At first I just ran on a paper trading API. After a couple months of it showing it wouldn’t go off the rails and make completely insane trades, I asked it to update the code for my real brokerage’s API and linked it to a new account with a very small amount of money deposited.

Edit: just realized I didn’t answer your question directly. Yes, it both identifies and executes trades, and then closes them when they meet certain profit/loss criteria.