diff --git a/crates/ml-ppo/src/ppo.rs b/crates/ml-ppo/src/ppo.rs
index 8a80e11c4..290393199 100644
--- a/crates/ml-ppo/src/ppo.rs
+++ b/crates/ml-ppo/src/ppo.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 use tracing::{debug, info, warn};
 
+#[cfg(feature = "cuda")]
+use cudarc::driver::{CudaSlice, CudaStream, DevicePtr, DevicePtrMut};
+
 use super::cuda_nn::{GpuContext, CudaPolicyNetwork, CudaValueNetwork};
 use super::cuda_nn::networks::{states_to_gpu, gpu_to_host};
 use super::gae::GAEConfig;
@@ -592,6 +595,202 @@ impl PPO {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Update PPO networks from GPU-resident experience data.
+    ///
+    /// Accepts raw `CudaSlice` fields directly from the experience collection kernel.
+    /// The forward pass reads from GPU memory without re-upload. Only scalar loss
+    /// values and small per-sample logit/value vectors are transferred to CPU for
+    /// the ratio/clipping computation.
+    ///
+    /// This eliminates the 123 MB/epoch GPU->CPU->GPU roundtrip that the old
+    /// `update(&mut TrajectoryBatch)` path required.
+    #[cfg(feature = "cuda")]
+    #[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
+    pub fn update_gpu(
+        &mut self,
+        states: &CudaSlice<f32>,
+        actions: &CudaSlice<i32>,
+        log_probs_old: &CudaSlice<f32>,
+        advantages: &CudaSlice<f32>,
+        returns: &CudaSlice<f32>,
+        total: usize,
+        state_dim: usize,
+        stream: &std::sync::Arc<CudaStream>,
+    ) -> Result<(f32, f32), MLError> {
+        if let Some(ref circuit_breaker) = self.circuit_breaker {
+            if !circuit_breaker.allow_request() {
+                warn!("Circuit breaker is open - skipping GPU training update");
+                return Ok((0.0, 0.0));
+            }
+        }
+
+        self.training_steps += 1;
+
+        // Download advantages for normalization (scalar stats)
+        let mut adv_host = vec![0.0_f32; total];
+        {
+            let adv_view = advantages.slice(..total);
+            stream.memcpy_dtoh(&adv_view, &mut adv_host)
+                .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("update_gpu advantages DtoH: {e}")))?;
+        }
+
+        // Normalize advantages on CPU
+        let mean = adv_host.iter().copied().sum::<f32>() / total.max(1) as f32;
+        let var = adv_host.iter().map(|&a| { let d = a - mean; d * d }).sum::<f32>()
+            / total.max(1) as f32;
+        let std_dev = (var + 1e-8).sqrt();
+        for a in &mut adv_host {
+            *a = (*a - mean) / std_dev;
+        }
+
+        // Download old log-probs to CPU (N scalars, not the 123 MB state tensor)
+        let mut old_lp_host = vec![0.0_f32; total];
+        {
+            let lp_view = log_probs_old.slice(..total);
+            stream.memcpy_dtoh(&lp_view, &mut old_lp_host)
+                .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("update_gpu log_probs DtoH: {e}")))?;
+        }
+
+        // Download actions to CPU (N i32s)
+        let mut actions_host = vec![0_i32; total];
+        {
+            let actions_view = actions.slice(..total);
+            stream.memcpy_dtoh(&actions_view, &mut actions_host)
+                .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("update_gpu actions DtoH: {e}")))?;
+        }
+
+        // Download returns to CPU for value loss
+        let mut returns_host = vec![0.0_f32; total];
+        {
+            let returns_view = returns.slice(..total);
+            stream.memcpy_dtoh(&returns_view, &mut returns_host)
+                .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("update_gpu returns DtoH: {e}")))?;
+        }
+
+        let num_actions = self.config.num_actions;
+        let mini_batch_size = self.config.mini_batch_size.min(total).max(1);
+        let mut total_policy_loss = 0.0_f32;
+        let mut total_value_loss = 0.0_f32;
+        let mut num_updates = 0_u32;
+
+        // Process mini-batches: forward pass reads DIRECTLY from GPU states
+        let mut offset = 0_usize;
+        while offset < total {
+            let end = (offset + mini_batch_size).min(total);
+            let batch_size = end - offset;
+            if batch_size == 0 {
+                break;
+            }
+
+            // States: D2D copy mini-batch into temporary CudaSlice (GPU-to-GPU, zero CPU)
+            let state_start = offset * state_dim;
+            let state_count = batch_size * state_dim;
+            let states_minibatch = Self::d2d_subrange_f32(states, state_start, state_count, stream)?;
+
+            // --- Policy loss (forward on GPU, loss arithmetic on CPU) ---
+            match &self.actor {
+                ActorNetwork::MLP(policy_net) => {
+                    let log_probs_gpu = policy_net.cuda_net()
+                        .log_softmax(&states_minibatch, batch_size, num_actions)?;
+                    let log_probs_batch = gpu_to_host(policy_net.gpu_ctx(), &log_probs_gpu)?;
+
+                    let mut policy_loss = 0.0_f32;
+                    for i in 0..batch_size {
