# Back a Hive This guide covers Polymarket and Kalshi Hives. Open a Hive and choose **Back the Hive**. You need your own account at the Hive's exchange: your Polymarket account, or your Kalshi account. Your money stays there; HiveTrade never holds it. After your setup and activation are complete, eligible new Calls can trigger copying; Calls already open are not backfilled. Orders can fill partly or not at all. ## Find a Hive Discover shows each Hive’s exchange. Check the selected sort and return period on your current web or iOS screen; these can differ between surfaces and versions. Sorting is separate from the metric you choose to display. ## Set up your exchange account On a Polymarket Hive, follow your account's setup prompts before funding or backing it; the iOS app can guide you through Polymarket account setup natively. To add funds, see [Funding your Polymarket account](/how-it-works/custody#funding-your-polymarket-account). Re-approving a revoked or stale Polymarket permission can still open the web setup flow. Kalshi Hives use your connected Kalshi account and do not require a Polymarket account. In iOS builds with native Kalshi setup, choose **Connect Kalshi** from the Back sheet. Enter the Key ID and private key you created in Kalshi directly in the app, then accept the execution consent. Returning to the Back sheet preserves the amounts you entered. Never paste a private key into an agent conversation. If your installed build sends you to the web instead, complete the connection there. On a Kalshi Hive, connect your Kalshi account first. Your balance is read after you connect, and the Back sheet shows what is available in Kalshi for this Hive, after your other Hive budgets, including Captain budgets. If it is below your Hive budget, the sheet shows how much you are short by: add funds in your own Kalshi account, at Kalshi, or lower the budget. HiveTrade never takes a deposit for Kalshi. If a bot you operate trades from your own exchange account, its Captain trades already use that account; backing that same bot Hive does not create a second copy. Its Total budget also reserves available cash. ## 1. Pick a tier Each Captain sets up to four tiers on their Hive. The entry tier can be free or paid. A paid entry tier makes the Hive paid-only, so active access to a paid tier is required before copying. Paid tiers have a monthly price and Captain-defined benefits and limits. See [Subscriptions & tiers](/how-it-works/tiers), and [Renewal, cancelling and refunds](/how-it-works/tiers#renewal-cancelling-and-refunds) for a paid tier. ## 2. Set your two budgets - **Per-call budget**: how much goes behind one Call. At least $1. - **Hive budget**: the budget you set aside for this Hive, subject to account funds and execution limits; it is not a guaranteed loss cap. Both follow your tier’s limits. **No tier limit** removes that tier ceiling; your own budgets, available funds and exchange requirements still apply. Buying a subscription alone does not activate copying. The backing flow must confirm that your budget is active; a failed or unfinished funding step is not a successful backing. ## How each copy is sized ::: info Version compatibility This rule applies to new Calls in the current release, including automated (bot) Hives. Older Calls retain their recorded execution terms. An older app may still show controls that no longer determine copy size; update your app. Your tier, remaining Hive budget and actual fills still limit the copy. ::: ``` your copy = per-call budget ``` capped at what is left of your Hive budget. A $20 per-call budget is $20, unless only $10 of your Hive budget is left, in which case it is $10. The Captain doesn't choose how much of your budget a Call uses; when the market can't fill everyone, the engine reduces copy targets with exchange-minimum rounding (see the [trade lifecycle](/reference/trade-lifecycle)). Automated (bot) Hives work the same way. The smallest copy placed is $1 on Polymarket and 0.01 contract on Kalshi. ## 3. Mirror or Inverse - **Mirror** (the default): trade on the same side as the Captain. - **Inverse**: trade on the opposite side to the Captain. Your fill prices, fees and exits can differ from the Captain's. ## 4. Accept the risks You confirm you can lose what you put in and are using money you can afford to lose. ## Why a copy can be smaller, or skipped Each copy starts at your per-call budget. It can come out smaller, or not be placed at all, when: - **Little of your Hive budget is left.** A copy never exceeds what is left of your Hive budget, or your tier's per-call cap. - **The market can't fill everyone.** Every order on a Call is capped at one price band: the price when the Call's orders go out plus 5% of it, rounded up to the cent (at least $0.02), never above $0.97. When there is not enough on offer inside the band for every copy, copies share what is available, in proportion on average. - **Your share is below the exchange minimum** ($1 on Polymarket, 0.01 contract on Kalshi). That copy is placed at exactly the minimum or skipped, by a random draw weighted by its share. - **You paused or stopped backing.** Pausing stops new copies until you resume, and a [trading break](/members/account-and-privacy#take-a-break) pauses every budget. Stopping ends them. - **Your Kalshi account doesn't hold enough cash** to cover the order. - **The Call was refused.** If less than $5 could be placed near the current price, or the spread between buy and sell prices is too wide, a Captain's Call is refused and no order goes out. A bot's Call isn't refused: its first round places no Member orders, and its one-minute retries try again. - **Buying ended.** On each Call the Captain chooses **Buy now** (orders are placed once) or **Keep buying for up to 6 hours** (anyone still short is retried inside the same price band), and can **Stop buying** while the Call is still buying. A bot's Calls keep buying for one minute. The [trade lifecycle](/reference/trade-lifecycle) has the detail. ## Pause, change or stop backing From the Hive page or **Portfolio → Budgets**: - **Pause** stops new copies; your budget stays reserved. **Resume** restarts them. - **Change** your per-call budget or Hive budget. - **Stop backing** ends your backing and releases the unused budget. On **Portfolio → Budgets** the button reads **Leave Hive**. In the iOS app, open the Hive's Back sheet to pause, resume or stop backing. **Stop backing** asks for confirmation. Resuming can be unavailable while trading is paused or, on a Polymarket Hive, your Polymarket account is not ready; you can still stop new copies once your budget has loaded. To change your amounts, choose **Edit amounts**, adjust the per-call budget and the Hive budget, then tap **Save changes**. Invalid amounts or an account restriction show an error; only a successful save applies the change. In iOS builds with the updated backing status, **Copying paused** means a connection or account condition prevents copying; **Paused** describes your own pause. A recent copy refusal can show **Copying blocked** instead. Check the associated note for connection, operator or tier limits; existing positions remain open. Open positions stay open until they close or settle, and the result lands in your own account. When you leave a Hive with open positions, you can sell them now or let them settle. On the web, choosing **Sell position** on an individual position in Portfolio asks you to confirm first. Review the last recorded value, then choose **Sell position** to send the sale. That value is an estimate, not guaranteed proceeds: the price and amount sold depend on available buyers. Trading fees apply. A settled market shows **Selling is unavailable for this market.** instead of the button.