OttoTraderDesktop Trading Workstation
FAQ and tutorials

Practical answers for the full OttoTrader workflow.

Use the FAQ when you need product boundaries, setup guidance, account help, marketplace context, or desktop workflow answers without digging through scattered docs.

7 answers

Getting Started

Short, practical help for this part of the OttoTrader product surface.

7 answers

Accounts, Plans, And Download

Short, practical help for this part of the OttoTrader product surface.

5 answers

Trading Safety And Product Boundaries

Short, practical help for this part of the OttoTrader product surface.

Browse topics 11 topics

FAQ section

Getting Started

7 practical answers for this part of the product.

What is OttoTrader?

OttoTrader is a Desktop Trading Workstation for crypto traders building and operating their own strategies. It helps you build, validate, backtest, manage, monitor, and operate trading strategies while keeping execution control in the desktop app.

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Is OttoTrader mainly a website or a desktop app?

The desktop app is the main trading product. The website handles sign-up, account security, pricing, downloads, marketplace browsing, seller tools, Market Pulse, and Remote Trading Center access.

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What platform does OttoTrader use?

OttoTrader is delivered as a desktop app. Use the website for your account, pricing, downloads, marketplace, Market Pulse, and Remote Trading Center access; use the desktop app for strategy building, backtesting, exchange connections, and live or demo execution.

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What should I do first after creating an account?

Confirm your email, set up authenticator-app MFA, download the desktop app, then sign in from Settings > Account inside the desktop app.

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Does OttoTrader have a guided first-run tour?

Yes. The first-run tour walks through sign-in, Demo-first exchange setup, the active context, Otto Trade automation setup, pair search, Open/Closed Positions, Dashboard, Strategy Warehouse, Backtesting, and optional Remote Trading Center setup without placing real exchange orders. It also explains that manual entry controls live in Manual Trade.

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Can I skip onboarding and come back later?

Yes. You can skip the tour, restart it from Settings > Tutorials, or use the Quick Start Checklist while it is available.

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Where do I learn the full workflow?

Use the Tutorials section on this page for step-by-step guidance. It covers setup, exchange connections, Otto Trade, Manual Trade, Chart, Risk Radar, TradingView webhooks, Strategy Warehouse, Backtesting, Settings, Marketplace, and Remote Trading Center.

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FAQ section

Accounts, Plans, And Download

7 practical answers for this part of the product.

Does the same account work on the website and in the desktop app?

Yes. One OttoTrader account connects the website and desktop app. Your plan, trial state, seller status, marketplace purchases, cloud-backup eligibility, and Remote Trading Center access all come from that account.

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Where do I download the desktop app?

Use the Download page on the website. Sign in first so the website can show the current desktop installer tied to the same update manifest the desktop app uses.

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Does OttoTrader remember my desktop password between launches?

No. The desktop app can remember your email if you choose, but it does not keep your account password or authenticator code between launches. Reopening the desktop app requires a fresh sign-in.

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Where do I manage account settings?

Use the website for display name, password, MFA, billing, seller setup, privacy requests, and other account details. Use desktop Settings for sign-in, exchange contexts, cloud backup, RTC, notifications, and logging; use Backtesting > MCP Research for AI research connections.

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What changes between Starter, Pro, and Creator?

Eligible Starter and Pro customers receive 30 days of Pro capabilities after confirming billing information and a payment method. Starter then costs USD 9/month with focused limits; Pro costs USD 39/month and keeps all Pro tools. Creator and its marketplace seller tools are coming soon. Creator registration and upgrades are currently unavailable.

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What happens after a Starter trial?

After a successful first USD 9 payment, the account moves from trial Pro capabilities to Starter capabilities. If payment fails, Starter remains fully available for seven days; afterward OttoTrader becomes close-only while exposure exists and then locks until payment recovers. Account data and local files are not deleted.

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Can I still use OttoTrader if I do not sell strategies?