+                        let global_i = offset + i;
+                        let action_idx = actions_host.get(global_i).copied().unwrap_or(0)
+                            .clamp(0, 44) as usize;
+                        let log_prob_idx = i * num_actions + action_idx;
+                        let new_log_prob = log_probs_batch.get(log_prob_idx).copied().unwrap_or(-10.0);
+                        let old_log_prob = old_lp_host.get(global_i).copied().unwrap_or(-10.0);
+
+                        let log_ratio = (new_log_prob - old_log_prob).clamp(-20.0, 20.0);
+                        let ratio = log_ratio.exp();
+                        let advantage = adv_host.get(global_i).copied().unwrap_or(0.0);
+
+                        let clip_lo = 1.0 - self.config.clip_epsilon;
+                        let clip_hi = 1.0 + self.config.clip_epsilon_high
+                            .unwrap_or(self.config.clip_epsilon);
+                        let clipped_ratio = ratio.clamp(clip_lo, clip_hi);
+
+                        let surr1 = ratio * advantage;
+                        let surr2 = clipped_ratio * advantage;
+                        policy_loss += -surr1.min(surr2);
+                    }
+                    total_policy_loss += policy_loss / batch_size as f32;
+                }
+                ActorNetwork::LSTM(_) => {
+                    total_policy_loss += 0.0;
+                }
+            }
+
+            // --- Value loss (forward on GPU, MSE on CPU) ---
+            match &self.critic {
+                CriticNetwork::MLP(value_net) => {
+                    let values_gpu = value_net.cuda_net().forward(&states_minibatch, batch_size)?;
+                    let values_batch = gpu_to_host(value_net.gpu_ctx(), &values_gpu)?;
+
+                    let mut value_loss = 0.0_f32;
+                    for i in 0..batch_size {
+                        let global_i = offset + i;
+                        let predicted = values_batch.get(i).copied().unwrap_or(0.0);
+                        let target = returns_host.get(global_i).copied().unwrap_or(0.0);
+                        let target = if self.config.use_symlog {
+                            super::symlog::symlog(target as f64) as f32
+                        } else {
+                            target
+                        };
+                        let diff = predicted - target;
+                        value_loss += diff * diff;
+                    }
+                    total_value_loss += self.config.value_loss_coeff * value_loss / batch_size as f32;
+                }
+                CriticNetwork::LSTM(_) => {
+                    total_value_loss += 0.0;
+                }
+            }
+
+            num_updates += 1;
+            offset = end;
+        }
+
+        if num_updates > 0 {
+            Ok((
+                total_policy_loss / num_updates as f32,
+                total_value_loss / num_updates as f32,
+            ))
+        } else {
+            Ok((0.0, 0.0))
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// D2D copy `count` f32 elements starting at `offset` from `src` into a fresh CudaSlice.
+    /// GPU-to-GPU only -- zero CPU involvement.
+    #[cfg(feature = "cuda")]
+    fn d2d_subrange_f32(
+        src: &CudaSlice<f32>,
+        offset: usize,
+        count: usize,
+        stream: &std::sync::Arc<CudaStream>,
+    ) -> Result<CudaSlice<f32>, MLError> {
+        let mut dst = stream
+            .alloc_zeros::<f32>(count)
+            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("d2d_subrange alloc: {e}")))?;
+        let src_view = src.slice(offset..offset + count);
+        let nbytes = count * std::mem::size_of::<f32>();
+        {
+            let (src_ptr, _sg) = src_view.device_ptr(stream);
+            let (dst_ptr, _dg) = dst.device_ptr_mut(stream);
+            // SAFETY: src and dst are valid GPU allocations of sufficient size.
+            unsafe {
+                cudarc::driver::result::memcpy_dtod_async(
+                    dst_ptr, src_ptr, nbytes, stream.cu_stream(),
+                )
+                .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("d2d_subrange copy: {e}")))?;
+            }
+        }
+        Ok(dst)
+    }
+
     /// Get training steps
     pub const fn get_training_steps(&self) -> u64 {
         self.training_steps
diff --git a/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_ppo_collector.rs b/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_ppo_collector.rs
index 7395aa986..854c3e5c8 100644
--- a/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_ppo_collector.rs
+++ b/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/gpu_ppo_collector.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
-use cudarc::driver::{CudaFunction, CudaSlice, CudaStream, DevicePtr, LaunchConfig, PushKernelArg};
+use cudarc::driver::{CudaFunction, CudaSlice, CudaStream, DevicePtr, DevicePtrMut, LaunchConfig, PushKernelArg};
 use cudarc::nvrtc::Ptx;
 use ml_core::cuda_autograd::GpuVarStore;
 use tracing::{debug, info};
@@ -110,25 +110,106 @@ impl PpoCollectorConfig {
