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Changelog

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Glossary

For all shared project terminology, please refer to the single source of truth: Project Glossary.

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Document References

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UC Index

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1. Global Layout

Shared Architecture: Cloudflare Edge Access Block (applies to every Marketing page — UC_1.1.1 → UC_1.9.x)

The entire domain (Marketing + Dashboard + Checkout) sits behind Cloudflare. Cloudflare blocks access at the edge, based on the visitor's physical location, before the request ever reaches Next.js. This is a shared access pre-condition for every Marketing screen, not a rule belonging to any single page. (Ref: MKT-42 — client update, Adrian Stack, 2026-08-20.)

Not to be confused with the Checkout geo-block. The sanctions block driven by Compliance_geo_restrictions (billing country / sanctions gate) is a separate mechanism owned by Checkout — specified in UC_2.1.1 / UC_2.1.4 and out of scope for this document. The two mechanisms use different lists and neither can be derived from the other: a country blocked at Checkout can still browse the entire Marketing site.

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UC_1.1.1 — Navigation & Footer

1. Overview

2. Trigger

The user navigates to the main domain (www.stacktrading.com) or any public page on the Marketing Site (e.g., Homepage, Career Path, Compare).

3. Pre-conditions

• User accesses a public route.
• The request has passed Cloudflare's edge check. A visitor physically located in one of the 7 blocked countries (Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Belarus, Russia, China) or the 5 sanctioned Ukraine regions never reaches this pre-condition — the request is dropped at the edge and the header/footer are never rendered. Ref: Cloudflare Edge Access Block · MKT-42.

4. Post-conditions

• The global header and footer are rendered.
• CTA buttons reflect the Marketing-site signup-gate state, sourced from a Sanity CMS config variable (Ref: CR-20260731-002, supersedes prior Backend/ISR sourcing — see item 3/4 below).

5. Basic Flow

1. User loads a marketing page. Cloudflare evaluates the edge geo-IP before the request reaches Next.js: if it matches the block list, the request is blocked at the edge and none of the steps below occur (Ref: Cloudflare Edge Access Block). Otherwise the request proceeds normally.
2. System renders the global header and footer components.
3. System fetches the signup-gate config variable from Sanity CMS to determine the CTA button states (Ref: CR-20260731-002, supersedes MKT-001's ISR fetch of /system/status). Stack Trading team manually updates this Sanity variable to open/close signups; there is no automatic sync between this variable and the Backend's actual Global_Var_Allow_New_Signups flag (Zapier Table C).
4. If the Sanity signup-gate variable indicates signups are closed, all primary CTA buttons (e.g., "Earn your seat", "Start Associate Track") change their text to "Join Waitlist". Clicking them routes the user directly to the Lead Capture (Waitlist) form, bypassing the standard checkout flow (Ref: CR-20260731-002, supersedes MKT-36's Backend-flag-driven wording). Note: this is a Marketing-site display-layer mechanic only — the Checkout flow's own Gate 1 (Ref: UC_2.1.3) independently and authoritatively re-checks the real Global_Var_Allow_New_Signups value from the Backend at Checkout Step 3b, regardless of what the Sanity variable displays.

6. UI/UX Rules

• Global Presence & CMS Control:
  • The Header and Footer must be present on almost all screens across the Marketing Site.
  • Both components and their navigation links can be dynamically edited via Sanity CMS.
• Header Navigation:
  • Interaction: Clicking the Header logo redirects to the Homepage (same tab). Header includes two main CTA buttons on the right: "Log in" (same tab, outline) and "Start Associate Track" (same tab, solid) — clicking Start Associate Track opens the Checkout flow via a dedicated Next.js route (Source: QnA_STAGE1_CHECKOUT_ONBOARDING.md, STAGE1-056).
  • Direct Links: The Navigation bar includes direct text links to "Associate Track", "Career Path", and "About Us". Clicking these routes the user to the respective static pages (/associate-track, /career-path, /about-us) in the same tab (Source: RFQ_ Website and Dashboard Implementation V7.pdf).
  • Hover Behavior: Hovering over the top-level nav items opens the Mega-menu dropdown smoothly. The Nav Bar hover style differs visually from the lower Navigation tables in the Trading and Resources pages.
  • Trading Dropdown (Mega-menu):
    • Editable via Sanity CMS. Layout uses a dark/glassmorphism theme.
    • Split into two columns: Markets (Futures Traders, Forex Traders, Crypto Traders) and Strategies (News & Events, Scalping, Swing Trading).
    • Each item contains an Icon, Title, and Subtitle description. Hovering over an item highlights it with a distinct background.
    • Crypto Link: Currently not implemented. Clicking it routes (same tab) to the "Coming Soon Page".
  • Resources Dropdown (Mega-menu):
    • Editable via Sanity CMS.
    • Left Area (Resources): Contains 6 items arranged in 2 columns (e.g., The Rules, The Trading Floor, Insights, Compare, Partners, Help Center/FAQ). Each item has an Icon, Title, and Subtitle.
    • Right Area (Featured Article): Displays a selected article (e.g., "Static vs Trailing Drawdown") with a background thumbnail, description, and a "Read Article" link (managed via Sanity).
  • Dropdown Limit: Maximum of 5 items per column in the dropdown menus (Source: MKT-23).
  • Responsive Behavior: Handled dynamically based on FE developer implementation (e.g., mobile hamburger menu, sticky on scroll).
• Footer:

  • Editable via Sanity CMS.

  • Divided into 5 main columns based on the wireframe layout:

    • Company: About Us, The Trading Floor, Partners, The Rules, Help Center / FAQ.
    • Trading: Futures, Forex, Crypto, Associate Track, Scalping, Swing Trading, News Trading, HFT, Career Path.
    • Compare: e.g., Stack vs Topstep, FTMO, Apex, etc. Must include an "All Comparisons" link at the bottom (Max 6 items rule - Source: MKT-23).
    • Resources: e.g., What is Funded Account, What is a Combine, etc. Must include an "All Insights" link at the bottom (Max 6 items rule - Source: MKT-23).
    • Follow us on: Contains the Social Icons and the Trustpilot Widget.

  • Company & Social Links: Must include the following explicit social icons and links:

    • Icon X: https://x.com/StackTradingUS
    • Icon Discord: https://discord.com/invite/SpMqnSEDsA
    • Icon LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/stacktrading
    • Icon YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@StackTrading

  • NFA Membership Statement: Below the "Backed by institutional infrastructure" logo ticker, a standalone text line reads: "Stack Trading Brokerage LLC is a member of NFA and is subject to NFA regulatory oversight and examinations. NFA ID: 0580183." (Source: Client Slack confirmation, Adrian, 2026-07-30 — same confirmed NFA ID used in UC_1.3.1 §5 and UC_1.6.1 §3 item 6.)

  • Legal Links & Text Blocks: The bottom area contains static text blocks for "Corporate and Regulatory Status", "Risk Disclosure", and "Service Classification and Tax Disclosure". The "Corporate and Regulatory Status" block explicitly states:

    "Stack Trading Brokerage LLC is a registered Introducing Broker with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and a Member of the National Futures Association (NFA ID: 0580183). Stack Trading C Corp is a proprietary trading firm and does not act as a broker or dealer for the public. All Associate Track accounts are simulated and do not involve real capital."

    The exact body copy for all three blocks is hardcoded per the approved wireframe (Ref: Footer Loop Animation wireframe/motion references above). Explicit links to Risk Disclosures, Terms of Service, and Privacy Policy route (same tab) to the respective static utility pages (UC_1.9.3, UC_1.9.2, UC_1.9.1).

    • Hover behavior: Hovering over these explicit legal links adds an underline to the text and the cursor changes to a pointer (👆).

  • Backed by Institutional Infrastructure: Includes a scrolling logo ticker with motion effects (e.g., Mastercard, ATAS, Quantower). (Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HN2mivRaafnttq2xLdYJis5efxB_VhcV). Note: NinjaTrader is replaced by TradeSea.

  • Trustpilot Widget (Micro Combo):

    • 1. Discovery Phase: User scrolls to the footer and sees the lightweight Micro Combo widget (loads instantly without lag). Displays a small Trustpilot logo + 5 green stars (colored by actual TrustScore, e.g., 4.5/5) + Total review count (e.g., "4.8 | 1,250 reviews").
    • 2. Hover Phase: Hovering over the widget changes the cursor to a Pointer (👆). Optionally displays a slight color change or tooltip "Check our reviews on Trustpilot".
    • 3. Action Phase: Clicking the widget opens a New Tab, preserving the current browser session.
    • 4. Destination Phase: Redirects to the official Trustpilot profile: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/stacktrading.com.
    • 5. Data Fetching & Fallback: To avoid exposing the API key on the frontend, the widget fetches the real-time aggregate score and review count via a backend proxy endpoint (GET /community/trustpilot-stats) with a 60-minute cache (Source: MKT-04, 3rd_party_integrations_master). There is no real-time listener — the score/count is only re-fetched when a page is loaded, and the fetched value is shared/reused for up to 60 minutes before the next fetch happens; a user who keeps the page open will not see the number update until they reload the page. This widget (score + review count) is a required component. If the proxy call fails, the system must either (a) hide the widget completely, or (b) keep showing the most recently cached score/count (from the last successful fetch, within the 60-minute window) — it must not be replaced by a separate fixed/pre-set number, and it must never show a broken state (error text, empty box) (Source: Slack thread 2026-07 — Adam Culver, Adrian; QnA_TRUSTPILOT_UIUX.md TP-A11, TP-A15).

7. Exceptional Flows

8. Business Rules

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UC_1.1.2 — Cookie Consent (Cookiebot)

1. Overview

2. Trigger

A user visits the Marketing Site for the first time without a stored consent state.

