Software stops - what to know before trading live

Read this before trading live

Here is the most important thing to understand about AutoScanTrade. The take profit, stop loss, trailing stop, hard stop, volume-fade exit and LULD escape are software stops. They live in the program, on your computer.

Not resting broker orders

They are not resting stop orders at your broker. Nothing protects a position while the program is closed, while the computer sleeps, while the network is down, or while market data stops arriving. If a stock gaps through your level while the desk is not watching, there is no order at the venue. If you need a stop that survives the desk being closed, place it at your broker.

Figures are estimates

Every level on the ladder, the chart and the cost readouts is worked out from the last price the desk has seen. What you actually get is decided by the venue: slippage, partial fills, the spread, halts and rejections. Commissions come from the schedule you enter in the BROKER window, so check it against your statements.

Your broker is the record

Use the desk alongside your broker's own platform, which remains the record of what you actually hold. And before CLOSE, flatten first if you want to be flat: closing the desk does not close your positions. Your broker keeps them, and nothing on this desk protects them while it is closed.

Your keys, your PC

The desk reaches your broker through your own API key. If that key expires or the broker's API is down, orders can fail to send or cancel, and every refusal is written in the order log with the broker's reply.

Test in paper first

Trading carries a high risk of loss. Profiles and rules are tools for your own decisions, not recommendations. Test your settings in paper first.