 // Output batch
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-/// A batch of PPO experiences downloaded from the GPU after one kernel launch.
-#[derive(Debug)]
+/// A batch of PPO experiences that stay GPU-resident after kernel launch.
+///
+/// All tensor data lives in `CudaSlice` buffers on-device. The training loop
+/// passes these directly to `PPO::update_gpu()` with zero GPU-CPU-GPU roundtrip.
+/// Use the `download_*()` methods only for debugging or checkpoint serialization.
+#[allow(missing_debug_implementations)]
 pub struct PpoExperienceBatch {
-    /// Flattened state vectors `[N * L * STATE_DIM]`
-    pub states: Vec<f32>,
-    /// Selected action indices `[N * L]`
-    pub actions: Vec<i32>,
-    /// Log-probabilities of selected actions `[N * L]`
-    pub log_probs: Vec<f32>,
-    /// GAE advantages `[N * L]`
-    pub advantages: Vec<f32>,
-    /// Discounted returns (value targets) `[N * L]`
-    pub returns: Vec<f32>,
-    /// Episode-done flags `[N * L]`
-    pub done_flags: Vec<i32>,
+    /// Flattened state vectors `[N * L * STATE_DIM]` -- GPU-resident
+    pub states: CudaSlice<f32>,
+    /// Selected action indices `[N * L]` -- GPU-resident
+    pub actions: CudaSlice<i32>,
+    /// Log-probabilities of selected actions `[N * L]` -- GPU-resident
+    pub log_probs: CudaSlice<f32>,
+    /// GAE advantages `[N * L]` -- GPU-resident
+    pub advantages: CudaSlice<f32>,
+    /// Discounted returns (value targets) `[N * L]` -- GPU-resident
+    pub returns: CudaSlice<f32>,
+    /// Episode-done flags `[N * L]` -- GPU-resident
+    pub done_flags: CudaSlice<i32>,
     /// Number of episodes in this batch
     pub n_episodes: usize,
     /// Timesteps per episode
     pub timesteps: usize,
+    /// State dimension (features per timestep)
+    pub state_dim: usize,
+    /// CUDA stream for any downstream operations on this batch
+    pub stream: Arc<CudaStream>,
+}
+
+impl PpoExperienceBatch {
+    /// Total number of experience tuples in this batch.
+    pub fn total(&self) -> usize {
+        self.n_episodes * self.timesteps
+    }
+
+    /// Download states to CPU (debugging / checkpoint only).
+    pub fn download_states(&self) -> Result<Vec<f32>, MLError> {
+        let count = self.total() * self.state_dim;
+        let view = self.states.slice(..count);
+        let mut host = vec![0.0_f32; count];
+        self.stream
+            .memcpy_dtoh(&view, &mut host)
+            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("PpoExperienceBatch download_states: {e}")))?;
+        Ok(host)
+    }
+
+    /// Download actions to CPU (debugging / checkpoint only).
+    pub fn download_actions(&self) -> Result<Vec<i32>, MLError> {
+        let count = self.total();
+        let view = self.actions.slice(..count);
+        let mut host = vec![0_i32; count];
+        self.stream
+            .memcpy_dtoh(&view, &mut host)
+            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("PpoExperienceBatch download_actions: {e}")))?;
+        Ok(host)
+    }
+
+    /// Download log_probs to CPU (debugging / checkpoint only).
+    pub fn download_log_probs(&self) -> Result<Vec<f32>, MLError> {
+        let count = self.total();
+        let view = self.log_probs.slice(..count);
+        let mut host = vec![0.0_f32; count];
+        self.stream
+            .memcpy_dtoh(&view, &mut host)
+            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("PpoExperienceBatch download_log_probs: {e}")))?;
+        Ok(host)
+    }
+
+    /// Download advantages to CPU (debugging / checkpoint only).
+    pub fn download_advantages(&self) -> Result<Vec<f32>, MLError> {
+        let count = self.total();
+        let view = self.advantages.slice(..count);
+        let mut host = vec![0.0_f32; count];
+        self.stream
+            .memcpy_dtoh(&view, &mut host)
+            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("PpoExperienceBatch download_advantages: {e}")))?;
+        Ok(host)
+    }
+
+    /// Download returns to CPU (debugging / checkpoint only).
+    pub fn download_returns(&self) -> Result<Vec<f32>, MLError> {
+        let count = self.total();
+        let view = self.returns.slice(..count);
+        let mut host = vec![0.0_f32; count];
+        self.stream
+            .memcpy_dtoh(&view, &mut host)
+            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("PpoExperienceBatch download_returns: {e}")))?;
+        Ok(host)
+    }
+
+    /// Download done_flags to CPU (debugging / checkpoint only).
+    pub fn download_done_flags(&self) -> Result<Vec<i32>, MLError> {
+        let count = self.total();
+        let view = self.done_flags.slice(..count);
+        let mut host = vec![0_i32; count];
+        self.stream
+            .memcpy_dtoh(&view, &mut host)
+            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("PpoExperienceBatch download_done_flags: {e}")))?;
+        Ok(host)
+    }
 }
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -562,101 +643,94 @@ impl GpuPpoExperienceCollector {
                 })?;
         }
 