Yes. Selling is optional. Most users can stay focused on desktop strategy work, backtesting, live monitoring, marketplace buying, or Demo practice without becoming sellers.

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FAQ section

Trading Safety And Product Boundaries

5 practical answers for this part of the product.

How does responsibility work in OttoTrader?

OttoTrader gives you software tools to choose the exchange account, strategy, pair, timeframe, risk settings, and live deployment path yourself. The legal and risk pages cover the formal product boundaries in detail.

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Does OttoTrader support copy-trading, mirror-trading, or auto-allocation?

OttoTrader is built around your own strategy configuration, risk settings, and explicit live deployment controls rather than pooled or hands-off allocation workflows.

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Can OttoTrader place real trades?

Yes, but only through the desktop app after you connect a Live Real exchange context and choose to run live execution. Demo mode is local simulation and is the safer place to learn or test workflows.

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What safety checks should I make before live trading?

Confirm the active context, exchange, market type, mode, pair, timeframe, strategy, balance, leverage, and protection settings. If anything looks wrong, stop and use Demo or Backtesting before touching Live Real.

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FAQ section

Exchange Connections And API Keys

6 practical answers for this part of the product.

Where do I connect exchanges in the desktop app?

Open Settings > Exchange Connection. Choose a supported exchange tab, choose the market type available for that exchange, then use the Demo or Live Real card for the exact context you want. The desktop exchange matrix currently includes Binance, BingX, Bybit, Bitget, KuCoin, MEXC, Kraken, and Coinbase Advanced Trade. Availability may vary by market type, region, account permissions, exchange behavior, and OttoTrader release. Always treat the current desktop connection card, exchange-specific warnings, and validation state as authoritative.

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What is Demo mode?

Demo mode is local simulation. It lets you practice the workflow, test strategy behavior, and learn the interface without connecting a real exchange API key or sending live exchange orders.

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What does Live Real mean?

Live Real means the desktop app connects to a real exchange account for that exact exchange, market type, and mode. Real balances and orders can be involved, so use it only when you are ready.

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What API key permissions should I use?

Use the narrowest permissions you need: read and trade permissions only. Do not connect withdrawal-enabled API keys to OttoTrader.

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How do I switch the active trading context?

Running strategies keep their pinned runtime context, so changing the header does not silently retarget an already-running strategy session.

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FAQ section

Desktop Workspaces

8 practical answers for this part of the product.

What is Dashboard for?

Dashboard is the read-only overview for trading state. It summarizes PnL, open risk, usable balance, mark-to-market equity, fees, wallet movement, selected-day activity, and historical performance for the selected scope.

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What is Live Trading for?

Live Trading is the operating area for Otto Trade automation setup, Manual Trade entries, Chart context, Risk Radar market awareness, Active Strategies, and Open/Closed Positions. Use it for execution decisions, TradingView webhook URL setup, alert-message template copying, and live account evidence after you have confirmed the active context.

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Can OttoTrader run TradingView alerts?

Yes. A saved OttoTrader custom strategy can use TradingView webhook alerts as a live signal source. In command role, TradingView can send open, close, and flip commands. In trigger setup role, TradingView only supplies LONG or SHORT timing while OttoTrader runs the setup, entry, TP, and SL logic. OttoTrader still controls exchange context, pair, sizing, leverage, margin, TP/SL, and protected execution. Create the private webhook URL and copy Alert Message JSON from Live Trading > Otto Trade, not Strategy Builder, and keep the URL private. After a Starter trial ends, Starter allows one active TradingView-linked strategy per exchange; Pro and Creator allow unlimited active TradingView-linked strategies.

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What is Risk Radar?

Risk Radar is a read-only Live Trading view that maps recent Market Pulse briefs onto a globe. Use it to see which countries or regions have concentrated news intensity, click a country to read its brief feed, and treat the result as market context rather than a trade signal.

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What is Strategy Warehouse for?

Strategy Warehouse is where you build, save, import, export, manage, sync, and install strategies. The Library includes your custom strategies and built-in sample strategies, and sample strategies can be hidden from local choices if you do not want them listed.