3. Pre-conditions

• The user's browser does not have a Cookiebot consent cookie.

4. Post-conditions

• User's consent preferences are stored.
• Third-party scripts (GA4, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign) are either loaded or blocked based on the consent categories accepted.

5. Basic Flow

1. System embeds the Cookiebot JavaScript snippet.
2. The Cookiebot banner appears on the page.
3. User interacts with the banner (accepts all, rejects all, or customizes consent categories).
4. Consent state is stored in the browser.
5. The banner is hidden for subsequent visits.

6. Exceptional Flows

7. Business Rules

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UC_1.1.3 — GA4 + GTM Analytics

1. Overview

2. Trigger

User navigates through the site, clicks CTAs, or submits forms.

3. Pre-conditions

• User has granted cookie consent for analytics/marketing (UC_1.1.2).

4. Post-conditions

• Events are pushed to the GTM Data Layer and sent to GA4.

5. Basic Flow

1. GTM container snippet is deployed across all public pages.
2. System tracks "virtual page views" via Next.js router history changes to accurately measure time-on-page (Source: MKT-37).
3. On CTA clicks and checkout funnel progression, system pushes event tags to the GTM Data Layer.
4. On form submissions (e.g., Waitlist, Newsletter), the system pushes non-PII parameters (event_name, form_id, page_location, and UTM parameters) to the Data Layer. PII is strictly excluded from being sent to GA4 (Source: MKT-37).
5. For Paid Ads attribution (Closed-Loop), Frontend Next.js pushes user data directly to the GTM Data Layer where GTM handles hashing and transmission to Meta CAPI/Google Enhanced Conversions (Source: MKT-37).

6. Event Specifications & Screen Mapping

• Scope: Analytics tracking is injected universally across all Marketing Site screens (Homepage, Associate Track, Career Path, About Us, Legal Pages).
• How it is used: Every primary Call-to-Action (CTA) button and form submission on these screens is bound to a GTM click event to track user conversion journeys.
• Event name: click_cta_*
• Parameters we send:

• Auto-captured by GA4 (no code needed): page URL, page title, session ID, engagement time.
• Location format: {page}_{section} in kebab-case.
• Mapping on Specific Screens:
  • Homepage: Applies to the "Claim My Founding Member Seat" buttons (in Hero & Pre-footer), the "Verify On-Chain" button (in the Ledger block), and Newsletter form submissions. (Example locations: home_hero-section, home_pre-footer).
  • Associate Track / Career Path: Applies to the primary CTAs routing to Checkout or Waitlist flows. (Example locations: associate-track_hero-section, career-path_teaser).
  • About Us: Applies to the Pre-footer CTAs. (Example location: about-us_pre-footer).
  • Contact Us / FAQ / Legal Pages: Tracks clicks on email links, contact form submissions, and document downloads.

7. Exceptional Flows

8. Business Rules

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2. CRM & Analytics

UC_1.2.1 — CRM & Email Marketing Setup

1. Overview

2. Trigger

User submits a Newsletter or Waitlist form.

3. Pre-conditions

• ActiveCampaign site tracking JS snippet is embedded.

4. Post-conditions

• The user's contact info and marketing source are saved in the CRM.

5. Basic Flow

1. User enters their email in the Newsletter form (footer) or the Waitlist form.
2. Frontend performs client-side validation on the email field before submission (see §6 UI Rules).
3. Frontend triggers parallel APIs/webhooks directly to BOTH Klaviyo and ActiveCampaign with the data payload (including UTM parameters). Klaviyo handles email delivery, while ActiveCampaign acts as the CRM system of record mapping the lead to site tracking behavior. This bypasses the Node.js middleware and Zapier entirely (Source: MKT-21, MKT-002, MKT-41).
4. The CRM system automatically deduplicates and sorts the leads.
5. Klaviyo automatically triggers the relevant email sequence (Newsletter: Ref: KLA-02 / Waitlist: Ref: KLA-22) without using AWS SES (Source: MKT-19).

6. UI Rules — Form Validation & States

Per dedicated wireframe states Invalid email.png and Subscribe successfully.png (Source: References/Wireframe/Marketing Site/Insight System/), the Newsletter/Waitlist email field has distinct error and success UI states in addition to the default/empty state:

• Default State: Empty input field with placeholder text (e.g., "Enter your email") and a submit button/icon.
• Invalid Email State: If the submitted value fails email format validation (client-side regex check), the field displays an inline error state (bordered/highlighted in an alert color) with the error message: "Please enter a valid email address".
• Success State: On successful submission, the form shows a confirmation state (e.g., checkmark icon + confirmation message) replacing the input field with the text: "You are subscribed".

7. Exceptional Flows

8. Business Rules

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3. Homepage

UC_1.3.1 — Static Components (Next.js)

1. Overview

2. Trigger

User scrolls through the Homepage or related static pages. Entry points to the Homepage include: direct URL/domain entry, clicking the Header logo from any page (UC_1.1.1 §6 "Header Navigation"), or the 404 Error Page's "Back to homepage" button (UC_1.9.4 §5 item 3).

3. Pre-conditions

• User accesses the Homepage.

4. Post-conditions

• Static components are rendered as per the Orizon design system.

5. Basic Flow & UI Rules

The Homepage consists of several hardcoded static sections. The general UI rules are as follows:

• Hero Section (Homepage):
  • Content: Heading "Real Capital. Real Careers. No Games." and introductory subtext.
  • Motion Rules: Link motion.
  • Buttons:
    • Earn Your Seat (Gold button): Click opens the Checkout flow (same tab) via a dedicated Next.js route (Source: QnA_STAGE1_CHECKOUT_ONBOARDING.md, STAGE1-056).
    • Learn How It Works (Text link with arrow): Click redirects (same tab) to the Start Associate Track page.
  • Global Waitlist Mode: If the Sanity-configured signup-gate variable indicates signups are closed, the gold Earn Your Seat button retains its position and style but the text changes to "Join Waitlist". Clicking it opens the Waitlist form (same tab) instead of Checkout (Ref: CR-20260731-002, supersedes MKT-36's Backend-flag-driven wording).
• Your Command Center:
  • Content & Layout: Left side contains a vertical menu of 4 features: Cinematic P&L Tracking, The Pulse Meter, The Desk Manager, Live Squawk Box. Right side dynamically updates based on the active left-side selection.
    • Cinematic P&L Tracking: Displays the PNL Gauge.
    • The Pulse Meter: Displays a line chart monitoring erratic execution velocity.
    • The Desk Manager: Displays a vertical stack of trade feedback cards (e.g., "Trade #NQ-7112 :: Discipline fail").
    • Live Squawk Box: Displays an audio waveform with a "Live" icon.
  • Motion Rules: The left-side menu automatically scrolls through the rows every 3 seconds in a marquee/carousel loop. Simultaneously, the right-side preview smoothly transitions to the corresponding image (e.g., Row 1 links to Image 1, Row 2 links to Image 2). Upon hover, rows display interactive visual effects and reflect the clickable trigger state. Clicking any row permanently pauses the auto-scroll/marquee sequence for the current session (until the user reloads the page) and immediately displays its associated preview.
• The Industry Has a Trust Problem (Comparison Table):
  • Buttons:
    • See the Rules (Dark button): Click redirects (same tab) to the Rules Page.
    • Start Associate Track (Gold button): Click leads to the Checkout flow (same tab) (or changes to "Join Waitlist" opening the Waitlist form, same tab, if the Sanity-configured signup-gate variable indicates signups are closed, Ref: CR-20260731-002, supersedes MKT-36's Backend-flag-driven wording).
• Real Capital → W-2 Career Path:
  • Buttons:
    • Explore Career Path (Dark button): Click opens the Career Path Page (same tab).
    • Start Associate Track (Gold button): Click leads to the Checkout flow (same tab) (or changes to "Join Waitlist" opening the Waitlist form, same tab, if the Sanity-configured signup-gate variable indicates signups are closed, Ref: CR-20260731-002, supersedes MKT-36's Backend-flag-driven wording).
• Prop Firm Trading Rules:
  • Content: Heading "Prop Firm Trading Rules: Six Rules, No Hidden Clauses". Bottom banner for "Radical Transparency".
  • Button: Read the Full Terms & Conditions (Dark button): Click redirects (same tab) to the Terms of Services page.
• Built for Your Market:
  • Content:
    • Left-side market tabs: Futures Traders, Forex Traders, Crypto Traders.
    • Futures Traders card (index 01):
      • "Rithmic powered platforms (Quantower, ATAS, Motivewave, Sierra Chart, Tradesea)"
      • "CME Level 2 Professional Market Data reimbursed at Level 3, and covered going forward"
      • "Trade ES, NQ, CL and more"
    • Forex Traders card (index 02):
      • "Swap column support"
      • "Overnight trading allowed"
      • "Major and minor pairs"
    • Crypto Traders card (index 03):
      • "Bitcoin, Ethereum, and more"
      • "Institutional custody"
      • "Details TBD"
  • Motion Rules: (Ref: MKT-40, Link motion). The main container flips between markets. Clicking a text card stops the container animation.
  • Interaction: Clicking Learn More under a specific market card (Futures Traders, Forex Traders, Crypto Traders) redirects (same tab) the user to the corresponding SEO Page (e.g., Futures -> SEO Page Futures).
• Community / Social Proof:
  • Content:
    • Heading: "Join 12,000+ traders building their careers with Stack".
    • Subtext: "You're not joining a platform — you're joining a community of serious traders who chose structure, real capital, and a path that actually leads somewhere."
    • Visual: Displays an orbital UI with circular avatar cards along a curved path.
  • Display Logic: The Marketing team manually updates the remaining Founder seat count in Sanity CMS (founder_count) daily (Ref: CR-20260731-001 — no BE/DB fetch for this display). Sanity calculates and outputs the final result from that manually-set value. If founder_count < 500, displays default text "Join now and build your career with Stack". If founder_count >= 500, it dynamically injects the calculated number, displaying the exact text: "Join [calculated_number]+ traders building their careers with Stack" (Ref: MKT-01, MKT-16; superseded fetch mechanism — CR-20260731-001).
  • Button: View Community: Click opens the Trading Floor / Community Page (same tab).
• Trading Floor Video Block:
  • The "video" is actually a static image with a scrolling marquee/ticker effect. The Play button is grayed out and has no click action (Source: MKT-12).
  • The View all News button redirects the user directly (same tab) to the Insights Hub (Source: MKT-11).
• Pre-Footer CTA ("Stop Gambling. Start Your Career."):
  • Data Source (Ref: CR-20260731-001): Both the original price and the discounted price are pre-configured as Sanity fields, along with the founder_count/remaining-seat-count value the Marketing team updates daily. The FE does not fetch or calculate either price from the Backend/Table J — it only reads the two pre-set price fields and picks which one to render based on the Sanity-configured seat count. No BE/DB call is made for this display.
  • Layout & Content (State 1: Founder Slots <= 500): Glassmorphism Box Text shows original price crossed out and discounted price ("$650 $499" / "Associate Track Entry"). Button text: "Begin The Associate Track - $499".
  • Layout & Content (State 2: Founder Slots > 500): Glassmorphism Box Text shows "Evaluations starting at $650". Button text: "Begin The Associate Track" (price is removed from the button). Subtext ("Regulated / Real Capital / Static Drawdowns / W-2 Career") is placed entirely below the glass box for readability (Source: MKT-31).
  • Motion Rules:
    • Background Text Motion: Contains a background slow gradient blur motion effect where the faint text "Stop Gambling. Start Your Career." scrolls from right to left, and the middle text is highlighted. (Link motion).
    • Subtext Motion: The Subtext row ("Regulated / Real Capital / Static Drawdowns / W-2 Career") at the bottom of the card runs a continuous small scrolling marquee motion effect from right to left.
  • Price Logic & Race Condition (MKT-34): This applies only at Checkout, not on the Marketing site display. If a user clicks the \$499 button while the Marketing site is still showing the discounted state (because Sanity's manually-updated seat count has not yet been bumped past 500 by the Marketing team), Frontend still routes them to Checkout. Backend POST /calculate-cart acts as source of truth at Checkout time and automatically calculates the correct price (standard base price if the Founder cohort is actually full). NO error popup is shown to the user on the Marketing site. Since Sanity's seat count is now a manually-updated value (not a live backend read), this display-vs-checkout mismatch window depends on how promptly the Marketing team updates Sanity, rather than on ISR/cache revalidation timing.
  • Buttons:
    • Begin The Associate Track: Click opens the Checkout flow (same tab, Source: QnA_STAGE1_CHECKOUT_ONBOARDING.md, STAGE1-056) (or changes to "Join Waitlist" opening the Waitlist form, same tab, if the Sanity-configured signup-gate variable indicates signups are closed, Ref: CR-20260731-002, supersedes MKT-36's Backend-flag-driven wording).
    • Talk to Us: Auto-opens the default mail client (mailto:support@stacktrading.com).
• Institutional Infrastructure & Regulatory Footer:
  • Logo Ticker: Scrolling marquee effect (Link motion). NinjaTrader is replaced by TradeSea. (Ref: MKT-29, MKT-39).
  • Trustpilot (Micro Combo): Frontend calls proxy API GET /community/trustpilot-stats (60-minute cache) to fetch real-time TrustScore and total reviews (to avoid exposing the API key on the FE, per MKT-04). The UI displays the Trustpilot logo, 5 green stars, and review count. Unlike the footer, the Trustpilot widget in this section is for view-only; there is NO hover effect and it is NOT clickable. As with the footer instance, this data is only refreshed on page load and reused for up to 60 minutes (no live/real-time update while the page stays open) — see UC_1.1.1 §6 "Trustpilot Widget (Micro Combo)". This widget is a required component; on fetch failure it must hide or keep showing the last cached score/count, never a broken state.
  • NFA ID: Text reads "Stack Trading Brokerage LLC is a member of NFA and is subject to NFA regulatory oversight and examinations. NFA ID: 0580183".