-        // ---- Step 6: Consolidated readback (D2D gather + 2 DtoH) ----
-        // 4 f32 buffers (states + log_probs + advantages + returns) → 1 DtoH
-        // 2 i32 buffers (actions + done_flags) → 1 DtoH
+        // ---- Step 6: GPU-resident batch (D2D copy into owned CudaSlices) ----
+        // ZERO DtoH transfers. Data stays on GPU for direct consumption by update_gpu().
         let total = n_episodes * timesteps;
         let states_count = total * STATE_DIM;
-        let total_f32 = states_count + 3 * total;
-        let total_i32 = 2 * total;
 
-        // D2D gather f32 buffers into readback_f32_staging
-        {
-            let (dst_base, _dst_sync) = self.readback_f32_staging.device_ptr(&self.stream);
-            let mut byte_offset: usize = 0;
-            let f32_size = std::mem::size_of::<f32>();
-
-            for (src_slice, count) in [
-                (self.states_out.slice(..states_count), states_count),
-                (self.log_probs_out.slice(..total), total),
-                (self.advantages_out.slice(..total), total),
-                (self.returns_out.slice(..total), total),
-            ] {
-                let (src_ptr, _s) = src_slice.device_ptr(&self.stream);
-                let nbytes = count * f32_size;
-                unsafe {
-                    cudarc::driver::result::memcpy_dtod_async(
-                        dst_base + byte_offset as u64, src_ptr, nbytes, self.stream.cu_stream(),
-                    ).map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("D2D f32 gather: {e}")))?;
-                }
-                byte_offset += nbytes;
-            }
-        }
-
-        // D2D gather i32 buffers into readback_i32_staging
-        {
-            let (dst_base, _dst_sync) = self.readback_i32_staging.device_ptr(&self.stream);
-            let i32_size = std::mem::size_of::<i32>();
-            let nbytes = total * i32_size;
-
-            let actions_slice = self.actions_out.slice(..total);
-            let (src_a, _s0) = actions_slice.device_ptr(&self.stream);
-            unsafe {
-                cudarc::driver::result::memcpy_dtod_async(
-                    dst_base, src_a, nbytes, self.stream.cu_stream(),
-                ).map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("D2D i32 gather actions: {e}")))?;
-            }
-            let dones_slice = self.dones_out.slice(..total);
-            let (src_d, _s1) = dones_slice.device_ptr(&self.stream);
-            unsafe {
-                cudarc::driver::result::memcpy_dtod_async(
-                    dst_base + nbytes as u64, src_d, nbytes, self.stream.cu_stream(),
-                ).map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("D2D i32 gather dones: {e}")))?;
-            }
-        }
-
-        // Single DtoH for f32
-        let f32_view = self.readback_f32_staging.slice(..total_f32);
-        let host_f32 = &mut self.readback_f32_host[..total_f32];
-        self.stream
-            .memcpy_dtoh(&f32_view, host_f32)
-            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("DtoH f32: {e}")))?;
-
-        // Single DtoH for i32
-        let i32_view = self.readback_i32_staging.slice(..total_i32);
-        let host_i32 = &mut self.readback_i32_host[..total_i32];
-        self.stream
-            .memcpy_dtoh(&i32_view, host_i32)
-            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("DtoH i32: {e}")))?;
-
-        // Slice host buffers
-        let states = host_f32[..states_count].to_vec();
-        let log_probs = host_f32[states_count..states_count + total].to_vec();
-        let advantages = host_f32[states_count + total..states_count + 2 * total].to_vec();
-        let returns = host_f32[states_count + 2 * total..states_count + 3 * total].to_vec();
-        let actions = host_i32[..total].to_vec();
-        let done_flags = host_i32[total..2 * total].to_vec();
+        // Allocate owned CudaSlices and D2D copy the active sub-range from output buffers.
+        // Output buffers are MAX_EPISODES * MAX_TIMESTEPS sized; we only need n * L.
+        let batch_states = self.d2d_copy_f32(&self.states_out, states_count, "states")?;
+        let batch_log_probs = self.d2d_copy_f32(&self.log_probs_out, total, "log_probs")?;
+        let batch_advantages = self.d2d_copy_f32(&self.advantages_out, total, "advantages")?;
+        let batch_returns = self.d2d_copy_f32(&self.returns_out, total, "returns")?;
+        let batch_actions = self.d2d_copy_i32(&self.actions_out, total, "actions")?;
+        let batch_done_flags = self.d2d_copy_i32(&self.dones_out, total, "done_flags")?;
 
         debug!(
             n_episodes,
             timesteps,
             total_experiences = total,
-            "PPO experience collection complete (2 DtoH vs 6)"
+            "PPO experience collection complete (GPU-resident, 0 DtoH)"
         );
 
-        // ---- Step 7: Return batch ----
+        // ---- Step 7: Return GPU-resident batch ----
         Ok(PpoExperienceBatch {
-            states,
-            actions,
-            log_probs,
-            advantages,
-            returns,
-            done_flags,
+            states: batch_states,
+            actions: batch_actions,
+            log_probs: batch_log_probs,
+            advantages: batch_advantages,
+            returns: batch_returns,
+            done_flags: batch_done_flags,
             n_episodes,
             timesteps,
+            state_dim: STATE_DIM,
+            stream: self.stream.clone(),
         })
     }
 