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What is Backtesting for?

Backtesting lets you test a strategy against historical data before running it live. Manual Backtesting is for one focused run. Strategy Optimiser is for broader pair, timeframe, and parameter searches when your plan includes it.

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What is Settings for?

Settings is where you sign in, manage exchange connections, configure AI providers, enable Remote Trading Center, manage encrypted cloud backup, configure email notifications, and use logging tools.

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What is the Decision Reason box in Otto Trade?

Decision Reason explains why the current strategy did or did not produce an entry. It should read like human trade reasoning, not a raw engine trace.

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FAQ section

AI Research And Strategy Instructions

5 practical answers for this part of the product.

Do I need an OpenAI or Anthropic API key inside OttoTrader?

No. OttoTrader's current AI workflows use your ChatGPT or Claude subscription. Connect the research-only MCP for iterative campaigns, or export AI Instructions from Strategy Builder for a focused strategy draft.

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How does MCP Research work?

Open Backtesting > MCP Research, choose ChatGPT or Claude, and follow the connection guide. Your AI reads OttoTrader's supported research contract and submits bounded jobs to the authorized desktop. OttoTrader runs validation and backtests locally; the MCP cannot place trades or read exchange credentials.

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How do I ask AI to create a single OttoTrader strategy?
  1. Open Strategy Warehouse > Strategy Builder.
  2. Choose the builder mode that matches the strategy you want.
  3. In Builder Actions, select Export AI Instructions.
  4. Upload the exported instructions to your ChatGPT or Claude conversation and send the included starter prompt.
  5. Ask for one OttoTrader strategy JSON object, then paste it into the Code tab and run Validate Code.
  6. Review and backtest the strategy before saving or using it.
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Does OttoTrader charge AI-token fees?

No. OttoTrader does not resell or meter AI API tokens for these workflows. Your ChatGPT or Claude subscription and that provider's plan limits still apply.

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Can AI start live trading through MCP Research?

No. MCP Research is intentionally research-only. It cannot place trades, manage live positions, request exchange credentials, or bypass local validation and user-controlled trading workflows.

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FAQ section

Strategy Warehouse And Marketplace

6 practical answers for this part of the product.

Can users share strategy JSON files across tiers?

Yes. Strategy JSON files can be exported and shared freely between OttoTrader users. Plan limits still apply to features such as automation, encrypted cloud backup, RTC, TradingView-linked active strategy counts, and seller publishing.

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Where do bought strategies appear in the desktop app?

Owned marketplace strategies appear in Strategy Warehouse > Bought Strategies after you sign in and refresh your owned catalog. You can install the latest local copy, review metadata, and remove the local copy without deleting ownership from your account.

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What does a buyer see for a protected strategy?

Buyers see seller-provided listing details, supported exchanges and markets, validation notes, version history, buyer-safe Public Report context, and verified owner reviews. OttoTrader does not expose protected strategy configuration, internal builder logic, private configs, importable JSON, exact reconstruction data, Full Reports, machine details, or AI prompts.

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How does a seller publish a strategy?

Creator and Seller Studio are coming soon. Marketplace publishing and Creator signup are currently unavailable on the website. Beta invitations will begin soon, with access opening gradually.

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Can a public marketplace report reveal hidden strategy internals?

No. Public Report export is buyer-facing, redacted, and non-importable. It intentionally omits protected strategy configuration, builder logic, private configs, exact reconstruction data, source logic, AI prompts, and import payloads. Full Report is private for OttoTrader review and retesting.

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Why are pricing and marketplace flows on the website?

Billing, checkout, ownership, seller approval, listing review, and payout setup are safer and clearer on the website. The desktop app stays focused on strategy work, testing, and execution.

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FAQ section

Backtesting And Reports

6 practical answers for this part of the product.

Should I backtest before live trading?

Yes. Backtesting helps you understand behavior, costs, risk, and weak assumptions before you run a strategy live.