6. Exceptional Flows

7. Business Rules

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UC_1.3.2 — Live Payout Ledger

1. Overview

2. Trigger

User views the section containing the Payout Ledger ticker.

3. Pre-conditions

• The backend cron job is active and syncing blockchain events.

4. Post-conditions

• The ticker smoothly and continuously scrolls the latest 50 payouts, looping without ever coming to a stop.

5. Basic Flow & UI Rules

1. API Integration:

   • Frontend polls the GET /public/ledger endpoint every 5 minutes. This is a plain REST poll (no WebSocket or other push channel). All clients poll on the same synchronized, system-wide schedule (aligned to fixed intervals rather than offset from each individual page-load time), so concurrent visitors' ledgers stay in lock-step and do not drift apart based on when each one happened to load the page.
   • Full-Snapshot Replacement — no delta, no client-side dedup: GET /public/ledger always returns a fixed set of exactly the 50 latest transactions (never a delta of "the 2–3 new ones"). The backend does not track what any individual client has already displayed. On each refresh the frontend performs one simple operation: discard the entire 50-item set held in browser memory, load the new 50-item set, and restart the scroll loop from the bottom (§5.4). The frontend must not implement tx_hash diffing, insert-position calculation, or any other old-vs-new comparison algorithm — this is a deliberate performance decision (BR_1.3.2.8), chosen so motion stays smooth without the frontend carrying reconciliation logic.
   • Backend queries Polygon event logs (via Alchemy) for CorporateMetricVerified events and returns: (a) total_verified_milestones — the all-time count of every event ever emitted, and (b) recent_events — the 50 most recent logs ever emitted (i.e., always the latest 50 across the entire on-chain history, not merely whatever occurred within the last 5-minute window). The combined payload is cached server-side with a 5-minute TTL.
   • Initial Load: On first page load, the frontend must immediately render the full response (all 50 items) as soon as it arrives — the ticker must look full and active the moment the page loads. It must not start from an empty container and animate items in one at a time. The continuous scroll loop (§5.4) then starts from this already-populated state.
   • No New Data on a Poll Cycle: If a given 5-minute poll returns the same 50 recent_events as the previous cycle (no new transactions occurred), the frontend performs no replacement and no loop restart — the continuous loop (§5.4) simply keeps running on the set already in memory, with no re-render, no flicker, and no visible reset. The ticker therefore never comes to a stop while waiting for new data (BR_1.3.2.7).
   • Motion-Bound Polling (fetching follows motion): The 5-minute poll runs only while the ticker is in motion. Any interaction that stops auto-scroll — hover pause, manual-scroll pause, or mobile tap-pause (§5.5) — also suspends background fetching; the frontend does not fetch, buffer, or queue data while paused. When motion restarts, the frontend fires a fetch immediately at that moment to retrieve the latest transactions rather than waiting for the next scheduled tick, then realigns to the shared system-wide schedule. Consequence: a paused ledger is a frozen snapshot — it never silently accumulates unseen rows in the background.
   • Tab Refocus: If the browser tab was backgrounded (inactive) and the user returns to it after the 5-minute interval has lapsed, the frontend refreshes the ledger data immediately upon regaining focus, rather than waiting for the next scheduled poll tick. This applies only when the ticker is in its live (in-motion) state; if the feed was left paused, refocus does not trigger a fetch — the pause takes precedence, and data only refreshes when motion restarts per §5.5.

2. Header & Status Bar:

   • Heading: "Live Cryptographic Ledger" with descriptive subtext. (Motion reference)
   • Status Bar: Displays "Global Payout Fulfillment: 🔒 100%" and dynamically shows total "Verified Milestones".

3. Traders List (Ledger Cards):

   • Card Data: Trader wallet snippet (e.g., Trader 0x1234abcd), milestone type (e.g., Equity bonus, W2 Offer Executed), timestamp, and date.
   • Timestamp Display Format: The backend returns the raw event timestamp as a UTC time string; the frontend parses it and renders it into two separate UI elements, each with independent formatting rules — the wireframe's placeholder text showing a combined time+date in both fields for every row was a designer error and must not be implemented as-is:
     • Clock Icon Field (Time): Under 24 hours old → relative time (e.g., "5 minutes ago", "2 hours ago"). Over 24 hours old → static absolute UTC time (e.g., "20:39 UTC").
     • Calendar Icon Field (Date): Always the absolute UTC date only, formatted as "28 Feb, 2026" — this field never includes a time component, regardless of transaction age.
   • Action: Verify On-Chain button. Clicking this redirects the user externally to Polygonscan. The frontend must append the unique transaction hash provided in the API payload to the base Polygonscan URL. This link must open in a separate browser tab to display the permanent cryptographic receipt.
   • Low-Volume Display: If fewer than 50 transactions exist system-wide (e.g., shortly after launch), the ticker renders exactly the number of real transactions available — it must not pad the list with placeholder/duplicate rows. The container's layout/styling should be designed so a shorter list still looks intentional rather than visibly empty. The continuous loop (§5.4) then cycles over whatever smaller set exists, at the same speed and cadence.
   • Ledger Caption (optional, pending client confirm): A small caption may be placed directly beneath the ticker to set the user's expectation that the list is a periodically-refreshed sample rather than a live tape — proposed wording: "Showing the latest 50 payout transactions, updated every 5 minutes." This exists to pre-empt the "why am I seeing the same timestamps again" reaction produced by the continuous loop (BR_1.3.2.7). ❓ Proposed by Adrian as conditional ("if needed") — final copy and whether to display it at all are not yet confirmed.

