- CRITICAL: Database can be wrong, Drift is source of truth - Incident Dec 9: Database -9.33, Drift -2.21 (missing .88) - Root cause: Retry loop chaos caused multi-chunk close, only first recorded - User mandate: 'drift tells the truth not you' - always verify with API - Pattern: Query Drift → Compare → Report discrepancies → Correct database - This is NON-NEGOTIABLE for real money trading system