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Can I backtest TradingView webhook strategies in OttoTrader?

No. TradingView webhook strategies are live-forward inside OttoTrader because TradingView does not replay historical alert webhooks into the desktop app. Use TradingView's own historical tools for Pine behavior, then use OttoTrader Demo and live diagnostics to verify the webhook delivery, matching rules, guards, and protected execution path going forward.

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What is Manual Backtesting?

Manual Backtesting is a focused test for one strategy, pair, timeframe, date range, and risk setup. Use it when you want to understand one idea deeply.

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What is Strategy Optimiser?

Strategy Optimiser runs wider searches across selected pairs, timeframes, and strategy settings. It follows plan access and can use validation modes such as train/test, rolling validation, or bounded walk-forward windows.

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What is the difference between Full Report and Public Report?

Full Report is private for review, retesting, and strategy restoration, and may include importable strategy context. Public Report is marketplace-facing, buyer-safe, non-importable, and removes protected strategy configuration, builder logic, private configs, exact reconstruction data, and import payloads.

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Can I import a report back into OttoTrader?

Use Full Report or a Strategy Warehouse JSON export when you need an importable strategy file. Public marketplace reports intentionally do not carry importable protected strategy internals.

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FAQ section

Remote Trading Center

6 practical answers for this part of the product.

What is Remote Trading Center?

Remote Trading Center, or RTC, is a website companion view for your own desktop app. It can show desktop runtime state and queue guarded commands, but the website is not a browser trading engine.

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What has to be true before RTC actions work?

The desktop app must be open, signed in, awake, connected to the account, and RTC-enabled. After a known desktop device has published its first account-linked snapshot, the website RTC page can ask that same desktop device to enable or disable RTC. The website also needs a fresh snapshot and successful Test Connection, and live-impacting commands require recent MFA verification.

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What can RTC do from the website?

RTC can refresh stats, show a Live Dashboard, show live/demo positions and active strategies, dry-run actions, request close/stop/resume commands, and update TP/SL where supported. Active strategy config changes stay on the desktop. The website queues the request; the desktop validates and executes.

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Does RTC send my exchange API keys to the website?

No. Exchange API keys stay on the desktop app. The website queues guarded commands, and the desktop validates device identity, target identity, exchange, market type, mode, state version, RTC-enabled state, and current local runtime state before executing anything.

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Why do RTC commands need Test Connection and MFA?

Test Connection proves the command queue can reach your desktop and refreshes the snapshot. Real close, stop, resume, and protection commands require recent MFA verification because they can affect live trading state.

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Why might RTC tell me to try again later?

RTC rate-limits repeated command attempts. If you press actions too quickly or retry failures repeatedly, the website may ask you to wait before trying again.

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FAQ section

Security, Data, And Help

4 practical answers for this part of the product.

Is OttoTrader taking security seriously?

Yes. OttoTrader uses account authentication, email confirmation, authenticator-app MFA, website session controls, the operating system credential store for supported desktop credentials, encrypted cloud backup for eligible accounts, and guarded RTC commands.

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What does encrypted cloud backup do?

Eligible accounts can sync an encrypted desktop workspace backup to OttoTrader so a new desktop install can restore the saved workspace before automatic backup resumes.

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Where does Market Pulse fit?

Market Pulse is website market context, and it also powers the desktop Risk Radar globe. It can help you stay informed, but it is not trade advice and does not replace your own strategy testing or risk review.

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Where can I get help?

Start with this FAQ and the Tutorials section. For account, billing, marketplace, or access questions, use the website contact flow so the issue can be routed with the right account context.

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Tutorials

Practical guides for the full OttoTrader workflow.

Use these guides when you move from product understanding into actual setup, desktop operation, website account work, and day-to-day use.

Product How-To

Learn OttoTrader with clear step-by-step guides.

