Terms of Service

By accessing or using Manifold-BT software, website, or any associated services (collectively, the "Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

We may update these Terms from time to time. Continued use of the Service after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

Manifold-BT is a software library for backtesting algorithmic trading strategies. The Service includes freely available components (the "Community" tier: the Python package under Apache 2.0, and the compiled engine, free to use under the Manifold-BT Engine License) and optional paid features (the "Pro" and "Researcher" tiers), available as a recurring subscription or, for Researcher, as a one-time lifetime purchase.

Manifold-BT is research software. It is designed to simulate historical trading performance and does not execute live trades, manage portfolios, or connect to brokerage accounts.

Manifold-BT is not a financial advisor, broker, or investment service. Nothing provided by the Service constitutes financial, investment, tax, or legal advice.

Past performance, whether simulated, backtested, or hypothetical, is not indicative of future results. Backtest results are inherently limited by the assumptions, data quality, and parameters used. Real-world trading involves risks including but not limited to slippage, liquidity gaps, exchange outages, and market conditions that cannot be fully modeled.

You are solely responsible for any trading or investment decisions you make. We strongly recommend consulting a qualified financial professional before deploying any strategy with real capital.

Community tier. The Community tier is free to use and needs no license key. Manifold-BT ships as a compiled library; the components whose source is published carry their license with them, in the LICENSE file of the repository. That file governs; these Terms neither restate nor extend it.

Lifetime license. A one-time lifetime purchase (sold for Researcher; Pro lifetime licenses bought before 22 September 2026 keep the same terms) grants a perpetual, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the paid features of that tier for your personal or internal business use. It does not expire and does not renew. Engine updates are included for 24 months after purchase; the software keeps working as it is after that, and later updates are offered at half the lifetime price.

Subscription, Pro or Researcher. A monthly or annual subscription grants the same non-exclusive, non-transferable license for as long as the subscription is active. When a subscription ends, whether because you cancelled it or because payment failed, the license is revoked at the end of the period already paid for and the library reverts to the Community tier on its next license check.

Either way, each license is tied to a single user, and you may not redistribute, sublicense, or share your license key.

For the paid tiers, you agree not to:

• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble the compiled components of the paid tiers
• Remove or modify any license verification mechanisms
• Use the paid features or their license keys to build a product that replicates and competes with those paid features
• Share, sell, or distribute your license key to third parties

These restrictions apply to the paid features and their compiled components only. They do not restrict anything the Apache 2.0 licence permits for the source code we publish, which you may use, modify and build on under its terms.

Pro is sold as a monthly or annual subscription. Researcher is sold as a monthly or annual subscription, or as a one-time lifetime purchase that includes 24 months of updates; after that the software keeps working as it is, and later updates are offered at half the lifetime price. Firm is sold as a per-organization contract. Payment is processed by Stripe. All prices are listed in USD and include applicable taxes where required. Where the site shows an annual subscription as a monthly figure, that figure is the annual price divided by twelve, rounded up, and the subscription is billed annually. The price that applies to a purchase is the one shown on the checkout page.

Renewal. A subscription renews automatically at the end of each billing period, at the price then in effect, until it is cancelled. We will give you at least 30 days notice by email before any price change that would apply to your existing subscription, so that you can cancel before it takes effect. A lifetime purchase never renews and is never billed again.

Cancellation. You may cancel a subscription at any time, without giving a reason, from the license page linked in your purchase email, which also holds your invoices. Organizations on a Firm plan cancel from the billing portal in their client portal. If you no longer have the link, email contact@manifoldbt.com from the address used at purchase. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you have already paid for and is not retroactive: that period is not refunded pro rata. Your Pro features keep working until that date, after which the library reverts to the Community tier. Nothing is removed from your machine and no result you have already computed changes.

Refunds. Apart from the statutory withdrawal right below, payments already made are non-refundable, including a lifetime purchase, because every paid feature is documented with runnable examples that can be evaluated on the Community tier before you pay. If a technical issue prevents you from using the Pro features you paid for, contact us and we will resolve it or refund you.

Right of withdrawal, EU, EEA and UK consumers. If you buy as a consumer in the European Union, the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you normally have 14 days to withdraw from a purchase of digital content without giving a reason. A paid license is delivered immediately, so by completing checkout you expressly ask us to begin performance at once and acknowledge that you lose that right of withdrawal once the license key has been issued to you. If the key has been issued but you have not activated it, you may still withdraw within those 14 days by emailing us, and we will refund you in full.

Manifold-BT runs locally on your machine. Your trading strategies, data, and backtest results are never transmitted to our servers.

We collect minimal data necessary to operate the Service: license validation requests (license key and machine identifier) and purchase information processed by Stripe. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Manifold-BT integrates with third-party data providers including Binance, Bybit, Hyperliquid, dYdX, Bitstamp, Deribit, Yahoo Finance, Dukascopy, London Strategic Edge, Databento, and Massive. Your use of these providers is subject to their respective terms of service. We are not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or completeness of third-party data.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Manifold-BT and its contributors shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, trading losses, data loss, or business interruption, arising from your use of the Service.

Our total liability for any claim arising from these Terms or the Service is limited to the amount you paid for your Pro or Researcher license or under your Firm contract, or $0 if you are using the Community tier.

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

We do not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, or that backtest results will be accurate or complete. No backtest can fully replicate live market conditions.

The Manifold-BT name, logo, and branding are our property. The compiled engine is proprietary and its source code is not published. The source code we publish (the Python package, examples, tests and benchmarks) is distributed under Apache 2.0. The compiled engine, including in the Community tier, is distributed under the Manifold-BT Engine License.

You retain full ownership of your strategies, data, and any output generated by the Service.

We may revoke your paid license if you violate these Terms, including but not limited to redistributing license keys or circumventing license verification. The Community tier remains available under its licences (Apache 2.0 for the Python package, the Manifold-BT Engine License for the compiled engine) regardless.

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of France, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any disputes arising under these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Paris, France.

For questions about these Terms, reach out at contact@manifoldbt.com.