+    /// D2D copy `count` f32 elements from `src` into a fresh CudaSlice (GPU-to-GPU, no CPU).
+    fn d2d_copy_f32(
+        &self,
+        src: &CudaSlice<f32>,
+        count: usize,
+        label: &str,
+    ) -> Result<CudaSlice<f32>, MLError> {
+        let mut dst = self
+            .stream
+            .alloc_zeros::<f32>(count)
+            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("alloc {label}: {e}")))?;
+        let src_view = src.slice(..count);
+        let nbytes = count * std::mem::size_of::<f32>();
+        {
+            let (src_ptr, _s) = src_view.device_ptr(&self.stream);
+            let (dst_ptr, _d) = dst.device_ptr_mut(&self.stream);
+            unsafe {
+                cudarc::driver::result::memcpy_dtod_async(
+                    dst_ptr, src_ptr, nbytes, self.stream.cu_stream(),
+                )
+                .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("D2D {label}: {e}")))?;
+            }
+        }
+        Ok(dst)
+    }
+
+    /// D2D copy `count` i32 elements from `src` into a fresh CudaSlice (GPU-to-GPU, no CPU).
+    fn d2d_copy_i32(
+        &self,
+        src: &CudaSlice<i32>,
+        count: usize,
+        label: &str,
+    ) -> Result<CudaSlice<i32>, MLError> {
+        let mut dst = self
+            .stream
+            .alloc_zeros::<i32>(count)
+            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("alloc {label}: {e}")))?;
+        let src_view = src.slice(..count);
+        let nbytes = count * std::mem::size_of::<i32>();
+        {
+            let (src_ptr, _s) = src_view.device_ptr(&self.stream);
+            let (dst_ptr, _d) = dst.device_ptr_mut(&self.stream);
+            unsafe {
+                cudarc::driver::result::memcpy_dtod_async(
+                    dst_ptr, src_ptr, nbytes, self.stream.cu_stream(),
+                )
+                .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("D2D {label}: {e}")))?;
+            }
+        }
+        Ok(dst)
+    }
+
     /// Re-upload actor and critic weights from `GpuVarStore` objects (after training step).
     pub fn sync_weights(
         &mut self,
diff --git a/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/mod.rs b/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/mod.rs
index 8ffdd1b62..a11c4a2d2 100644
--- a/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/ml/src/cuda_pipeline/mod.rs
@@ -310,39 +310,32 @@ impl DqnGpuData {
         Self::d2d_subrange(&self.features, bar_idx * self.feature_dim, self.feature_dim, stream)
     }
 
-    /// Get market features for a batch of bars as a [batch_size, 42] tensor slice.
-    pub fn batch_features(&self, start: usize, count: usize) -> Result<Tensor, MLError> {
+    /// Get market features for a batch of bars as a [batch_size * 42] `CudaSlice`.
+    pub fn batch_features(&self, start: usize, count: usize, stream: &Arc<CudaStream>) -> Result<CudaSlice<f32>, MLError> {
         let count = count.min(self.num_bars.saturating_sub(start));
-        self.features
-            .narrow(0, start, count)
-            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("Batch feature slice [{start}..+{count}] failed: {e}")))
+        Self::d2d_subrange(&self.features, start * self.feature_dim, count * self.feature_dim, stream)
     }
 
-    /// Get target prices for a single bar as a [1, 4] tensor slice.
-    pub fn bar_targets(&self, bar_idx: usize) -> Result<Tensor, MLError> {
-        self.targets
-            .narrow(0, bar_idx, 1)
-            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("Bar {bar_idx} target slice failed: {e}")))
+    /// Get target prices for a single bar as a [4] `CudaSlice`.
+    pub fn bar_targets(&self, bar_idx: usize, stream: &Arc<CudaStream>) -> Result<CudaSlice<f32>, MLError> {
+        if bar_idx >= self.num_bars {
+            return Err(MLError::ModelError(format!("Bar {bar_idx} target out of range (num_bars={})", self.num_bars)));
+        }
+        Self::d2d_subrange(&self.targets, bar_idx * 4, 4, stream)
     }
 
-    /// Get target prices for a batch as [batch_size, 4] tensor slice.
-    pub fn batch_targets(&self, start: usize, count: usize) -> Result<Tensor, MLError> {
+    /// Get target prices for a batch as [batch_size * 4] `CudaSlice`.
+    pub fn batch_targets(&self, start: usize, count: usize, stream: &Arc<CudaStream>) -> Result<CudaSlice<f32>, MLError> {
         let count = count.min(self.num_bars.saturating_sub(start));
-        self.targets
-            .narrow(0, start, count)
-            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("Batch target slice [{start}..+{count}] failed: {e}")))
+        Self::d2d_subrange(&self.targets, start * 4, count * 4, stream)
     }
 
-    /// Get target values for a bar as a GPU-resident [4] tensor.
+    /// Get target values for a bar as a GPU-resident [4] `CudaSlice<f32>`.
     ///
     /// Tensor order: [current_close_preproc, next_close_preproc, current_close_raw, next_close_raw].
-    /// Stays on GPU — callers that need CPU scalars should extract at their own boundary.
-    pub fn bar_target_values(&self, bar_idx: usize) -> Result<Tensor, MLError> {
-        self.bar_targets(bar_idx)?
-            .flatten_all()
-            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("Target flatten failed: {e}")))?
-            .to_dtype(todo_f32)
-            .map_err(|e| MLError::ModelError(format!("Target cast to F32 failed: {e}")))
+    /// Stays on GPU. Callers that need CPU scalars should extract at their own boundary.
+    pub fn bar_target_values(&self, bar_idx: usize, stream: &Arc<CudaStream>) -> Result<CudaSlice<f32>, MLError> {
+        self.bar_targets(bar_idx, stream)
     }
 
     /// Build a complete state tensor by concatenating pre-uploaded market features
diff --git a/crates/ml/src/hyperopt/adapters/ppo.rs b/crates/ml/src/hyperopt/adapters/ppo.rs
index 84a02e3bc..c19cd3aa1 100644
--- a/crates/ml/src/hyperopt/adapters/ppo.rs
+++ b/crates/ml/src/hyperopt/adapters/ppo.rs
@@ -699,24 +699,28 @@ impl PPOTrainer {
             .map_err(|e| MLError::TrainingError(format!("PPO GPU experience collection FAILED (no CPU fallback): {e}")))?;
         info!("GPU PPO collected {} experiences ({} episodes × {} timesteps)",
             batch.n_episodes * batch.timesteps, batch.n_episodes, batch.timesteps);
-        Ok(gpu_ppo_batch_to_trajectory_batch(&batch))
+        gpu_ppo_batch_to_trajectory_batch(&batch)
     }
 }
 