Use these guides when you want practical help with desktop onboarding, exchange setup, Live Trading, Risk Radar, TradingView webhooks, Strategy Warehouse, backtesting, Remote Trading Center, marketplace workflows, AI providers, and account-based features.

First RunStart safely in the desktop appUse this path when you are opening OttoTrader for the first time. It explains sign-in, the left sidebar, Demo-first setup, and the parts of the app you should understand before touching Live Real.
Sign in before setup workThe desktop app needs your OttoTrader account before account-linked features can work.
  1. Launch OttoTrader desktop and wait for startup, safety, and account-loading prompts to finish.
  2. Open Settings > Account from the left sidebar.
  3. Sign in with the same OttoTrader account you use on the website. Complete authenticator verification before using account-linked features.
  4. Let OttoTrader finish account checks, entitlement checks, cloud-backup restore checks, and restored desktop-state loading before changing settings.
  5. Use Settings > Tutorials to restart first-run onboarding if you want to run the guided tour again later.
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Read the left sidebar correctlyThe sidebar is the map of the desktop app. Expand each area only when you need its nested pages.
  1. Dashboard is the read-only account and performance overview.
  2. Live Trading contains Otto Trade, Manual Trade, Chart, Risk Radar, Active Strategies, and Open/Closed Positions.
  3. Strategy Warehouse contains Library, Bought Strategies, and Strategy Builder with Builder Actions and AI-instruction export.
  4. Backtesting contains Manual and Strategy Optimiser.
  5. Settings contains Account, Exchange Connection, Email Notifications, Tardis Connection, Market Verification, Tutorials, and Logging.
  6. Use the top bar active context dropdown and global pair search to keep your current workspace aligned.
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Use Demo before Live RealDemo mode lets you learn the workflow without sending real exchange orders.
  1. Open Settings > Exchange Connection.
  2. Choose an exchange, then choose Spot or Futures.
  3. Use the Demo card first if you are learning, testing, or following the onboarding tour.
  4. Use Live Real only after you understand the strategy, pair, timeframe, balance, market type, and risk settings.
  5. Never connect an exchange API key with withdrawal permission enabled.
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Getting ConnectedHow to connect to exchangesStart here before you trade, test, or automate anything. Exchange setup lives inside Settings > Exchange Connection, where each card represents one exact exchange, market type, and mode.
Understand Demo and Live Real firstOttoTrader uses two main exchange-connection modes here, and choosing the right one is the difference between safe practice and live execution.
  1. Use Demo for local simulation, learning, and workflow testing.
  2. Use Live Real only when you want the desktop app to connect to a real exchange account.
  3. Choose a supported exchange tab, choose the market type available for that exchange, then work inside the Demo or Live Real card that matches your intent. The desktop exchange matrix currently includes Binance, BingX, Bybit, Bitget, KuCoin, MEXC, Kraken, and Coinbase Advanced Trade. Availability may vary by market type, region, account permissions, exchange behavior, and OttoTrader release. Always treat the current desktop connection card, exchange-specific warnings, and validation state as authoritative.
  4. Click Use This Context only when you want that exchange environment to become the active OttoTrader context.
  5. Changing the active context does not silently retarget strategies that are already running. Running strategies keep their pinned exchange, market type, mode, client, and pair.
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Connect Binance safelyBinance is the most direct exchange connection in OttoTrader. The important part is creating the API key with the right permissions and no withdrawal access.
  1. Log in to Binance, open API Management, and create a new API key for OttoTrader.
  2. Complete Binance security checks and copy the API Key and Secret Key when Binance shows them.
  3. Enable only the permissions OttoTrader needs. Use read and trade permissions only. Do not enable withdrawals.
  4. Back in OttoTrader desktop, open Settings > Exchange Connection, choose the Binance tab, choose Spot or Futures, then open the Live Real card you want. Paste the API Key and API Secret there and click Connect.
  5. Use the card's Use This Context action when you want that Binance environment to become the active OttoTrader trading context.