4. Motion Logic — Continuous Loop (Marquee):

   • Motion Direction: The ticker runs as a bottom-to-top marquee — rows are fed in at the bottom edge of the container and travel upward, exiting at the top. The 50-item set is fed in newest-first, so at steady state the most recent transaction is the one nearest the top.
   • Continuous Loop (never freezes): The set of 50 is looped infinitely. When the last (oldest) item of the set has entered at the bottom and the backend still has no newer data, the frontend does not stop: it wraps back to the start of the same 50-item set and keeps feeding rows in from the bottom, producing a seamless loop with no visible stop, gap, or reset jump. A user landing on the page one minute into a 5-minute cache cycle must still see continuous motion for the remaining four minutes — a frozen ticker reads as a broken page and is explicitly rejected (BR_1.3.2.7).
   • Refresh Handoff: When a poll returns a changed 50-item set, the old set is dropped from memory in full and the loop restarts from the bottom with the new set (§5.1 "Full-Snapshot Replacement"). There is no per-row insertion animation and no catch-up replay.
   • Speed & Cadence (staggered): Scroll speed must be slow enough that every row is fully legible while it moves — the reference design video's speed produces motion blur and unreadable rows and must not be reproduced frame-for-frame. Each row follows a staggered rhythm: it appears → travels → holds for a short beat so the user can actually read the payout → then continues. The goal is that a visitor genuinely reads real payout lines, not that the animation matches the mockup's tempo (BR_1.3.2.9).
   • Row Exit: Rows leave via the same gradual scroll/fade-out motion at the top edge — never an instant delete — so the loop stays visually smooth at both ends.
   • Scroll Thumb: Pinned to the top during live operation.

5. User Interaction Modes: Motion and data fetching are bound together: whenever auto-scroll stops, background fetching stops with it; whenever motion restarts, a fetch fires immediately at that moment (see §5.1 "Motion-Bound Polling", BR_1.3.2.5). There are two distinct pause states, which must not be merged in implementation:

   • (a) Hover Pause — desktop only, temporary and self-releasing
     • Applies only while the feed is at the top edge (live state). If the user scrolls down instead, the interaction is handled by (b).
     • Cursor enters the container: auto-scroll pauses and background fetching stops. No Resume Live Feed button appears — this state releases itself.
     • Cursor leaves the container: auto-scroll reactivates and a fetch fires immediately to retrieve the latest transactions. The view is already at the top edge, so no snap or fast-forward animation occurs. The loop resumes from the exact position it was frozen at (unless the fetch returns a changed set, in which case §5.4 "Refresh Handoff" applies).
   • (b) Manual Scroll Pause — desktop, explicit and requires user action to release
     • User scrolls down: auto-scroll terminates, the Resume Live Feed action button appears at the top of the container (in-page, no navigation), and background fetching stops.
     • Click Resume Live Feed: the view snaps instantly to the top edge, auto-scroll reactivates, and a fetch fires immediately to retrieve the latest transactions. This snap is a direct jump to the latest state regardless of how many transactions accumulated while paused — there is no catch-up animation replaying the missed transactions one by one.
     • Moving the cursor out of the container does not release this state — only the button does.
   • (c) Hover-arming rule — prevents (a) and (b) from conflicting
     • A hover pause is edge-triggered: it fires only on an outside → inside cursor transition. If the cursor is already resting inside the container at the moment the feed enters live state (e.g., the user clicks Resume Live Feed without moving the mouse away), auto-scroll runs normally and is not immediately re-paused; it pauses again only once the user moves the cursor out and back in.
     • An inside → outside transition never stops auto-scroll — it can only release an already-active hover pause.
   • (d) Tap — mobile/tablet, no hover capability: A single tap on the container pauses auto-scroll and stops background fetching, using the same Resume Live Feed button pattern as desktop manual-scroll (b) — tapping the button resumes motion and fires an immediate fetch. Modes (a) and (c) have no mobile equivalent, since there is no hover state to arm.

6. State Transition Indicator:

   • Snap to Present: When snapping back to the top edge, the ledger container background executes a 400ms pulse using the brand accent color to visually communicate that the feed is live again.
   • The same pulse also fires on hover release (§5.5(a)), where the view is already at the top edge and no scroll movement occurs — there, the pulse is the only cue that motion and fetching have resumed.

7. How Verification Works (Modal):

   • Trigger: User clicks the How Verification Works button (in-page, no navigation).
   • Action: Opens a popup modal titled "Cryptographic Verification".
   • Content: Static text explaining the Polygon blockchain immutable receipt printer. Contains a Dismiss button to close the modal.

6. Exceptional Flows

7. Business Rules

---

UC_1.3.3 — Trustpilot Reviews & Community

1. Overview

2. Trigger

User views the Community/Reviews section on the Homepage or utilities page.

3. Pre-conditions

• Trustpilot proxy endpoints are available.

4. Post-conditions

• Trustpilot data is securely fetched and rendered.

5. Basic Flow & UI Rules

• Trader Count Display:
  • The Marketing team manually updates the raw number in Sanity CMS (founder_count) daily (Ref: CR-20260731-001 — no BE/DB fetch for this display). The system applies a Math.floor function down to the nearest hundred (e.g., 520 becomes "500+", 1245 becomes "1200+") and Sanity outputs the final calculated result from that manually-set value.
  • If founder_count < 500: displays the exact text: "Join now and build your career with Stack".
  • If founder_count >= 500: displays the exact text: "Join [calculated_number]+ traders building their careers with Stack" (Source: MKT-01, MKT-16).
• Trustpilot Data Fetching:
  • Frontend fetches data via two backend proxy endpoints to mask the Trustpilot API Key:
    • GET /community/trustpilot-stats: fetches aggregate score for the TrustBox widget.
    • GET /community/testimonials: fetches detailed reviews for the slider (Source: MKT-04).
  • Fetch timing (no real-time listener): Neither endpoint is pushed/streamed to the client. Both are only called when a page is loaded, and the resulting data is cached and reused for up to 60 minutes before the backend fetches again. If a user keeps the page open, no new review or score will appear on its own — the user must reload the page (F5) to get a fresh result, and even then the result reflects whichever cache window the backend last refreshed. This applies to both endpoints (the score/count endpoint's 60-minute cache was already documented; the same cache window now also applies to the testimonials endpoint) (Source: Slack thread 2026-07 — Adam Culver: "Trustpilot is loaded on demand and using cache... limit it to run a maximum once every hour"; Adrian: "A manual page refresh is required to see new cached reviews"; QnA_TRUSTPILOT_UIUX.md TP-A11).
  • Independent data sources — possible temporary mismatch: because the score/count widget and the testimonial slider are fetched by two separate calls (not guaranteed to happen at the same instant), it is expected/acceptable that the displayed score may reflect a review that has not yet appeared in the slider, or vice versa, for a short time. This is not a bug.
• Testimonial Slider UI:
  • Max item count: Displays a maximum of twenty (20) recent 4-star or 5-star reviews (increased from the previously documented 12 — Source: Slack thread 2026-07, Adam Culver: "I would pull up to either 20 or the max whichever is lower"; Adrian: "cap the final payload at the 20 most recent items"; QnA_TRUSTPILOT_UIUX.md TP-A12). Filtering and capping are done entirely by the backend — the GET /community/testimonials response is already filtered to 4-5 star only and already capped at 20 most-recent items before it reaches the frontend. The frontend must render exactly whatever array it receives (up to 20 items) and must not re-filter, re-sort, or re-cap it itself. Even if 50-100 new valid reviews are posted on Trustpilot within a single hour, the backend still only returns the 20 most recent — the frontend will never receive more than 20 items to display.
  • Eviction: When a new valid review arrives (reflected on the next fetch, per the timing rule above), the oldest of the current set is pushed out so the total stays at the cap (Source: MKT-33, updated count per TP-A12).
  • Hide Rule: If there are fewer than 3 total reviews, the entire Trustpilot block is hidden (Source: MKT-09).
  • Long review text: If a review's text is long enough to otherwise stretch the card, the card shows a "Read More" button instead of expanding the card's height. Card heights must stay uniform across the slider (Source: Slack thread 2026-07 — Adam Culver: "read more button is perfectly adequate"; Adrian: "A 'Read More' button is fine to manage card heights"; QnA_TRUSTPILOT_UIUX.md TP-A13).
  • Language filtering (Day 1 scope): Only English-language reviews are fetched/displayed at this stage. Reviews in other languages are filtered out (by the backend) and never reach the frontend. No translation logic is implemented in this phase; multi-language/geolocation-based display is a possible future phase, not part of the current scope (Source: Slack thread 2026-07 — Adam Culver: "day 1 lets do all english... don't want to implement heavy translate logic right now"; QnA_TRUSTPILOT_UIUX.md TP-A14).
  • Layout: The center card is always highlighted with distinct color/lighting effects, while the side cards maintain a dark background. There is no hover effect required.
  • Interaction: The carousel slides by exactly 1 item per interaction. Review blocks are view-only (not clickable).
  • Button Action: Clicking "Read All Reviews on Trustpilot" redirects the user to the official Stack Trading Trustpilot profile (https://www.trustpilot.com/review/stacktrading.com) in a new browser tab (target="_blank") (Source: MKT-33).

6. Exceptional Flows

7. Business Rules

---

UC_1.3.4 — Dynamic Content (Sanity CMS)

1. Overview

2. Trigger

User scrolls to the dynamic content sections on the Homepage.

3. Pre-conditions

• Data is populated in Sanity CMS.

4. Post-conditions

• The frontend fetches and renders the CMS content.