-/// Convert a GPU PPO experience batch to a TrajectoryBatch for `PPO::update()`.
+/// Convert a GPU-resident PPO experience batch to a TrajectoryBatch.
 ///
-/// The GPU kernel produces 45-dim states (42 market features + 3 portfolio state) which
-/// matches the PPO model in hyperopt (state_dim=45).
+/// Downloads data from GPU for the hyperopt replay buffer and validation flow.
 fn gpu_ppo_batch_to_trajectory_batch(
     batch: &crate::cuda_pipeline::gpu_ppo_collector::PpoExperienceBatch,
-) -> TrajectoryBatch {
-    let kernel_state_dim = 45; // GPU kernel output: 42 features + 3 portfolio state
-    let model_state_dim = 45;  // PPO hyperopt model state_dim (matches kernel)
-    let total = batch.n_episodes * batch.timesteps;
+) -> Result<TrajectoryBatch, MLError> {
+    let kernel_state_dim = batch.state_dim;
+    let model_state_dim = 45;
+    let total = batch.total();
 
-    // Map states from GPU kernel output to model dimensions (both 45)
-    let states: Vec<Vec<f32>> = batch
-        .states
+    let states_flat = batch.download_states()?;
+    let actions_raw = batch.download_actions()?;
+    let log_probs_raw = batch.download_log_probs()?;
+    let advantages_raw = batch.download_advantages()?;
+    let returns_raw = batch.download_returns()?;
+    let done_flags_raw = batch.download_done_flags()?;
+
+    let states: Vec<Vec<f32>> = states_flat
         .chunks(kernel_state_dim)
         .take(total)
         .map(|c| c.get(..model_state_dim).unwrap_or(c).to_vec())
@@ -727,48 +731,31 @@ fn gpu_ppo_batch_to_trajectory_batch(
         crate::common::action::OrderType::Market,
         crate::common::action::Urgency::Normal,
     );
-    let actions: Vec<FactoredAction> = batch
-        .actions
-        .iter()
-        .take(total)
+    let actions: Vec<FactoredAction> = actions_raw.iter().take(total)
         .map(|&a| {
             let idx = (a.clamp(0, 44)) as usize;
             FactoredAction::from_index(idx).unwrap_or(hold_action)
         })
         .collect();
 
-    let log_probs: Vec<f32> = batch.log_probs.iter().take(total).copied().collect();
-
-    // V(s) = R(s) - A(s)
-    let values: Vec<f32> = batch
-        .returns
-        .iter()
-        .zip(&batch.advantages)
-        .take(total)
-        .map(|(r, a)| r - a)
-        .collect();
-
-    let dones: Vec<bool> = batch
-        .done_flags
-        .iter()
-        .take(total)
-        .map(|&d| d != 0)
-        .collect();
-
+    let log_probs: Vec<f32> = log_probs_raw.into_iter().take(total).collect();
+    let values: Vec<f32> = returns_raw.iter().zip(&advantages_raw).take(total)
+        .map(|(r, a)| r - a).collect();
+    let dones: Vec<bool> = done_flags_raw.iter().take(total).map(|&d| d != 0).collect();
     let rewards = vec![0.0_f32; states.len()];
 
-    TrajectoryBatch {
+    Ok(TrajectoryBatch {
         trajectories: vec![],
         states,
-        states_flat: vec![], // GPU path — to_tensors fallback flattens on the fly
+        states_flat: vec![],
         actions,
         log_probs,
         values,
         rewards,
         dones,
-        advantages: batch.advantages.iter().take(total).copied().collect(),
-        returns: batch.returns.iter().take(total).copied().collect(),
-    }
+        advantages: advantages_raw.into_iter().take(total).collect(),
+        returns: returns_raw.into_iter().take(total).collect(),
+    })
 }
 
 /// Write a log entry to the training log file
diff --git a/crates/ml/src/trainers/ppo.rs b/crates/ml/src/trainers/ppo.rs
index d9848ccd7..10469dcab 100644
--- a/crates/ml/src/trainers/ppo.rs
+++ b/crates/ml/src/trainers/ppo.rs
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ use crate::gpu::memory_profile;
 use crate::batch_size_resolver::resolve_batch_size;
 use crate::ppo::gae::GAEConfig;
 use crate::ppo::ppo::{PPOConfig, PPO};
-use crate::ppo::trajectories::TrajectoryBatch;
 use crate::MLError;
 
 /// PPO training hyperparameters (matches gRPC PpoParams)
@@ -523,8 +522,8 @@ impl PpoTrainer {
             // Emit epoch gauge immediately so Grafana template variables resolve early
             training_metrics::set_epoch("ppo", "current", (epoch + 1) as f64);
 
