Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information VERTEX collects, why, who we share it with, and your rights. It is incorporated into our Terms of Service. VERTEX is operated by Patrick David Patterson Walker, an individual doing business as "VERTEX", at vertextradedesk.com.

What we collect

• Account data: your email address, used as your login identity via a passwordless magic-link. We do not collect or store passwords.
• Usage data: the calls you submit (symbol, direction, entry, stop, target, date), scorecards generated, and basic interaction logs.
• Technical data: IP address, browser/user-agent, and a single session cookie (vt_session) that keeps you signed in.
• Payment data: handled entirely by Stripe. We receive your subscription status and limited details (e.g., card brand / last four) for support; we never receive or store your full card number.
• Brokerage API keys (paid tier): if you connect your own Alpaca account, your API key and secret are held in your browser session only — never written to our servers, never logged, and cleared when your session ends. See §11 of the Terms.

Why we collect it

• To authenticate you and operate the Service.
• To generate, grade, and publish scorecards per the disclosed methodology.
• To process subscription payments via Stripe.
• To send transactional email (magic-link sign-in, receipts) and, only with your consent, product updates.
• To secure the Service, prevent abuse, and comply with law.

Who we share it with (service providers)

• Stripe — payment processing. (Stripe Privacy)
• SendGrid (Twilio) — transactional email, including magic-link sign-in. (Twilio/SendGrid Privacy)
• Alpaca — market data is fetched under your own Alpaca data license using your own keys; we do not share your personal data with Alpaca beyond the API calls you initiate.
• We do not sell or "share" (cross-context behavioral advertising) your personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA/CPRA.

How long we keep it

We retain account data while your account is active and for a reasonable period afterward to meet legal, tax, and audit obligations. Submitted calls and published scorecards may be retained as part of the public grading record. You may request deletion as described below.

Your rights

• California residents (CCPA/CPRA): rights to know, access, correct, and delete, and to opt out of sale/sharing (we do not sell or share). We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights.
• EU/UK residents (GDPR/UK GDPR): rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and objection. Our legal bases are contract performance (operating the Service), legitimate interests (security, grading), and consent (marketing email).
• To exercise any right, email privacy@vertextradedesk.com. We will verify and respond within the time required by applicable law.

When you request deletion, we delete your account identifiers (including your email) and unpublished data. We may retain graded calls and published scorecards as part of the public, factual grading record, and retain limited records as required for legal, tax, or fraud-prevention purposes, as permitted by law.

Cookies

We use one strictly-necessary cookie, vt_session, to maintain your signed-in session. We do not use advertising or third-party tracking cookies. Because it is strictly necessary it does not require consent, but you can clear it any time via your browser or by signing out.

Security

We use reasonable administrative and technical safeguards designed to protect personal information. Brokerage API keys are handled session-only and are never persisted (see Terms §11). No system is perfectly secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and regulators as required by applicable law.

Graded third-party callers

The Service grades publicly posted trade calls of third parties to produce scorecards. If you are a graded caller and want your handle removed, email privacy@vertextradedesk.com from an address or platform account you can verify controls the handle; we will remove your handle from public scorecards and stop ingesting your future posts, and we honor verified erasure/objection requests where such rights apply. See Terms §6.

Children

The Service is not directed to children. You must be at least 18 to use it. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18; if we learn we have, we will delete it.

Changes

We will post any material change here and update the date below. Contact: privacy@vertextradedesk.com.