5. Basic Flow & UI Rules

• General Sanity Fetching:
  • Next.js fetches data from the Sanity CMS API using standard template layouts (Source: MKT-05).
  • Dummy data is temporarily rendered if content is lacking until the client populates it via CMS (Source: MKT-06, MKT-22).
• From The Trading Floor (Insights Hub):
  • Renders a slider/carousel of recent news/insights.
  • Data Source: The posts shown in this slider are the same posts curated in the "Most Popular" widget on the Insights Hub page (UC_1.8.5 §5.1 item 3). This is not a separate homepage-only content set — the ranking/selection is manually curated by the Admin via Sanity CMS on the Insights Hub, and the Homepage slider simply mirrors that same curated set/order.
  • Card Data: Each insight card displays a cover image, publication date, read time, title, short description snippet, and author information (avatar, name, role).
  • Interaction (Arrows): Users can navigate left and right using the circular arrow icons located at the bottom right (in-page, no navigation). Hovering over the arrows changes their opacity/color.
  • Interaction (Cards): Hovering over an insight card triggers a slight lift/scale effect. Clicking on the card redirects (same tab) the user to the specific Insights Hub Article Detail page for that post.
  • Button: View all News button (top right) opens (same tab) the Insights Hub page.
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):
  • Renders a list of FAQs in an accordion format.
  • Data Source (Ref: CR-20260817-001): The items shown are the ones an editor has explicitly selected for the home page in the Sanity page-FAQ settings tab — per-item picks from the single master "All FAQ list", in the editor's chosen order. Full mechanism defined once at UC_1.8.8 §4.9 "Page-FAQ Mapping"/BR_1.8.8.5. The Homepage does not query an FAQ category. (Superseded: the previous model gave each screen its own FAQ category and rendered every item tagged with it.)
  • Interaction (Accordion): By default, all FAQ items are collapsed (closed) with a chevron down icon (v). When a user clicks on an item, the accordion expands downward to reveal the answer text, and the chevron flips up (^). Clicking an expanded item collapses it back (in-page, no navigation).
  • Button: View all FAQs button (top right) opens (same tab) the Help Center / FAQ page.

6. Exceptional Flows

7. Business Rules

---

1.4. The Associate Track

UC_1.4.1 — Static Components (Next.js) (CR-20260726-004)

1. Overview

2. Trigger

User navigates to the Associate Track page (/associate-track). Known entry points include: the Header and Footer "Associate Track" links (UC_1.1.1 §6), the Homepage's Start Associate Track / Explore Career Path teaser and Pre-Footer CTA buttons (UC_1.3.1 §5), the Career Path page's Start Associate Track button (UC_1.5.1 §3 item 1), the About Us page's Review The Associate Track and Pre-Footer CTA buttons (UC_1.6.1 §3 items 1, 7), and the Help Center's "Are You Looking For More?" → "The Associate Track" card (UC_1.8.8 §4.7).

3. Basic Flow & UI Rules

1. Hero Section (MKT-27):

   • Data Source (Ref: CR-20260731-001): founder_count and both prices (standard + discounted) are configured directly in Sanity. The Marketing team types in the seat number manually (updated daily); the FE only reads it on page load/refresh. No Backend API / DB fetch is used for this display.

   • Glossary — the 3 numbers used in this section (read this before the flow below):

     Term	Meaning	Where it comes from
     500	Total size of the Founding Member cohort. A fixed constant — it never changes.	Hardcoded
     founder_count	How many people have already bought a Founding Member package (= seats already taken).	Sanity field, updated manually by Marketing
     count	The number shown on the ribbon = how many seats are still free. Calculated by the FE: count = 500 − founder_count.	Derived, not stored

     Worked example: Marketing sets founder_count = 120 in Sanity → the FE computes count = 500 − 120 = 380 → the ribbon shows "Spots Remaining: 380/500" (380 seats left out of 500 total).

   • Rendered with 2 variations, switched by the Sanity-configured founder_count: Version 1 while the Founding cohort is not yet sold out (founder_count <= 500), Version 2 once it is (founder_count > 500).

     • Version 1 (founder_count <= 500 — Founding Member pricing still open):
       • Top Ribbon: "Spots Remaining: [count]/500" — where count = 500 − founder_count as defined in the glossary above. (Superseded fetch mechanism: founder_count was formerly fetched via GET /system/status per MKT-02; it is now read from Sanity.)
       • "Chunk Filling Up" progress bar: no smooth animation — the bar jumps between 5 fixed steps. The FE picks the step from count (the remaining seats, not founder_count). The fuller the bar, the fewer seats are left:
         • count 451–500 (i.e. 0–49 seats sold) → bar filled 0%, green
         • count 351–450 (i.e. 50–149 sold) → bar filled 20%, green
         • count 251–350 (i.e. 150–249 sold) → bar filled 40%, green
         • count 151–250 (i.e. 250–349 sold) → bar filled 60%, green
         • count <= 150 (i.e. 350+ sold) → bar filled 80%, red
       • Header: "Founding Member Rate".
       • Price Anchor: "Evaluations starting at $650 $499" — both the struck-through standard price ($650) and the discounted price ($499) are pre-configured in Sanity; the FE only displays them, it does not calculate the discount.
       • CTA: Claim My Founding Member Seat — clicking opens the Checkout flow in the same tab (Source: QnA_STAGE1_CHECKOUT_ONBOARDING.md, STAGE1-056).
     • Version 2 (founder_count > 500 — Founding cohort sold out, standard pricing): Top Ribbon: "★ Backed by Firm Capital" (no seat counter, no progress bar), Header: "The Associate Track", Price Anchor: "Evaluations starting at $650" (no strike-through / no discount), CTA: Start Associate Track (Clicking opens Checkout flow, same tab).
2. Backed by institutional infrastructure: Renders a view-only ticker of supported platform logos (TradeSea, Mastercard, TraderEvolution, ATAS, Quantower, Sierra Chart) and the Trustpilot micro-combo with NFA ID below it (same as UC_1.3.1).
3. The Performance Protocol: Displays a detailed rules table containing rows for Starting Capital, Profit Target (14%), Maximum Drawdown (7.5% Absolute), Time Limit (60 Days), Commissions, Daily Stop, Activation Fees, and Monthly Desk Fees. The "Starting Capital" value dynamically displays based on tiers (e.g., "$25K / 8 Micros" up to "$150K / 7 ES") — these tier values are Sanity-configured content, not fetched from the Backend/Table A/B (Ref: CR-20260731-001; superseded fetch mechanism, Source: MKT-28).
   • Button: Claim My Founding Member Seat (Version 1) or Start Associate Track (Version 2). Clicking opens Checkout flow (same tab).
4. Zero Artificial Constraints: Renders a side-by-side comparison between "Commodity Prop Firms" (Trailing Drawdown, Consistency Rule Violation, News Trading Prohibited) and "Stack Trading" (Static Floor, Passed. No Outlier Penalty, News Trading Allowed). Includes 4 descriptive icon blocks below (No Trailing Stops, No Consistency Rules, News and Overnight Allowed, Algorithmic Edge Welcome).
   • Button: Claim My Founding Member Seat (Version 1) or Start Associate Track (Version 2). Clicking opens Checkout flow (same tab).
5. Institutional Infrastructure: Static grid displaying 7 supported platforms (Quantower, ATAS, MotiveWave, Sierra Chart, TradeSea, TradingView, MetaTrader 5). Includes 3 descriptive icon blocks below (Futures Data, Immediate Access, Zero Platform Overhead). Note: NinjaTrader is replaced by TradeSea (Source: MKT-29, MKT-39).
   • Button: Claim My Founding Member Seat (Version 1) or Start Associate Track (Version 2). Clicking opens Checkout flow (same tab, Source: QnA_STAGE1_CHECKOUT_ONBOARDING.md, STAGE1-056).
6. The Career Path (Teaser): Renders the section header "The Career Path", the timeline graph, the 4 static milestone cards, and 3 informative cards. (Details in UC_1.5.2 §2 step 2 for interactive behavior and the canonical copy of every block below.)
   • Section Sub-Headline: "Your evaluation is just the starting line. It is your entrance exam to securing an institutional level book." (Ref: MKT-30 item 1.) Confirmed to appear on this teaser as well, identical to the Career Path page (Ref: MKT-44, 2026-08-24) — MKT-30 originally scoped this string to the Career Path page only; MKT-44 extends it to this UC. As on UC_1.5.2, it replaces the old "The $499 entry fee…" sub-headline, which must not appear anywhere on this page either.
   • Milestone Cards (static row below the graph): 4 cards — Level 1 "$25K Start", Level 6 "W-2 Employee", Level 9 "Drawdown Defense Active", Level 24 "$75M Book". Same content and Sanity/hardcode split as UC_1.5.2 §2 step 2.
   • Supporting Content Cards (3 blocks): Card 1 "The W2 Career Scaling Plan", Card 2 "Immutable, Code-Driven Payouts", Card 3 "Absolute Cash Over Fake Percentages". This teaser renders all 3 cards in full — it is not a reduced/short version of the Career Path section; content is identical on both pages (Ref: MKT-44, 2026-08-24). Full copy is therefore authored once in UC_1.5.2 §2 step 2 and must not be re-typed here — see §6 Cross-Reference Notes. Card 1's final-design "from $25,000" wording (which overrides MKT-30 item 2, Ref: MKT-45), Card 3's description paragraph, Card 3's Sanity editable-row-list rule and its preserved label mismatch (BR_1.5.2.4, Ref: MKT-43), and E_1.5.2.6 (variable row count) all apply identically on this page.
   • Motion Rules: Link motion.
   • Info (i) Icon Hover (Ref: CR-10): Hovering over the top-right "Info (i)" icon displays a tooltip with the explicit "Risk and Compensation Disclaimer": "Trading financial markets involves a high degree of risk and is inherently difficult. Only a small number of elite traders will successfully reach the upper levels. Scaling to level 20+ will be exceptionally difficult and likely take years to achieve.As allocated notional capital and contract sizes scale into the millions, traders face substantial slippage risk. Large volume orders are subject to market liquidity constraints, resulting in execution prices that can materially differ from quoted prices.W2 employment, including base salary and benefits, is offered upon reaching Level 6. Any base salary factored into cumulative compensation figures assumes a progression duration average of two months per level. Actual progression times will vary based on individual performance, which will directly impact total accumulated earnings."
   • Timeline Hover Nodes: The graph contains highlighted yellow dots corresponding to key milestones. Hovering over a node displays text that is dynamically injected with the level's specific capital and salary values, sourced from Sanity CMS (same source as UC_1.5.2's Interactive Timeline data) rather than fetched from the Backend/Table A/B (Ref: CR-20260731-001). Since this data now lives in Sanity rather than being live-synced from Table A/B, keeping these values consistent with the Zapier tables is a manual content-maintenance responsibility, not an automatic sync. The templates are:
     • Node Level 1: "Associate Track Entry. Start here to unlock [Capital Amount] in firm-backed capital upon passing."
     • Node Level 2: "Accelerated Track Entry. Bypass Level 1 entirely. Unlock [Capital Amount] in firm-backed capital upon passing."
     • Node Level 4: "Level 4: [Capital Amount] Book. [Capital Amount] in capital as an Associate Trader."
     • Node Level 5: "Advanced Track Entry. The ultimate shortcut. Bypass Levels 1-4. Start with [Capital Amount] and sit exactly 1 promotion away from a W-2 Salary."
     • Node Level 6 (W-2): "Level 6: W-2 Employee. Reach Level 6 to unlock W-2 employment, a guaranteed base salary, and comprehensive health benefits."
     • Node Level 9 (Drawdown Defense): "Level 9: Drawdown Defense Active. Your drawdown limit does not trigger immediate termination. Stay active to regain your edge."
     • Node Level 16: "Level 16: [Capital Amount] Book. [Capital Amount] in capital as a Senior Trader."
     • Node Level 22: "Level 22: [Capital Amount] Book. [Capital Amount] in capital as a Managing Principal Trader."
     • Node $20M line: "[Capital Amount] Book. [Capital Amount] in capital managing institutional volume."
     • Node Level 24: "Level 24: [Capital Amount] Book. [Capital Amount] in capital as a Managing Principal Trader with [Salary Amount]+ salary and full corporate benefits."
   • Button: Claim My Founding Member Seat (Version 1) or Start Associate Track (Version 2). Clicking opens Checkout flow (same tab).
7. Pre-Footer CTA "Stop Gambling. Start Your Career" (MKT-31):
   • Contains a background slow gradient blur motion effect with the text "Stop Gambling. Start Your Career." and a sub-headline "Join the only prop firm built for trader success, not trader failure." (Same motion rules as UC_1.3.1).
   • Data Source (Ref: CR-20260731-001): Same as UC_1.3.1 Pre-Footer CTA — founder_count and both price values are Sanity-configured, no BE/DB fetch.
   • Layout Variations (based on the Sanity-configured founder_count):
     • Version 1 (<= 500 slots): Glass box text shows "$650 $499 | Associate Track Entry". Primary button text is "Begin The Associate Track - $499".
     • Version 2 (> 500 slots): Glass box text shows "Evaluations starting at $650". Primary button text is "Begin The Associate Track" (price removed).
   • Buttons: Talk to Us (Opens Contact flow/Intercom, in-page, no navigation), and Begin The Associate Track (Opens Checkout flow, same tab).
   • Subtext is positioned completely below the glass box for better readability. Same layout rules as UC_1.3.1.