  6. If you are only testing, prefer Demo before touching Live Real.
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Connect BingX safelyBingX follows the same OttoTrader connection pattern, with the same principle of separating safe Demo work from Live Real execution.
  1. Log in to BingX, open API Management in your account area, and create a dedicated API key for OttoTrader.
  2. Copy the API Key and Secret Key from BingX after the key is created.
  3. Keep permissions as narrow as possible. As with Binance, OttoTrader should not be connected to a withdrawal-enabled API key.
  4. In OttoTrader desktop, open Settings > Exchange Connection, choose the BingX tab, choose the market type you want, then use the Live Real card for that exact environment. Paste the API credentials there and click Connect.
  5. Use Use This Context on the BingX mode card when you want OttoTrader to switch the active workspace into that connected environment.
  6. If you are validating a workflow or learning the interface, keep that work in Demo before moving any BingX context into Live Real.
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Use other supported exchange tabsOttoTrader's desktop exchange matrix includes additional exchange contexts beyond Binance and BingX.
  1. Open Settings > Exchange Connection and choose the supported exchange tab you intend to configure.
  2. The desktop exchange matrix currently includes Binance, BingX, Bybit, Bitget, KuCoin, MEXC, Kraken, and Coinbase Advanced Trade. Availability may vary by market type, region, account permissions, exchange behavior, and OttoTrader release. Always treat the current desktop connection card, exchange-specific warnings, and validation state as authoritative.
  3. Confirm the market type, mode, and pair universe shown for that exchange before using Demo or Live Real.
  4. Use read and trade permissions only, never withdrawal permissions, and confirm whether regional or account-level permissions limit a market type before Live Real use.
  5. If an exchange-specific feature is unavailable or behaves differently, treat the desktop validation and warning state as authoritative.
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Desktop WorkspaceDashboardDashboard is the read-only desktop overview. Use it to understand trading state before opening controls that can change positions or strategies.
Read today's trading stateUse Dashboard as the fastest way to understand whether the current session is healthy before drilling into trading controls.
  1. Start with Realized PnL Today, Closed Trades Today, Win Rate Today, Open Positions, Open Unrealized PnL, Usable Balance, Session Fees, Recent Cash Delta, Mark-to-Market Equity, Best Day, Worst Day, and estimated max drawdown.
  2. Read Mark-to-Market Equity as usable balance plus capital reserved in open positions plus open unrealized PnL. For example, 8,500 usable + 1,500 reserved + 495 unrealized is about 10,495 current equity.
  3. Use the Scope selector to switch between the current exchange context and all loaded contexts, then confirm the exchange, market type, mode, and balance asset shown near the top match what you intended to review.
  4. Treat Dashboard as a read-only overview. Use Live Trading when you need to act on a position or strategy.
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Review past activityThe calendar and activity table let users inspect a specific trading day without losing the current live context.
  1. Pick a date in the Trading Calendar to see realized PnL, trade count, wins, losses, and win rate for that day. Green/red heatmap shading highlights profitable and losing historical days.
  2. Use the activity table to review the selected day's closed trades, side, PnL, PnL percent, and strategy attribution.
  3. Use the mark-to-market equity curve and the cash-flow metrics together to understand whether the session result came from trading, fees, or external wallet movement.
  4. OttoTrader keeps a timestamped local workspace snapshot fresh when runtime state changes. During an active Pro trial and on Pro or Creator, that recovery state can also be included in encrypted cloud backup payloads; paid Starter remains local-only.
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Desktop WorkspaceLive TradingLive Trading is the execution workspace. It groups Otto Trade, Manual Trade, Chart, Risk Radar, Active Strategies, and Open/Closed Positions into one operating area.
How to use Live Trading safelyThe best Live Trading workflow starts with a connected session, a confirmed pair, and a strategy you already understand.
  1. Connect to an exchange in Settings > Exchange Connection and choose the correct market type and mode before you do anything else.
  2. Use the top bar active context dropdown and global pair search to choose the exchange context and pair you intend to work on.
