The go-live bar is a fixed set of evidence gates every strategy must clear on its forward (live paper) track record before it's eligible for real-money execution at all: a minimum number of closed trades (so the sample is large enough to mean something), a minimum profit factor, proof across multiple market regimes (not just one lucky trending stretch), and positive expectancy net of real trading costs.
Clearing the go-live bar is necessary but not sufficient for going live. See three-key safety for the additional account-level and capital-gate requirements layered on top of the evidence bar itself.
The bar exists to replace "trust the backtest" with "prove it forward, on money-losing conditions too." A strategy that's only ever traded in a friendly bull stretch hasn't actually cleared multi-regime evidence yet, however good its numbers look in that one window.
Educational content, not investment advice. zengtrade is paper-first and non-custodial.