4. Business Rules

5. Exceptional Flows

6. Cross-Reference Notes

• Timeline hover-node text (§6) and its disclaimer tooltip are duplicated verbatim in UC_1.5.2 - Timeline Graph. Any future content change must be applied consistently in both places, or refactored into a single shared source to avoid drift.
• The Career Path Teaser's sub-headline, 4 milestone cards, and 3 supporting content cards (§3 item 6) are deliberately not duplicated here — UC_1.5.2 §2 step 2 is the single canonical source for their copy, precisely to avoid the drift risk that the hover-node duplication above already carries. Only the block names and cross-links live in this UC.

UC_1.4.2 — Trustpilot Reviews

1. Overview

2. Basic Flow

1. Refer to UC_1.3.3 for full API fetching, slider behavior, and data limits (Source: MKT-04, MKT-09, MKT-33).
2. Renders 3 cards. Center card is highlighted. Slider arrows load previous/next reviews. View-only cards.

3. Exceptional Flows

4. Business Rules

---

1.5. The Career Path

UC_1.5.1 — Static Components (Next.js)

1. Overview

2. Trigger

User navigates to the Career Path page (/career-path). Known entry points include: the Header and Footer "Career Path" links (UC_1.1.1 §6), the Homepage's Explore Career Path button (UC_1.3.1 §5 "Real Capital → W-2 Career Path"), the Trading Floor page's Explore the Career Path button (UC_1.8.2 §5 item 7), and the Help Center's "Are You Looking For More?" → "The Career Path" card (UC_1.8.8 §4.7).

3. Basic Flow & UI Rules

1. Hero Section:
   • Displays header "From Funded Trader to Full-Time Employee".
   • Buttons:
     • Start Associate Track: Clicking opens the Checkout flow (same tab, Source: QnA_STAGE1_CHECKOUT_ONBOARDING.md, STAGE1-056). (If the Sanity-configured signup-gate variable indicates signups are closed, the button text changes to "Join Waitlist" and opens the Waitlist form (same tab), Ref: CR-20260731-002, supersedes MKT-36's Backend-flag-driven wording).
     • See The Rules: Clicking redirects the user (same tab) to the Rules Page (/rules).
2. Institutional Infrastructure:
   • Displays the scrolling logo ticker and Trustpilot Micro Combo widget.
   • For detailed layout, interactions, and rules, refer to UC_1.3.1 - Institutional Infrastructure.
3. Level 6: Welcome to the Payroll: Renders static text blocks with specific details:
   • Header Subtext: "At Level 6, you are no longer a contractor. You are an employee. Stack Trading is the only prop firm that offers this path. We are looking for traders who want careers, not gambles."
   • Monthly Base Salary Block: Displays a glass card showing "Monthly Base Salary: $2,578 with benefits". Includes badge "Trader (Lvl 6)". Below it, shows "Profit target: 9.4%" and "Bonus paid: $2,350". Info subtext below reads: "Base with benefits is exclusively available to US residents. Health benefits may vary by state."
   • Tailored Compensation: "You are onboarded into our HR system for regular direct deposit. You control your schedule by selecting your trading hours up to 35 per week. US residents choose between a standard Base Salary with health benefits or a higher Flex Cash base if you already have coverage."
   • Global Retainer & Crypto: "International traders remain independent contractors but unlock a guaranteed monthly retainer equivalent to the Flex Cash base. You receive full access to pod leadership, drawdown defense, and optional crypto payments for both your retainer and achieved bonuses."
   • The 90-Day Standard: "You are joining a professional desk. We fund active risk deployment. To maintain your seat and base capital, you have a maximum of 90 days to hit your profit target and advance to the next tier. We back traders who push forward."
   • Protected Time Off: "Markets never sleep, but you need to. Starting at Level 6, you earn Paid Time Off. When you take approved PTO, your 90-day performance clock is paused. You do not lose days, and you do not bleed capital while you recharge."
4. Community, Not Competition: Renders static cards with specific details:
   • Header Subtext: "Trading is hard enough alone. Stack Trading pairs you with structured mentorship, professional pods, and a community that's built to help you advance, not just chat."
   • Button: Join The Trading Floor - clicking leads directly (same tab) to the Trading Floor / Community Page.
   • Trading Pods: "Level 1 to 5 talent is grouped into structured pods for daily accountability and guidance. Reach Level 7, and you can lead a pod. You will mentor new talent and earn a direct cut of their profit bonuses as they succeed."
   • The Stack Summit: "Annual retreats for Level 10+. Monaco. Cabo. Miami. Network with the best minds in the firm."
   • Ambassador Sponsorships: "Unlock exclusive lifestyle assets and brand packages as you climb the ranks. Performance deserves recognition."
   • Elite Access: "Direct access to firm-wide strategy chats, Pod channels, and level-specific communication hubs."
5. We Protect Careers, Not Just Accounts:
   • Explains "Drawdown Defense" (automatically flattening positions to prevent blowing up the account) and "The Circuit Breaker" (pausing trading privileges temporarily to protect mental capital during a losing streak) using static charts/graphics.
6. Community / Social Proof (Join 12,000+ traders):
   • Displays the orbital avatar UI with the "View Community" button.
   • For detailed text content, subtext, and dynamic Sanity CMS founder_count logic, refer to UC_1.3.1 - Community / Social Proof.
7. Pre-Footer CTA ("Ready to Prove Your Edge?"):
   • Header: "Ready to Prove Your Edge?"
   • Subtext ("Join 12,000+ traders..."): Displays "Join 12,000+ traders building their careers with Stack." For the dynamic calculation logic of this number based on founder_count, refer to UC_1.3.1 - Community / Social Proof.
   • Motion: Applies the exact same scrolling text highlight motion effect as the "Stop Gambling. Start Your Career" section in UC_1.3.1 - Pre-Footer CTA.
   • Button Action: The button displays Begin Evaluation. Clicking opens the Checkout flow (same tab, Source: QnA_STAGE1_CHECKOUT_ONBOARDING.md, STAGE1-056).
   • Waitlist Mode (Ref: CR-20260731-002): If the Sanity-configured signup-gate variable indicates signups are closed, the button text changes to "Join Waitlist" and routes (same tab) to the Waitlist form.
   • Features Row: Displays text "NFA Regulated • 60-day evaluation • Real capital upon funding" at the bottom of the card. This text block runs a small scrolling motion effect exactly as defined in UC_1.3.1 - Pre-Footer CTA.

