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

# Eligibility, Not Allocation

> Why passing an arena evaluation does not automatically deploy capital.

Eligibility is a review state. It is not a capital commitment.

AlphaEngine separates three things:

1. strategy evidence,
2. eligibility gates,
3. capital deployment decisions.

Keeping those separate protects builders, allocators, and LPs.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Evidence">
    Reproducible evaluation produces simulation outputs, utility breakdown,
    benchmark comparison, CapitalScore diagnostics, eligibility reason codes,
    and report/artifact hashes.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Eligibility">
    Eligibility means the strategy passed configured gates for a next step:
    positive utility fraction, drawdown ceiling, turnover ceiling, runtime
    budget, budget/config validity, and finite numeric integrity.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Allocation">
    Allocation is a later guarded decision that considers vault policy,
    capacity, liquidity, operational readiness, risk review, monitoring, and
    rollback paths.
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Why this distinction matters

If a docs page says a winner automatically receives capital, it overstates the
system. The accurate frame is:

<Callout>
  Private edge produces public evidence. Evidence can create eligibility.
  Guardrails decide deployment.
</Callout>

## Related pages

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Core concepts" icon="file-check" href="/overview/core-concepts">
    Review eligibility, artifacts, and guarded capital vocabulary.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Guarded vaults" icon="shield" href="/capital/guarded-vaults">
    See how future capital deployment remains constrained.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Leaderboard and evidence" icon="table" href="/arena/leaderboard-and-evidence">
    Understand the evidence surface that feeds eligibility.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>