> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.centaur.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Trade Events

> What qualifies as a trade event, how events are structured, and how they connect to messages and positions.

A trade event is a structured action extracted from trader source activity or created by the system to keep position history coherent.

## What qualifies as a trader-sourced event

A source message can become a trader-sourced event when it contains:

1. an identifiable asset
2. an explicit direction: long or short
3. a clear position action: open, increase, decrease, or close

General analysis, education, macro commentary, and vague positioning language do not become trader-sourced events unless the action is explicit enough to structure.

## Event types

| Event | Meaning |
| - | - |
| **Open** | A new position is initiated. |
| **Increase** | An existing position is added to. |
| **Decrease** | An existing position is partially reduced. |
| **Close** | A position is fully exited. |

Open events start positions. Close events end positions. Increase and decrease events update an existing position.

## What each event can contain

* event type
* asset ID
* trader ID
* direction
* event timestamp
* event price when available, with the asset's quote currency (`quoteSymbol`) labelling its denomination
* related position ID
* source message ID when the event came from a source message
* classification flags for system or retrospective handling

Event rows intentionally reference related entities by ID. Use discovery reads for trader/asset display metadata, position reads for position performance, and message reads for source text or attachments.

## Event flags

Some event rows include classification flags:

| Flag | Meaning |
| - | - |
| `assumed` | The system inferred the event from position progression. |
| `retrospective` | The source described an action after it happened. |
| `autoGenerated` | The system generated the event, usually to close stale or superseded position state. |

Product and agent experiences should hide assumed and auto-generated system events in normal event listings unless the user explicitly asks about system events, gaps, missing closes, or data reconstruction.

See [Trade Classification](/methodology/trade-classification) for the detailed semantics.