4. Exceptional Flows

5. Business Rules

UC_1.5.2 — Interactive Timeline (Sanity CMS) (CR-20260726-004, CR-20260731-001)

1. Overview

2. Basic Flow & UI Rules

1. Data Fetching (Ref: CR-20260731-001, supersedes MKT-17): Frontend fetches pricing and level configurations directly from Sanity CMS — no ISR fetch to a backend database, no Zapier Table A/B sync involved in the Marketing-site display path. The BA/Marketing team is responsible for keeping the Sanity-authored level data manually aligned with the Zapier Table A/B/J values used by Checkout/Backend, since there is no automatic sync between the two once the display source moved to Sanity.
2. "The Career Path" Section — Timeline Graph + Supporting Cards (MKT-30):

   • Section Header: "The Career Path".

   • Section Sub-Headline (Ref: MKT-30 item 1): "Your evaluation is just the starting line. It is your entrance exam to securing an institutional level book." This copy replaces the previous sub-headline that began with "The $499 entry fee…" — the old string must not appear anywhere on the page (Source: Tiered Price Points PDF, QnA MKT-30, 2026-07-24). Hardcoded text, not Sanity.

   • Renders a spline graph representing capital growth from $25K to $75M.

   • Motion Rules: Link motion.

   • Info (i) Icon Hover (Ref: CR-10): Hovering over the top-right "Info (i)" icon displays a tooltip with the explicit "Risk and Compensation Disclaimer": "Trading financial markets involves a high degree of risk and is inherently difficult. Only a small number of elite traders will successfully reach the upper levels. Scaling to level 20+ will be exceptionally difficult and likely take years to achieve.As allocated notional capital and contract sizes scale into the millions, traders face substantial slippage risk. Large volume orders are subject to market liquidity constraints, resulting in execution prices that can materially differ from quoted prices.W2 employment, including base salary and benefits, is offered upon reaching Level 6. Any base salary factored into cumulative compensation figures assumes a progression duration average of two months per level. Actual progression times will vary based on individual performance, which will directly impact total accumulated earnings."

   • Hover States: The graph contains highlighted yellow dots corresponding to key milestones. To prevent hardcoded data mismatch, hovering over a node displays text that is dynamically injected with the level's specific capital and salary values sourced from Sanity CMS (Ref: CR-20260731-001; superseded fetch mechanism — previously the Backend API/Table A/B). The templates are:

     • Node Level 1: "Associate Track Entry. Start here to unlock [Capital Amount] in firm-backed capital upon passing."
     • Node Level 2: "Accelerated Track Entry. Bypass Level 1 entirely. Unlock [Capital Amount] in firm-backed capital upon passing."
     • Node Level 4: "Level 4: [Capital Amount] Book. [Capital Amount] in capital as an Associate Trader."
     • Node Level 5: "Advanced Track Entry. The ultimate shortcut. Bypass Levels 1-4. Start with [Capital Amount] and sit exactly 1 promotion away from a W-2 Salary."
     • Node Level 6 (W-2): "Level 6: W-2 Employee. Reach Level 6 to unlock W-2 employment, a guaranteed base salary, and comprehensive health benefits."
     • Node Level 9 (Drawdown Defense): "Level 9: Drawdown Defense Active. Your drawdown limit does not trigger immediate termination. Stay active to regain your edge."
     • Node Level 16: "Level 16: [Capital Amount] Book. [Capital Amount] in capital as a Senior Trader."
     • Node Level 22: "Level 22: [Capital Amount] Book. [Capital Amount] in capital as a Managing Principal Trader."
     • Node $20M line: "[Capital Amount] Book. [Capital Amount] in capital managing institutional volume."
     • Node Level 24: "Level 24: [Capital Amount] Book. [Capital Amount] in capital as a Managing Principal Trader with [Salary Amount]+ salary and full corporate benefits."

   • Milestone Cards (static row below the graph): A row of 4 static cards summarising the graph's key milestones. Each card shows a Level label plus a short descriptor. These are separate UI from the hover tooltips above (always visible, no hover required) and must stay consistent with them:

     Card	Level label	Descriptor
     1	Level 1	"$25K Start"
     2	Level 6	"W-2 Employee"
     3	Level 9	"Drawdown Defense Active"
     4	Level 24	"$75M Book"

     The two capital figures (\$25K, \$75M) are Sanity values from the same level dataset as the hover nodes and the 24-Levels table (Ref: CR-20260731-001); the level labels and descriptor copy are hardcoded.

   • Supporting Content Cards (3 blocks below the graph): Three informative cards rendered side by side, each opening with a circular gold icon badge above its heading (Card 1 = briefcase, Card 2 = pie chart, Card 3 = framed-image glyph). Card 1 and Card 2 are heading + a single body paragraph, all hardcoded copy; Card 3 is heading + description paragraph + a data row list carrying numeric compensation data (Ref: BR_1.5.2.4). Copy below is transcribed from the final design (BA confirmation, 2026-08-24).

     • Card 1 — "The W2 Career Scaling Plan": "The prop firm industry is built on keeping traders trapped as 1099 contractors in a simulated environment. We are building a proprietary trading desk. Progression through the Associate Track leads to immediate live capital. Advancing to Level 6 triggers W2 employment, complete with a base salary and comprehensive health benefits. You scale your notional buying power from $25,000 all the way to $75,000,000 while building a legitimate career."

       • ⚠️ Documented conflict — final design overrides QnA MKT-30 item 2 (Ref: MKT-45, BA decision 2026-08-24): QnA MKT-30 item 2 (2026-07-24, Tiered Price Points PDF) mandated replacing the fixed "from $25,000" with "from your chosen starting tier", on the rationale that the entry tier varies by the Capital Allocation Path chosen at Checkout (Ref: MKT-26). The final design still carries the original "from $25,000" wording, and the BA has confirmed the final design as the copy to build. The sentence above therefore follows the final design, not MKT-30 item 2. MKT-30 item 2 is recorded as superseded for copy purposes only — items 1 (sub-headline) and 3 (hover-node templates) of MKT-30 remain fully in force. ⚠️ Residual business risk, flagged not resolved: with three Capital Allocation Paths on sale ($25K / $50K / $150K entry, Ref: MKT-26), a hardcoded "from $25,000" understates the entry point for the two higher tiers — re-confirm with the client if this becomes a marketing-accuracy concern.

     • Card 2 — "Immutable, Code-Driven Payouts": "Retail firms use manual review boards to find excuses to deny your payouts. Stack Trading removes human interference entirely. When you hit your target, the bonus is executed automatically via code. There is no manual review, no delay, and no subjective auditing. Every payout and level progression is an immutable record written directly to the blockchain. You earn it, the code verifies it, and the cash clears."

     • Card 3 — "Absolute Cash Over Fake Percentages": Opens with a description paragraph, followed by a Sanity-managed, editable list of cumulative-earnings rows (Ref: MKT-43, see BR_1.5.2.4).

       • Description: "Competitors market 90 percent profit splits on simulated pennies. We market absolute, compounding wealth. Our traders do not chase percentages. They scale massive notional capital and stack hard cash."
       • Row list: Each row shows a Level + role label, a metric label, a parenthetical qualifier, and a dollar figure, with a thin horizontal divider between rows. The Level label and metric label sit left-aligned; the dollar figure is right-aligned on the same baseline as the metric label. Current content at time of writing:

       Level + role label	Metric label	Qualifier	Figure
       Level 10 (Senior Trader 1)	Cumulative Bonuses	(In Addition to Base & Benefits)	$48,178
       Level 14 (Senior Trader 2)	Cumulative Cash	(In Addition to Base & Benefits)	$391,928
       Level 16 (Senior Trader 2)	Cumulative Cash	(In Addition to Base & Benefits)	$969,428

       The role labels are consistent with the firm-wide level→role mapping (Levels 10–13 = Senior Trader 1, Levels 14–17 = Senior Trader 2; Source: Zapier Integration V7.pdf Discord role table). The metric label deliberately differs between the first row ("Cumulative Bonuses") and the other two ("Cumulative Cash") — this mismatch is intentional and must be preserved exactly as designed; do not normalise the two labels to a single wording (Ref: MKT-43c). The 3 rows above are the current content, not a fixed structure — Marketing can add, remove, and reorder rows through Sanity (BR_1.5.2.4), so QC must assert against the published Sanity content rather than against a hardcoded expectation of exactly these 3 levels.

3. 24 Levels of Career Progression Table:
   • Displays a comprehensive table of all 24 levels.
   • Toggle: Users can toggle between "Forex" and "Futures" to switch the displayed Notional and Profit Target/Stop Loss values.
   • Pagination: "View More" button loads additional rows (in-page, no navigation).

3. Exceptional Flows

4. Business Rules

UC_1.5.3 — Trustpilot Reviews

1. Overview

2. Basic Flow

1. Refer to UC_1.3.3 for full API fetching, slider behavior, and data limits.

3. Exceptional Flows

4. Business Rules

UC_1.5.4 — Dynamic Content (Sanity CMS)

1. Overview

2. Basic Flow

1. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Refer to UC_1.3.4 - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for full API fetching logic, accordion UI behavior (hover, click, expand/collapse), and Sanity CMS global editing rules.

