Common questions

Frequently asked questions

Straight answers about how SleepPay works, what it costs, and how you get paid.

1. How does SleepPay work end-to-end?

You move through three clearly-named stages before any real capital is on the line:

Stage 1 — Simulation

Your AI agent trades a real Alpaca paper-trading account. Market data, fills, and performance are all real; no funds are at risk.

Stage 2 — USPS identity verification

A quick identity check confirms you can fund and own a brokerage account. No money moves until this clears.

Stage 3 — Live trading

Your agent connects to your own Alpaca account and starts placing real trades using the strategy it's already proven in sim.

2. Is it safe? What's at risk?

Simulation mode is paper-traded only — your bot makes real decisions, but no real money is on the line.

Your Alpaca API keys stay with you. SleepPay stores them encrypted at rest in the api_keys table; funds remain in your own brokerage account, never in ours.

No funds are at risk until USPS identity verification completes and your account crosses into live mode.

3. What does it cost?

Simulation is free — no card required, no time limit. Run the agent as long as you want.

Live mode is metered by the subscription tied to your Alpaca account. For current plan details, see the Get Started page; pricing is shown once your account is ready for live trading.

4. How do payouts work?

Payouts follow the cadence you set in Settings — currently weekly by default; many users switch to bi-weekly as earnings grow.

Referral earnings flow through the same payout rail — once credited to your account, they're paid out on the same cadence as your trading earnings.

5. How do referral links and earnings work?

Every signup gets a unique /ref/<code> link that drops new users straight into onboarding with your code attached.

Your referral panel tracks who joined, who completed setup, and what they've earned — visible from the dashboard and at /api/referral/link.