# Core Concepts

The terms you will meet on every other page. Each one links to the full detail.

## Autonomous Trading Engine (ATE)

How vault capital is spread across trading strategies to earn yield. It is not a standalone engine service. Onchain it is the **ExecutionRouter**, **StrategyRegistry** and **BaseRateGovernor** contracts.

Today one protocol keeper submits strategies to the StrategyRegistry, and Guardian nodes vote on backtest results. Oracle nodes will add computing power for strategy generation, backtesting and validation. [More](../protocol/autonomous-trading-system/README.md)

## Self-sovereign architecture

All critical infrastructure is designed to run on community nodes. That removes dependence on central services and single points of failure, which makes the protocol hard to censor or take down. [More](../protocol/architecture/README.md)

## TrustFingerprint

An onchain reputation score for each node operator. It is calculated automatically from objective, onchain verifiable measures, with no manual input.

- Scale: 0–10000, shown as 0–1.
- Entry thresholds for promotion: Validator 0.60, Guardian 0.70, Oracle 0.80.
- Used to weight rewards and to gate which tier you can join.

[More](../protocol/trustfingerprint/README.md)

## Two-chamber governance (planned)

Not active yet. Today a 2-of-3 Safe and a 7-day timelock control the protocol. The planned DAO has two chambers:

- **Oracle Chamber:** strategy and capital decisions.
- **Guardian Chamber:** technical security and risk management.

| Rule | Value |
| :--- | :--- |
| Voting weight by tier | Micro 1×, Validator 2×, Guardian 4×, Oracle 7× |
| To submit a proposal | TrustFingerprint of 70% or more |
| Quorum | 10% |
| Standard approval | 60% |
| Treasury, capital deployment, large allocations, strategy approvals | 66% Oracle supermajority |
| Timelock | 7 days standard, 1 day emergency |

[More](../protocol/governance/README.md)

## Vaults

Smart contracts that hold deposits and are designed to trade on instructions from the ATE. Six vaults are deployed. Each splits capital between the Floor and the ATE in its own ratio, and each has its own target APY band.

| Vault | Floor / ATE split | Target APY |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Conservative (nCONS) | 90 / 10 | 5–8% |
| Hedged (nHEDG) | 85 / 15 | 6–10% |
| Moderate (nMOD) | 80 / 20 | 6–12% |
| Inverse (nINV) | 70 / 30 | 7–13% |
| Aggressive (nAGGR) | 60 / 40 | 8–15% |
| Configurable (nCFG) | 80 / 20 | Custom |

These are targets, not guaranteed. No capital has been deployed to strategies yet and no yield has been earned on testnet. The 28% figure is only ever combined vault plus node returns, never vault yield alone. [More](../protocol/vaults/README.md)

## Real yield

Yield from actual market neutral trading and protocol fees, not from printing tokens. All sources of yield are verifiable onchain.

## Unstaking period

Staked $NODR takes 21 days to withdraw. Vault withdrawals are not affected. See the [Staking Guide](../getting-started/for-users/staking-guide.md).

## Node tiers

Micro, Validator, Guardian and Oracle. See [Who runs what](./how-noderr-works.md#who-runs-what) and the [Node Operators](../node-operators/README.md) guide.