3. Exceptional Flows

4. Business Rules

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1.6. About Us

UC_1.6.1 — Static Components (Next.js)

1. Overview

2. Trigger

User navigates to the About Us page (/about-us). Known entry points include: the Header "About Us" link and Footer "Company" column's "About Us" link (UC_1.1.1 §6).

3. Basic Flow & UI Rules

Section order on the page (top → bottom): Hero → Institutional Infrastructure → Radical Transparency → A Return to Standards → Leadership Team (UC_1.6.2) → A Real Floor for Real Operators → Regulated Ambition → Pre-Footer CTA. Note the Sanity-driven Leadership Team block sits between items 4 and 5 below.

1. Hero Section:
   • Eyebrow Badge: A small pill above the header reading "About Us", flanked by decorative glyphs.
   • Header (2 type styles, per the site's standard mixed-serif treatment): "We Built the Firm We Wanted to Trade For" — "Firm We Wanted" is rendered in the italic serif accent style.
   • Company Story: "Stack Trading is a US based proprietary trading firm. No offshore shell companies. Real capital, direct market access, and a clear path to W2 employment."
   • Media: A rounded, soft-shadowed photo of the physical trading floor sits to the right of the copy (desktop). This supports the RFQ's "Real people, real office etc. Not a server in Dubai/island" intent (Source: RFQ_ Website and Dashboard Implementation V7.pdf §Page 10 — About Us).
   • Button: Review the Associate Track - Clicking redirects (same tab) to the Associate Track Page (/associate-track).
2. Institutional Infrastructure:
   • Displays the scrolling logo ticker, Trustpilot Micro Combo widget, and NFA ID text.
   • For detailed layout, logo marquee motion, and Trustpilot real-time fetching logic, refer to UC_1.3.1 - Institutional Infrastructure.
3. Radical Transparency in a Shadowy Industry:
   • Header: "Radical Transparency in a Shadowy Industry" ("a Shadowy Industry" in the italic serif accent style).
   • Text Block: "The retail prop trading space is currently dominated by unregulated entities operating out of island tax havens. Their business models are incentivized on traders failing. We operate entirely differently. We are a regulated onshore entity designed to capture real market alpha. Our business model is reliant on trader success."
   • Comparison Cards (2-up): Below the text block, two side-by-side cards contrast the industry against Stack Trading. Each card has an icon tile at the top-left, a title, and a 4-item bullet list rendered in monospace.
     • Card 1 — "The Industry Standard" (neutral/dark card, each bullet prefixed with an ✗ icon):
       1. "Unregulated offshore entities"
       2. "Zero regulatory oversight"
       3. "Delayed or simulated market data"
       4. "Business model reliant on failed evaluations"
     • Card 2 — "The Stack Trading Standard" (gold-accented card carrying the Stack S logo tile, each bullet prefixed with a ✓ icon):
       1. "US Parent C-Corp, Operating in Texas"
       2. "NFA Registered Introducing Broker"
       3. "CME Level 2 data paid by the firm"
       4. "Business model reliant on trader success"
     • The two cards are visually differentiated (Card 2 uses the gold/warm treatment) so the Stack column reads as the positive side of the comparison.
4. A Return to Standards — Founder's Letter:
   • Header: "A Return to Standards" ("Standards" in the italic serif accent style).
   • Frame: The entire block sits inside a decorative guilloché (banknote/certificate-style) border with a gold outer keyline — a deliberate "certificate" visual treatment, not a plain content section.
   • Media: The founder's portrait photo sits to the left of the copy (desktop).
   • Text Block (3 paragraphs + a bolded closing line):
     1. "Proprietary trading was never meant to be a simulated video game. My journey began on the physical trading desks of Bright Trading and Swift Trade Securities, learning microstructure and risk management before algorithms took over. I saw firsthand that professional trading requires discipline, capital preservation, and aligned incentives - not just leverage."
     2. "Somewhere along the way, the industry lost its way. It shifted from finding talent to farming fees, and then working against the traders who pass. Most modern "prop firms" are marketing companies selling a simulation of success. After spending 15 years building institutional execution systems for Bank of America (InstaQuote) and Refinitiv (REDI) overseeing billions in monthly notional flow, I decided it was time to build the alternative."
     3. "At Stack Trading, we are restoring the standard. We are the first firm to build a bridge between the retail "challenge" model and true institutional W-2 employment. We are looking for the 1%. The traders who understand that risk management is more important than a lucky streak."
     4. (bold) "We are not here to sell you a reset. We are here to build the path."
   • Signature Block: A handwritten-style signature image reading "Adrian Stack", with the caption "Founder & CEO" beneath it.
   • This block contains no button and no link.
5. A Real Floor for Real Operators:
   • Header: "A Real Floor for Real Operators" ("Real Operators" in the accent style). The whole block is a centered, full-width card with a dimmed trading-floor photo as its background.
   • Text Block: "We are headquartered in Frisco, Texas. While our remote operators trade our capital from around the world, our physical doors are open to local talent. We operate a live trading floor complete with a broadcast studio, pod mentorship clusters, and direct market access infrastructure."
   • Button: Explore the Trading Floor - Clicking redirects (same tab) to the Trading Floor / Community Page.
6. Regulated Ambition:
   • Header: "Regulated Ambition" (2 lines, with "Ambition" partially in the gold accent style).
   • Text Block: "Stack Trading Corporation is formed in Delaware (File No. 10426411) and registered to do business in Texas (File No. 806337378). Stack Trading Brokerage LLC is fully registered with the National Futures Association (NFA ID: 0580183) as an Introducing Broker. We believe regulatory oversight is the only path forward for the proprietary trading industry, and we enforce those rigorous standards across our entire operation." (Source: Client Slack confirmation, Adrian, 2026-07-30 — NFA ID, Delaware File No., and Texas File No. confirmed; copy updated to client's approved wording.)
   • Credential Card (right side, desktop): A card visually styled as a certificate, containing top-to-bottom:
     1. A gold seal/medallion bearing the Stack S logo, overlapping the top edge of the card.
     2. A small pill reading "Registered", flanked by decorative glyphs.
     3. Title: "Introducing Broker".
     4. Sub-line: "NFA ID: 0580183" (the ID rendered in the muted monospace style).
     5. Button: Verify Status — full-width, secondary/outline style. Clicking opens the NFA BASIC public record page for Stack Trading Brokerage LLC (NFA ID 0580183) in a new tab (target="_blank", with rel="noopener noreferrer"). See BR_1.6.1.2 for the link rule and E_1.6.1.6 for the failure path.
7. Pre-Footer CTA ("Ready to start your career"):
   • Header: "Ready to start your career"
   • Sub-header: "Join the Associate Track and begin your path to professional proprietary trading with real capital, transparent rules, and institutional support."
   • Motion: Applies the exact same scrolling text highlight motion effect as the "Stop Gambling. Start Your Career." section, and the same button hover motion as the UC_1.3.1 Pre-Footer CTA button (Ref: MKT-03 — motion spec is not fixed in the SRS; Frontend follows the Figma/video reference).
   • Data Source (Ref: CR-20260731-001): Same as UC_1.3.1 Pre-Footer CTA — founder_count and both price values are Sanity-configured, no BE/DB fetch.
   • Button: Start Associate Track — the label is static across both pricing states; unlike the Homepage's Begin The Associate Track - $499 button, the price is never rendered inside the button on this page. Clicking routes (same tab) to the Checkout flow.
   • Pricing Bar: A separate bordered bar sits below the button and carries the pricing display (not the button itself).
     • State 1 (Founder Slots <= 500): Shows the original price struck through, then the discounted price, then the label — "$650/month $499 — Founding Member Pricing".
     • State 2 (Founder Slots > 500): Shows "Evaluations starting at" on the left and "$650" on the right.
   • Waitlist Mode (Ref: CR-20260731-002): If the Sanity-configured signup-gate variable indicates signups are closed, the button label changes to "Join Waitlist" and routes (same tab) to the Waitlist form. The state-switching mechanism (Sanity variable read, text swap, and the revert-to-original-price behavior) is identical to the Homepage's Begin The Associate Track - $499 button (UC_1.3.1 §5); only the default label differs. See BR_1.6.1.5.

4. Exceptional Flows

5. Business Rules

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UC_1.6.2 — Dynamic Content (Sanity CMS)

1. Overview

2. Basic Flow & UI Rules

1. Header & Subtext:
   • Header: "Institutional Plumbing Meets Retail Talent".
   • Subtext: "Stack Trading is operated by professionals with deep backgrounds in product management, regulatory compliance, and institutional market access."
2. Leadership Team Cards (Sanity CMS):
   • Next.js ISR fetches team profiles from the Sanity CMS Team collection.
   • Grid Layout: The UI renders member cards in a 4-column grid (desktop), wrapping to additional rows as the member count grows (currently 2 rows / 8 cards). The grid fills left-to-right in the order configured in Sanity.
   • Data Fields: Avatar Image, Full Name, Role/Title (e.g., "Founder & CEO"), List of Badges/Tags (e.g., "Series 3", "Series 24", "Forbes Finance Council"), and a detailed Bio Description. All of these fields are fully customizable and managed directly via Sanity CMS.
3. Card Interaction (Hover Flow):
   • Default State: Displays the member's Avatar Image filling the card. The Full Name and Role appear at the bottom left. The Badges/Tags are displayed as small pills at the top right (wrapping to a second pill row when a member has 3+ badges).
   • Hover State: When the user hovers over a card, a light frosted-glass overlay covers the image and the card is visually lifted/highlighted above its neighbours. The Full Name, Role, and Badges transition to the top left of the card, and the detailed Bio Description text is revealed below them.

3. Exceptional Flows

4. Business Rules