  3. Confirm the same pair and timeframe in Otto Trade, then open Chart to verify visual market context.
  4. Choose a saved strategy or custom strategy configuration that you already validated in Backtesting. If the strategy exposes Custom Strategy Settings, review the standalone full-width section below the Otto Trade controls before starting it.
  5. Bar-Close execution models wait for completed candles. After a position closes, a direct bar-close entry needs a candle that completes after that close; recalculating an earlier BUY or SELL cannot reopen it. A later completed candle can still qualify in the same direction. Explicit close-and-reverse models and valid pending setups follow their own execution rules.
  6. Streak Guard pairs each inline description with a compact number field. Set Trigger after consecutive losses and Entry signals to skip after losses together, or use the equivalent wins fields. Both values in a rule must be above Off to enable it; leaving all four at Off disables the streak rules. Pause after exit (hours) independently blocks new setups and entries after any full strategy close, including a manual close. Use 0 for Off or fractional hours such as 0.5. Partial exits do not restart the timer; skipped signals are not queued, and the timer survives restart.
  7. Use Manual Trade only when you intentionally want to open a direct manual buy, sell, or short for the selected pair after confirmation. Symbol and sizing stay aligned with Otto Trade and the top pair control. Choose Market Order or Limit Order first; limit mode reveals side-specific limit price fields. Manual TP/SL Basis can use percentages or exact symbol prices. Non-marketable manual limits appear in Open Orders so you can modify the limit, TP, SL, and TP/SL basis or cancel before OttoTrader fills them. Its Live Status panel mirrors the same balance, status, decision, price, and open-position context shown in Otto Trade.
  8. Use Demo first when you are checking behavior, then move to Live Real only when the strategy, pair, and risk assumptions are already understood.
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Connect TradingView webhook alertsTradingView can provide live alerts while OttoTrader keeps the exchange, sizing, protection, and execution context local.
  1. In Strategy Warehouse, save a custom strategy that uses TradingView Signals. Choose command role when TradingView sends open, close, or flip commands; choose trigger setup role when TradingView only supplies LONG or SHORT timing.
  2. Open Live Trading > Otto Trade, confirm the exchange context, mode, pair, timeframe, sizing, leverage or margin settings, TP/SL, and protection controls, then select the TradingView-enabled strategy.
  3. Use the TradingView Signals panel in Otto Trade to create the private TradingView Webhook URL. Paste that URL into TradingView's Webhook URL field and keep it private because it contains the listener token.
  4. Click Alert Message JSON in Otto Trade and copy the Pine strategy or indicator/manual message body into the TradingView alert message. The URL and alert templates belong in Otto Trade, not Strategy Builder.
  5. Use a unique retry-stable event_id in the alert body. Do not rely only on strategy.order.id, and do not paste exchange keys, wallet data, leverage, sizing, or other secrets into the TradingView alert message.
  6. Start in Demo first and watch Active Strategies, Otto Trade status, and the activity log for accepted or rejected webhook events. Pair mismatch, timeframe mismatch, stale signals, paused strategies, and guard settings should leave diagnostic reasons.
  7. Keep timeframe units exact: TradingView 180 means three hours, W means one week, and uppercase M means months. Monthly alerts cannot match minute strategies. Signals are checked for expiry again when taken from the desktop queue; a full queue rejects the incoming signal with a reason while keeping previously accepted signals.
  8. Remember that TradingView webhook strategies are live-forward in OttoTrader. TradingView does not replay historical alerts into OttoTrader, so OttoTrader backtesting stays locked for these strategies.
  9. The service retains detailed payloads for completed, rejected or expired TradingView events for 60 days. After cleanup, event identities and outcomes remain for replay protection. Unresolved events are retained; this does not remove local trade history.
  10. A paid Starter plan allows one active TradingView-linked strategy per exchange after its Pro trial. Pro and Creator allow unlimited active TradingView-linked strategies subject to normal abuse and rate-limit protections.
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What to check before you start live executionLive deployment works best when the operator reviews context, strategy, and risk before turning anything on.