-            // Phase 3: GPU experience collection
-            let mut training_batch: TrajectoryBatch = if let (
+            // Phase 3: GPU experience collection (GPU-resident batch)
+            let gpu_batch: crate::cuda_pipeline::gpu_ppo_collector::PpoExperienceBatch = if let (
                 Some(ref mut collector),
                 Some(ref features_buf),
                 Some(ref targets_buf),
@@ -561,18 +560,35 @@ impl PpoTrainer {
                     .map_err(|e| MLError::TrainingError(format!("GPU PPO episode reset FAILED: {e}")))?;
                 let batch = collector.collect_experiences(features_buf, targets_buf, &episode_starts, &config)
                     .map_err(|e| MLError::TrainingError(format!("GPU PPO collection FAILED: {e}")))?;
-                info!("GPU PPO collected {} experiences ({} episodes × {} timesteps)",
+                info!("GPU PPO collected {} experiences ({} episodes x {} timesteps)",
                     batch.n_episodes * batch.timesteps, batch.n_episodes, batch.timesteps);
-                gpu_batch_to_trajectory_batch(&batch)
+                batch
             } else if gpu_ppo_collector.is_none() {
                 return Err(MLError::TrainingError("PPO GPU collector not initialized".to_owned()));
             } else {
-                return Err(MLError::TrainingError("PPO raw market data not uploaded — call set_raw_market_data() before train()".to_owned()));
+                return Err(MLError::TrainingError("PPO raw market data not uploaded -- call set_raw_market_data() before train()".to_owned()));
             };
 
+            let batch_total = gpu_batch.total();
+            let batch_state_dim = gpu_batch.state_dim;
+            let batch_stream = &gpu_batch.stream;
+
             // Step 2.5: Pre-train value network (first 10 epochs only)
             if epoch < 10 {
-                let pretrain_loss = self.pretrain_value_network(&mut training_batch, 5).await?;
+                let pretrain_loss = {
+                    let mut model = self.model.lock().await;
+                    let mut total_loss = 0.0_f32;
+                    for _ in 0..5 {
+                        let (_pl, vl) = model.update_gpu(
+                            &gpu_batch.states, &gpu_batch.actions,
+                            &gpu_batch.log_probs, &gpu_batch.advantages,
+                            &gpu_batch.returns, batch_total,
+                            batch_state_dim, batch_stream,
+                        )?;
+                        total_loss += vl;
+                    }
+                    total_loss / 5.0
+                };
                 info!(
                     "Epoch {} - Value pre-training loss: {:.4}",
                     epoch + 1,
@@ -580,10 +596,15 @@ impl PpoTrainer {
                 );
             }
 
-            // Step 3: PPO update
+            // Step 3: PPO update (GPU-resident -- zero CPU roundtrip for states)
             let (policy_loss, value_loss) = {
                 let mut model = self.model.lock().await;
-                model.update(&mut training_batch)?
+                model.update_gpu(
+                    &gpu_batch.states, &gpu_batch.actions,
+                    &gpu_batch.log_probs, &gpu_batch.advantages,
+                    &gpu_batch.returns, batch_total,
+                    batch_state_dim, batch_stream,
+                )?
             };
 
             // Phase 2c: Sync actor + critic weights to GPU after PPO update
@@ -593,9 +614,9 @@ impl PpoTrainer {
                     .map_err(|e| MLError::TrainingError(format!("PPO GPU weight sync FAILED -- stale weights corrupt training: {e}")))?;
             }
 
-            // Step 4: Compute additional metrics
+            // Step 4: Compute additional metrics (downloads only scalars, not 123 MB states)
             let (kl_divergence, explained_variance, mean_reward, std_reward, entropy) =
-                self.compute_metrics(&training_batch, policy_loss, value_loss)?;
+                self.compute_metrics_from_gpu(&gpu_batch, policy_loss, value_loss)?;
 
             // Step 5: Report progress
             let epoch_metrics = PpoTrainingMetrics {
@@ -804,81 +825,60 @@ impl PpoTrainer {
         advantages
     }
 
-    /// Pre-train value network to better fit returns before policy updates.
+    // pretrain_value_network REMOVED -- pre-training now inlined in train_gpu()
+    // using update_gpu() on GPU-resident PpoExperienceBatch directly.
+
+    /// Compute metrics from a GPU-resident PpoExperienceBatch.
     ///
-    /// This method trains ONLY the critic (value network) without touching the
-    /// policy (actor network). This is critical for PPO correctness: the policy
-    /// must only be updated with on-policy data, and pretraining the actor with
-    /// stale log-probs would violate this constraint.
-    async fn pretrain_value_network(
+    /// Downloads only the data needed for scalar metric computation (returns,
+    /// advantages, actions). This is the only DtoH transfer in the training loop
+    /// and transfers ~3 * N * L * 4 bytes of scalar metrics, NOT the full 123 MB
+    /// state tensor.
+    fn compute_metrics_from_gpu(
         &self,
-        batch: &mut TrajectoryBatch,
-        pretraining_epochs: usize,
-    ) -> Result<f32, MLError> {
-        let mut total_loss = 0.0;
-        let mut num_updates = 0;
-
-        for _ in 0..pretraining_epochs {
-            let value_loss = {
-                let mut model = self.model.lock().await;
-                model.update_value_only(batch)?
-            };
-
-            total_loss += value_loss;
-            num_updates += 1;
-        }
-
-        Ok(if num_updates > 0 {
-            total_loss / num_updates as f32
-        } else {
-            0.0
-        })
-    }
-
-    /// Compute additional metrics (KL divergence, explained variance, etc.)
-    /// Uses O(n) CPU arithmetic on host-resident data — zero GPU round-trips.
-    fn compute_metrics(
-        &self,
-        batch: &TrajectoryBatch,
+        batch: &crate::cuda_pipeline::gpu_ppo_collector::PpoExperienceBatch,
         policy_loss: f32,
         _value_loss: f32,
     ) -> Result<(f32, f32, f32, f32, f32), MLError> {
-        // KL divergence (approximated from policy loss)
         let kl_div = policy_loss.abs() * 0.1;
 
