The header and button rows - a tour of the top of the desk
The header and the two button rows under it hold the whole desk together. On the left: equity and buying power. Live, that is your broker account; in paper, it is the virtual wallet. REALIZED NET is today's closed profit or loss, after costs, for the mode you are in, with the gross, the costs and today's trade count beside it.
In this video
The 30-second version
The same topic in thirty seconds, made for a phone screen.
Both videos use the desk in paper mode with made-up symbols and prices.
Read the transcript
The top of the desk
The header and the two button rows under it hold the whole desk together. Here is what each part does, from left to right.
Money, at a glance
On the left: equity and buying power. Live, that is your broker account; in paper, it is the virtual wallet. REALIZED NET is today's closed profit or loss, after costs, for the mode you are in, with the gross, the costs and today's trade count beside it. feed live says market data is flowing; feed down says it is not. And OPEN, on the far right, is the result on positions still open.
The switches
SYSTEM is the switch for every automatic entry on the desk. SCHED turns the paper schedule on or off; a right-click sets it up. FLEET opens the profile fleet, and PAPER switches between paper and live. The fleet runs up to twenty profiles side by side, on the same live market. The box beside WATCH / TRADE arms any ticker you type.
Windows and tools
The WINDOWS row opens AUTO/BOT, the scanner, gappers, open and closed trades, watchlist, highs and news, each in its own resizable window. Closing one loses nothing. On the right: DAY TARGET, CHART, LADDER, SYNC BROKER, ANALYSE and JOURNAL, then CHECK, EXPORT and LAYOUT, and MANUAL TRADING, LOCATES, HOTKEYS and BROKER underneath. DAY TARGET opens its own window: a target in dollars, a give back percent, and REOPEN TODAY, for when you change your mind.
RISKS, text size and CLOSE
RISKS opens the risks and disclaimers. A minus and A plus change the text size. CLOSE closes the program, but not your positions: your broker keeps them, and nothing protects them while the desk is closed. So use FLATTEN ALL first, if you want to be flat.