent, or one reading?
Dated rates for the stocks you name. Checking the same report again never counts as persistence.
- 02 · Research leadsBeyond your watchlist
Each result shows price, daily move, volume, liquidity and year-to-date return. Missing data is marked and never counted as zero.
- 03 · Lending incomeYour shares on loan
Dated loans and their net fees from IBKR statements, linked from the holding. Fees stay separate from account P&L; participation stays with IBKR.
Weigh the risk behind a decisionConcentration, exposure and the limit that needs attention
Risk evidence
The limit behind
the warning.
See the exposure beside the rule it trips. The source and any missing data stay visible, so you can check what a warning rests on.
Your own limits govern the checks. The screenshot is a synthetic example, not a recommendation.
Plan cash with a reserveLiquidity, bill selection and order authority
Cash sweep
Surplus cash,
reserve first.
The cash-sweep planner considers short-dated government bills in the currency you hold, after commitments, liquidity needs and your policy buffer.
Review the bill, its maturity, price and fees, and the estimated gain after spread, fees and the cash interest you forgo. You choose which currency comes first. Settled cash must be current enough to include confirmed trades.
The sweep is off by default. Turning it on needs calibrated reserves in your policy and current settlement records, and sending an order is a separate authority you grant.
Bills can lose value if sold before maturity.
- 01 · Keep liquidCash for the book
Commitments, liquidity needs and your buffer come first.
- 02 · Invest the surplusSame-currency bills
The plan picks a short-dated bill in the same currency. Any purchase still needs evidence and your authority.
- 03 · Replenish cashMaturity or a reviewed sale
Bills mature back to cash; a liquidity shortfall can prompt a sale. Sale proceeds must settle.
Each proposal keeps its reason and decision history, and missing evidence holds the sweep.
Explore the market and mobile viewsPrice, participation and a workspace on your phone
Market context · Remote access
Market context,
and Desk on your phone.
Price, participation and trading activity share one timeline. Desk adapts to a phone browser, and Canary’s paired app shows your book and sends alerts.
Synthetic data · select to enlarge
Browse the full feature setMarket context, research, your book, protection and daily use
Full features
What’s inside.
Market context
- Market regimeEight readings in six groups, from volatility and credit to dealer gamma and breadth, feed one regime stage.
- BreadthHow many S&P 500 names trade above their 50- and 200-day averages, with new highs and lows.
- Live market dataIndices, VIX and your holdings through the day, each quote with its age.
- CalendarEarnings and macro events ahead, flagged against what you hold. Official releases get a prompt impact review.
- Borrowing costsDated borrow rates for the stocks you follow, and a wider US screen by fee, price and liquidity.
- Short interestFINRA’s reported short positions and days to cover, with the report date always shown.
Your book
- PerformanceReturns from broker statements, measured against SPY, with drawdown.
- FX contributionThe currency effect on P&L for Day, WTD, MTD and YTD, backed by daily statements.
- Lending incomeDated shares on loan and earned net fees, linked from each holding and readable by Desk’s analyst.
- Account valueDeposits and withdrawals marked on the balance, kept apart from investment returns.
- EdgeWhat your trades delivered compared with leaving the position alone, one step from Portfolio.
- ExposureAllocation by sector, stocks against options, and margin headroom.
- ReconciliationFigures checked against broker statements. Gaps stay visible.
Protection
- Risk rulebookYour limits, checked every minute.
- Stress signalAn early warning when the regime turns.
- Protection proposalsStops, exits, trims and budget cuts, each with its reason.
Orders and cash
- Pre-authorised rulesOff until you explicitly authorise selected protection rules in Canary. Each reduction waits through its veto window and must stay within your limits.
- Queue for the openConfirm a reduction while the market is shut; it goes out shortly after the open.
- Cash sweepA same-currency bill planner with your currency order and the estimated gain after costs. Off by default; turning it on needs calibrated reserves and current settlement records.
Every day
- Morning briefHow yesterday went and what’s on today, written by one model and checked by a second.
- AI analystAsk about any position or risk. Answers cite their sources.
- DecisionsAssessments and proposals listed together for review.
- OpportunitiesUp to 20 stocks you choose, watched for unusual volume and a price that holds or rises. You see a dated quote before setting a limit, and eligible entries get a timing review. A setup is a hypothesis, and every order needs your confirmation.
Always on
- Around the clockRuns day and night on a dedicated Mac mini, or any Mac that stays awake.
- From your laptopReach it over a private, encrypted link.
- NotificationsLocal macOS alerts report changes that need your attention. Canary’s paired app carries order alerts and vetoes. Confirm orders at the Mac with Touch ID or Apple Watch.
Your data and decisions
Where your data goes,
and who can act.
Desk runs on your Mac. OpenAI receives the portfolio evidence needed for analysis through your API or Codex connection. Broker requests go to Interactive Brokers, and market research uses external data sources. Desk sends no telemetry or portfolio data to its maker.
The AI analyst can read, explain and propose. An order reviewed in Desk needs your confirmation on a registered device. Separately, you can explicitly authorise selected protection rules in Canary to act within limits after a veto window. The cash sweep requires separate authorisation. Every order must pass Canary’s checks.
These controls do not guarantee an investment result. Prices can move before an order fills.
Read the order controlsFoundation
Canary
Canary does the broker work. It holds the connection, the records, the rules and the proposals, and runs the checks every order must pass. It is open source. Canary Desk adds the schedule, the AI analyst and the console on top.
About the project
A personal project.
Canary Desk is a personal project and is not offered as a product or service. Canary, the engine underneath, is open source.
The 8 October project overview (PDF, four pages) has more detail.
It runs on a Mac that stays awake, with an Interactive Brokers account through TWS or IB Gateway and OpenAI through the API or Codex.