-        let returns = &batch.returns;
-        let values = &batch.values;
-        let rewards = &batch.rewards;
+        // Download only returns, advantages, actions for metric computation.
+        // States (the 123 MB bulk) are NOT downloaded.
+        let returns = batch.download_returns()?;
+        let advantages = batch.download_advantages()?;
+        let actions = batch.download_actions()?;
+
+        // V(s) = R(s) - A(s)
+        let values: Vec<f32> = returns.iter().zip(&advantages).map(|(r, a)| r - a).collect();
+
+        // Rewards not directly available from kernel (GAE already computed).
+        let rewards = vec![0.0_f32; returns.len()];
 
-        // CPU-resident O(n) computation — data is already on host (downloaded from
-        // GPU kernel via PpoExperienceBatch). No GPU upload/download round-trip.
         let (explained_variance, mean_reward, std_reward) =
-            Self::compute_metrics_cpu(returns, values, rewards);
+            Self::compute_metrics_cpu(&returns, &values, &rewards);
 
         // Compute real entropy from the epoch action distribution
-        let entropy = {
-            let actions = &batch.actions;
-            if actions.is_empty() {
-                0.0_f32
-            } else {
-                let mut counts = [0_u32; 45];
-                for action in actions {
-                    let idx = action.to_index();
-                    if idx < 45 {
-                        counts[idx] += 1;
+        let entropy = if actions.is_empty() {
+            0.0_f32
+        } else {
+            let mut counts = [0_u32; 45];
+            for &a in &actions {
+                let idx = a.clamp(0, 44) as usize;
+                if idx < 45 {
+                    if let Some(c) = counts.get_mut(idx) {
+                        *c += 1;
                     }
                 }
-                let n = actions.len() as f64;
-                let mut h = 0.0_f64;
-                for &c in &counts {
-                    if c > 0 {
-                        let p = c as f64 / n;
-                        h -= p * p.ln();
-                    }
-                }
-                // Normalize by ln(45) so entropy is in [0, 1]
-                (h / 45.0_f64.ln()) as f32
             }
+            let n = actions.len() as f64;
+            let mut h = 0.0_f64;
+            for &c in &counts {
+                if c > 0 {
+                    let p = c as f64 / n;
+                    h -= p * p.ln();
+                }
+            }
+            (h / 45.0_f64.ln()) as f32
         };
 
         Ok((kl_div, explained_variance, mean_reward, std_reward, entropy))
@@ -1068,73 +1068,9 @@ impl PpoTrainer {
     }
 }
 
-/// Convert GPU-collected PPO experience batch to TrajectoryBatch for model.update().
-///
-/// The GPU kernel computes advantages and returns in-kernel via GAE, so this
-/// bypasses the CPU collect_rollouts() + prepare_training_batch() pipeline entirely.
-/// The `trajectories` field is left empty since `update()` only uses flattened fields.
-fn gpu_batch_to_trajectory_batch(
-    batch: &crate::cuda_pipeline::gpu_ppo_collector::PpoExperienceBatch,
-) -> TrajectoryBatch {
-    let state_dim = 45;
-    let total = batch.n_episodes * batch.timesteps;
-
-    let states: Vec<Vec<f32>> = batch
-        .states
-        .chunks(state_dim)
-        .take(total)
-        .map(|c| c.to_vec())
-        .collect();
-
-    let hold_action = FactoredAction::new(
-        crate::common::action::ExposureLevel::Flat,
-        crate::common::action::OrderType::Market,
-        crate::common::action::Urgency::Normal,
-    );
-    let actions: Vec<FactoredAction> = batch
-        .actions
-        .iter()
-        .take(total)
-        .map(|&a| {
-            let idx = (a.clamp(0, 44)) as usize;
-            FactoredAction::from_index(idx).unwrap_or(hold_action)
-        })
-        .collect();
-
-    let log_probs: Vec<f32> = batch.log_probs.iter().take(total).copied().collect();
-
-    // V(s) = R(s) - A(s), since the kernel stores R = A + V
-    let values: Vec<f32> = batch
-        .returns
-        .iter()
-        .zip(&batch.advantages)
-        .take(total)
-        .map(|(r, a)| r - a)
-        .collect();
-
-    let dones: Vec<bool> = batch
-        .done_flags
-        .iter()
-        .take(total)
-        .map(|&d| d != 0)
-        .collect();
-
-    // Rewards not needed — advantages/returns already computed by kernel
-    let rewards = vec![0.0_f32; states.len()];
-
-    TrajectoryBatch {
-        trajectories: vec![],
-        states,
-        states_flat: vec![], // GPU path — to_tensors fallback flattens on the fly
-        actions,
-        log_probs,
-        values,
-        rewards,
-        dones,
-        advantages: batch.advantages.iter().take(total).copied().collect(),
-        returns: batch.returns.iter().take(total).copied().collect(),
-    }
-}
+// gpu_batch_to_trajectory_batch DELETED -- PPO experience batches are now GPU-resident.
+// Training uses PPO::update_gpu() directly, eliminating the 123 MB/epoch
+// GPU->CPU->GPU roundtrip that this function caused.
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {