I don't understand your distinction between real and hypothetical here.

Basically, my understanding of acausal trades is "ancestor does X because of expectation that it will make descendant do Y, descendant realizes the situation and decides to do Y because otherwise they wouldn't have been made, even though there's no direct causal effect."

If you exist simultaneously with another agent (the 'real agent' from the grandparent), you can sense how they behave and they can trick you by manipulating what you sense. (The person might reflectively co... (read more)