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

# Transaction flow

What happens, in order, from signing up to running a GPU, and where each step is recorded. This page describes the system as it works today.

## Two balances

Your account has two balances that do not connect:

| Balance | What it holds | How it is funded | What it is for |
| - | - | - | - |
| **Deposit account** at Erebor, our bank | Money you deposit | ACH, wire or USDC ([guide](https://docs.capital.ai/app/deposit.md)) | Shows on Transactions and Home's Account Details. It does not buy contracts. |
| **Exchange balance**, shown as **Cash** | US dollars on the Capital AI exchange's ledger, plus your contracts | Credited once by Capital AI when you first open Markets or Compute after your account is open | Buying and selling contracts |

Deposits do not add to the exchange balance, and the exchange balance cannot be withdrawn. Offtake purchases are not charged to either.

## The steps

| Step | What you do | What happens | What is recorded |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1. Sign up | Create a login ([guide](https://docs.capital.ai/app/sign-up.md)). Access is invite-only. | A WorkOS login and a Capital AI account. | Your account and login. |
| 2. Open the account | Complete onboarding ([guide](https://docs.capital.ai/app/open-account.md)). | Erebor verifies your identity and opens your deposit account. Trading, deployments, Offtake purchases and deposits are available once the account is `active`. | Onboarding status; your KYC data, encrypted. |
| 3. Exchange account | Open Markets or Compute. | Capital AI opens an exchange account in your name and credits its starting balance, once. | The account, its key, and the credit on the exchange's log. |
| 4. Buy on Offtake | Buy a listing, or make an offer ([guide](https://docs.capital.ai/app/offtake.md)). | A priced purchase is approved at once; an offer when the team has agreed it with you. The contracts are minted into your exchange account on the BASIS book and the GPU book of that month. Nothing is charged to your balances; terms with the provider are settled outside the app. | The purchase: your request, the approval, the quantity and price, and the exchange sequence number of each mint. |
| 5. Trade | Place an order ([guide](https://docs.capital.ai/app/trade.md), [API](https://docs.capital.ai/compute/orders.md)). | The exchange reserves the cash (buy) or contracts (sell) your order needs, then matches it against resting orders in price-time priority. Selling is limited to contracts you hold free; there is no short selling. | Every order, acceptance, rejection, fill and cancel, in order, on the exchange's log; your orders and fills in the app. |
| 6. Settle | Nothing: it is immediate. | Each fill moves cash and contracts between the two accounts on the exchange's ledger at the moment it happens. There are no fees and no later settlement date. | The trade and both accounts' new balances. |
| 7. Deploy | Pair BASIS and GPU contracts for the current month ([guide](https://docs.capital.ai/app/compute.md), [API](https://docs.capital.ai/compute/deployments.md)). | The contracts are locked. Ops claims the request and the machines are provisioned on Northflank, or by hand where Northflank cannot run them. | The deployment and each status change, with who made it and when. |
| 8. End | Stop the deployment, or let the month end. | The machines are torn down and the contracts unlock. The contracts remain in your account. | The end, and the release of the locks. |

## What a contract is

Every contract is one GPU for one calendar month (UTC), traded as an order book on the exchange ([Contracts](https://docs.capital.ai/compute/overview.md)). Contracts come into existence when Capital AI mints them: into your account on an Offtake purchase, or into the accounts of the market maker that quotes the GPU books. Buying on a book transfers a contract from its holder to you.

A deployment locks contracts; it does not consume them. Nothing on the exchange settles or delivers at the end of a month: the book stays open and the contracts stay in the holder's account. Only the current month can be deployed.

## Who is on the other side

Orders on the books are anonymous. On the GPU books the resting orders are usually the market maker that Capital AI runs so there is always a price; your orders rest and trade alongside it. An Offtake purchase is between you and the provider the listing names; the contracts themselves are issued by Capital AI.

## Where to look

* **Home** shows your exchange balance (**Cash**), holdings (**Balance**) and resting **Orders**.
* **Compute** shows contracts by month and your deployments.
* **Transactions** lists deposits, fills (Buy and Sell on the Exchange rail) and mints (Deposit on the Mint rail).
* **Offtake**'s Offers and History tabs follow your purchases.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.