1. Retention Principle
POPIA section 14 requires that personal information not be retained longer than is necessary for achieving the purpose for which it was collected, unless retention is required or authorised by law, the data subject has consented, or retention is necessary for a lawful purpose related to a contract or function.
2. Retention Schedule
| Data category | Retention period | Legal basis | Destruction method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account information (name, email, hashed password) | Duration of account + 30 days after account deletion | Contract - POPIA s11(1)(b) | Hard delete from Supabase; backups overwritten within 30 further days |
| Trade journal entries (trades, tags, notes, screenshots) | Duration of account + 30 days after account deletion | Contract - POPIA s11(1)(b) | Hard delete from Supabase on account deletion cascade |
| Trading account metadata (broker, nickname, balances) | Duration of account + 30 days after account deletion | Contract - POPIA s11(1)(b) | Hard delete on account deletion cascade |
| Psychological / mindset data (scores, notes, checklist responses, mindset sessions) | Until you revoke consent - then hard-deleted immediately | Explicit consent - POPIA s27(1)(a) | Immediate cascading hard delete on consent revocation or account deletion |
| Consent records (legal_consent_log) | Duration of account + 1 year | Legitimate interest / evidence of compliance - POPIA s11(1)(f) | Secure delete; audit log retained in cold storage for 1 further year |
| Subscription and billing records | 5 years from the end of the tax year in which the transaction occurred | Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011; Companies Act 71 of 2008 | Secure delete after retention period |
| Session cookies (sb-*) | As per Supabase default session length (currently 1 hour access token, 7-day refresh token) | Essential for the service | Automatic expiry |
| Server and application logs | 90 days | Legitimate interest - security and abuse prevention | Automatic rotation |
| Supabase infrastructure backups | 7–30 days (Supabase default) | Business continuity | Automatic overwrite by Supabase |
| Support correspondence (email) | 2 years from last message | Legitimate interest - service quality and legal defence | Secure delete |
3. Account Deletion Process
- You initiate deletion from Settings → Account → Delete Account.
- A confirmation dialog requires your explicit confirmation. The action is irreversible.
- Supabase triggers cascade-delete all rows linked to your user ID across every table.
- Your authentication record in Supabase Auth is deleted and your session is invalidated.
- Within 30 days, the data is also removed from all Supabase automated backups as those backups roll over.
- Consent records (legal_consent_log) are retained for one further year as legal evidence of compliance, after which they are deleted.
- Subscription and billing records are retained for the period required by the Tax Administration Act, with other identifiers pseudonymised where practical.
4. Granular Deletion of Psychological Data
You can delete only your psychological data without deleting your account
Because psychological / mindset data is special personal information under POPIA s26, you can revoke consent for it independently of your overall account. In Settings → Privacy you can toggle off psychological-data consent. On revocation we immediately:
- delete all mood / mindset scores across your records;
- delete all free-text psychological notes;
- blank psychological fields inside pre-trade checklists;
- delete all mindset session records;
- lock the mindset features until you re-consent.
5. Methods of Destruction
- Live database - row-level hard delete in Supabase PostgreSQL, with foreign-key cascades ensuring no orphaned personal information is left behind.
- Backups - Supabase’s automated backup schedule automatically overwrites old snapshots within the retention window (typically 7–30 days). We do not maintain any off-platform copies of user data.
- Logs - application and access logs rotate automatically after 90 days. We do not forward logs to a long-term log aggregator.
6. Exceptions - When We May Retain Longer
We may retain personal information beyond the periods above only when:
- required by applicable law (for example, tax or accounting records under the Tax Administration Act and Companies Act);
- necessary to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim (litigation hold);
- necessary to cooperate with a lawful investigation by a regulator or law enforcement; or
- required to honour a direct instruction from you (for example, at your written request).
7. Roles and Responsibilities
- Information Officer (Wynand de Beer) - owns this policy, authorises exceptions, and reviews retention annually.
- Technical owner - implements and tests the cascade-delete SQL triggers, log rotation, and backup expiry.
- Every team member - may not retain personal information outside the Platform (for example in personal spreadsheets or email inboxes).
8. How to Request Early Deletion
If you want us to delete specific personal information before the scheduled retention period ends, email privacy@tradejournal.co.za. We will assess the request against any legal retention obligation and respond within 30 days.