VolatiCloud Credits System

Credits are VolatiCloud's prepaid compute currency — the unit you spend whenever a bot, backtest, or hyperopt run consumes resources on a runner. They're the second of billing's two layers: your subscription unlocks features, credits pay for runtime. This page covers how credits are deducted, where they come from, what every transaction type means, and the rules that surprise people most often (no subscription rollover, FIFO reclaim on cancel, trial credit lifecycle).

One credit equals one US dollar. All deposits, deductions, and balances on the dashboard are denominated in credits at $1 each.

Credit Lifecycle in Four Steps

1. Earn credits — your subscription auto-deposits monthly; you can also top up manually any time.
2. Run workloads — bots, backtests, and hyperopt runs deduct credits hourly based on actual resource usage.
3. Monitor balance — view current balance, transactions, and projected cost on the Billing and Usage pages.
4. Top up before zero — a low-balance alert fires below $5.00 to give you time before suspension.

How Credits Are Deducted

Credits are deducted hourly while workloads run, based on the resources they consume:

Resource	What it measures	Charged when
CPU	CPU-seconds	Bot or backtest is running
Memory	GB-hours	Bot container is allocated memory
Network	GB transferred	Bot fetches market data and places orders
Storage	GB-month	Bot's SQLite database and historical OHLCV cache

The exact rates depend on the runner's infrastructure (Docker host, Kubernetes cluster, runner type). The Organization Usage page shows live consumption, projected cost, and per-bot breakdown so you can identify resource-heavy bots before they drain your balance.

A stopped bot consumes zero credits — only running workloads cost credits. Suspending a bot mid-month is a valid cost-control strategy.

How Credits Are Added

Three sources, each with different rules:

Source	Trigger	Persistence
Subscription auto-deposit	Each billing renewal	Cleared at next renewal — no rollover
Manual top-up	Stripe Checkout completes successfully	Carries over indefinitely
Trial deposit	When you start the 7-day Pro trial	Cleared at trial end or conversion

Subscription Auto-Deposit

Your subscription deposits credits at the start of each billing period. Approximate amounts:

Plan	Monthly auto-deposit
Starter	~$5
Pro	~$60
Enterprise	~$200

Exact amounts come from your plan's Stripe metadata and are visible on the Available Plans grid.

Manual Top-Up

Top up any time — typically when usage runs ahead of your monthly allowance, or right before a long backtest sweep.

1. Open Organization → Billing
2. Click Add Credits
3. Enter the dollar amount
4. Pay via Stripe Checkout
5. Credits land in your balance immediately on payment success

Manual credits are never cleared by subscription resets, downgrades, or cancellations. They are yours until you spend them.

Transaction History

Every credit movement is recorded as a row in the Transaction History table. The table is the authoritative ledger — if a number on the balance card looks wrong, this is where to debug it.

Transaction Types

Type	Sign	What it means
subscription_deposit	+	Monthly credits added at subscription renewal
manual_deposit	+	Stripe-paid top-up via Add Credits
subscription_deposit (trial)	+	Trial credits deposited at trial start (reference prefix trial-deposit:)
usage_deduction	−	Hourly deduction for running bots, backtests, hyperopt
subscription_reset	− or 0	Leftover subscription credits cleared at billing renewal
subscription_reclaim	− or 0	Subscription credits removed on cancellation
subscription_reclaim (trial)	− or 0	Trial credits removed on trial cancel or expiry

Zero-amount entries (subscription_reset 0 or subscription_reclaim 0) are written as idempotency sentinels when there's nothing to clear — they're a normal part of the ledger and confirm the operation ran.

The No-Rollover Rule (Subscription Credits)

Subscription credits do not carry over between billing periods. Manual credits do.

How the reset works

At each renewal, the system runs in this order:

1. Compute leftover subscription credits: MAX(0, sub_deposited_this_period − usage_this_period) (FIFO accounting — usage is deducted from subscription credits first, manual credits last).
2. Write a subscription_reset ledger entry for that amount.
3. Deposit the new period's subscription_deposit.

After the reset, your balance is:

balance = manual_credits + new_monthly_deposit

Worked example

You're on Pro ($60/month auto-deposit) and you also have $100 in manual credits.

Event	Manual credits	Subscription credits	Balance
Start of period	$100	$60	$160
Spent $5 this period (FIFO from sub)	$100	$55	$155
Period renewal — subscription_reset $55	$100	$0	$100
subscription_deposit $60	$100	$60	$160

Your $100 of manual credits never moved. The $55 of leftover subscription credits cleared, then a fresh $60 deposit landed.

This rule keeps subscription pricing predictable — credits are a monthly allowance, not an accumulating bank.

Running Out of Credits

When the balance hits zero:

1. All running bots are gracefully stopped. Open positions are not force-exited — they remain on the exchange exactly as they were.
2. A Suspended banner appears across the dashboard.
3. Backtests and new bot starts are blocked.
4. Your data is preserved. Strategies, backtests, trade history, and configurations are all intact.

Top up via Add Credits. As soon as the Stripe payment succeeds the suspension lifts and you can restart bots immediately.

A low_credit_balance alert fires when the balance drops below $5.00 so you have lead time before suspension. Configure alert delivery (email, Slack, in-app) from the Alerts page.

Trial Credits

When you start a free trial of the Pro plan, you receive $60 in trial credits to use during the 7 days.

How trial credits behave

• Deposited immediately at trial start, recorded as a subscription_deposit with a trial-deposit: reference prefix.
• Spent at normal rates by bots, backtests, and hyperopt — no special discount, no separate balance.
• Reclaimed on cancellation or expiry via a subscription_reclaim entry.

What happens at trial conversion

When the 7 days end and the trial converts to paid Pro:

1. Any remaining trial credits are cleared.
2. A fresh $60 subscription_deposit lands as the first paid month's allowance.
3. Your first Stripe invoice is generated.
4. The balance reflects the new monthly deposit plus any manual credits.

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Trial credits are deliberately self-contained — they don't carry into the paid subscription. The slate is wiped at conversion and your paid period starts clean.

If you cancel during the trial

• Trial credits are reclaimed immediately
• Running bots are stopped
• No charge is made to your card
• Your data (strategies, backtests, history) is preserved

When You Cancel Your Subscription

Cancellation triggers a one-time reclaim of subscription-provided credits. Manual credits are kept.

The reclaim is calculated using FIFO accounting — usage is assumed to consume subscription credits first:

net subscription credits = MAX(0, total_subscription_deposits − total_usage)
new balance              = MAX(0, current_balance − net_subscription_credits)

Example: $20 balance ($30 sub deposit, $15 manual deposit, $25 used). Net subscription credits = MAX(0, 30 − 25) = $5. New balance = $20 − $5 = $15 — your manual credits remain.

If you have $20 on your balance but you're suspended, cancellation is the most common reason. The remaining balance is your manual credits, locked until you resubscribe.

Estimating Future Usage

The Organization Usage page shows what you're spending and what's coming:

• Current period usage — credits consumed since the last renewal
• Cost projection — extrapolated end-of-period cost at current burn rate
• Per-bot breakdown — which bots are the heaviest consumers
• Usage charts — CPU, memory, network, and storage trends per bot

Use it to:

• Identify bots that are over-provisioned or stuck in tight loops
• Decide whether to top up or downgrade
• Compare runner types — Kubernetes vs Docker — at the same workload

Tips to Reduce Credit Consumption

1. Stop bots you're not actively using. Stopped bots cost zero.
2. Right-size your runners. Don't allocate 4 vCPU for a 1-pair Dry Run bot.
3. Reduce monitored pairs. Fewer pairs = lower CPU and lower OHLCV cache footprint.
4. Simplify strategies. Heavy indicator stacks compound CPU on every candle.
5. Use shared historical data PVCs on Kubernetes so each bot doesn't re-cache the same OHLCV files.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do unused subscription credits roll over? No. Subscription credits are reset at the start of each billing period (a subscription_reset ledger entry records the cleared amount). Manual top-ups are unaffected and persist indefinitely.

Why am I suspended when I still have credits on my balance? Your subscription was cancelled. Subscription-provided credits were reclaimed, and the org is suspended even though manual credits remain on the balance. Resubscribe on Organization → Billing and the manual balance becomes spendable again.

What happens to my bots when credits run out? All running bots are gracefully stopped. Open exchange positions are not force-exited — they stay on the exchange. When you top up, you can restart bots and they pick up the existing positions.

How quickly are manual top-ups applied? Immediately on Stripe payment success.

Can I get a refund on credits? Credits are generally non-refundable. Contact support for exceptional circumstances.

Related guides

• Billing Overview — Subscription + credits model, suspension rules, plan changes.
• Plans & Pricing — Plan comparison, yearly billing, free trial details.
• Billing FAQ — Detailed answers on cancellation accounting, downgrades, and payment retry.