  1. Make sure the strategy parameters and exchange mode are exactly the ones you intend to run.
  2. Confirm your account has enough available balance and that you understand whether the strategy is running on Spot or Perpetual Futures.
  3. If you restored or resumed a strategy, use Active Strategies to manage the live session from the current row state.
  4. AI News Risk Watch is advisory. A delayed response is discarded if you close or replace its position, change its watch settings, or change account sessions before the response arrives. News alerts never place or close trades.
  5. Treat Live Trading as the place where execution decisions happen, not as the place where a strategy is first discovered.
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Use Decision Reason before actingDecision Reason turns raw strategy state into plain-language trading context.
  1. Open Otto Trade and select the strategy, pair, timeframe, and risk settings you want to review.
  2. Read Decision Reason after the strategy evaluates. It should explain whether conditions passed, which condition failed, and whether an open trade is already present.
  3. Use the explanation as a check, not a command. If the reason does not match what you expected, review the strategy settings, chart, and current open position before taking action.
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Live TradingChartChart keeps TradingView chart and order-flow context separate from execution controls, with multi-chart support for eligible accounts.
Verify chart and order-flow contextUse Chart as the visual context layer before and during live operation.
  1. Open Live Trading > Chart after selecting a pair with the global pair search or Otto Trade controls.
  2. Confirm the primary TradingView chart matches the same symbol, timeframe, exchange, market type, and mode you intend to trade.
  3. Paid Starter keeps the primary chart only. On Pro, Creator, or an active Pro trial, use Add Chart to open secondary symbols. Those charts can include orderflow, but they do not change Otto Trade or a running strategy.
  4. Use the layout selector to switch between stacked, side-by-side, grid, or primary-focus chart arrangements, and collapse chart or order-flow sections when the workspace gets dense.
  5. Use TradingView for visual market context and indicators while keeping execution controls outside the chart.
  6. On smaller monitors, scroll inside the Chart workspace to reach the TradingView and order-flow sections after expanding or collapsing them.
  7. Your Chart layout, primary symbol, secondary charts, panel order, and expanded sections are saved locally and restored after restart. Saved charts wait through account access checks without losing their configuration; exchange pair catalogs can continue loading in the background.
  8. Use the order-flow panel as context only. Entries, exits, strategy controls, and account actions remain in Otto Trade, Manual Trade, Active Strategies, or Open/Closed Positions.
Link to this guide ↗
Live TradingRisk RadarRisk Radar turns Market Pulse briefs into a read-only globe so you can see where recent market-relevant news pressure is concentrated.
Use Risk Radar for market contextRisk Radar helps you inspect country-level news intensity without turning the news feed into an execution signal.
  1. Open Live Trading > Risk Radar after confirming the active exchange context and pair in the top bar.
  2. Drag the globe to inspect regions, hover a country to focus it, or click a heated country to load that country's Market Pulse brief feed.
  3. Use the time-window and feed filters to narrow the view, then sort the selected country feed by the context you need, such as newest or highest impact.
  4. Read article summaries and open source articles when a country or region deserves more review.
  5. Treat Risk Radar as awareness only. It should inform your review, but entries, exits, strategy controls, and position actions stay in Otto Trade, Manual Trade, Active Strategies, or Open/Closed Positions.
Link to this guide ↗
Live TradingActive StrategiesActive Strategies is a Live Trading subtab and the control room for what OttoTrader is already running. It is the right place to monitor and intervene after execution has started.
Monitor live strategy sessionsOnce a strategy is running, Active Strategies gives you the cleanest cross-session view.
  1. Open Live Trading > Active Strategies to review running strategies across your connected contexts.
  2. Use the list to verify which exchange, pair, and strategy are active before making changes.
  3. Use the destructive bulk controls with care: Stop Selected Strategy handles one row, Force Stop can close the selected strategy's managed position too, and Stop All Strategies can stop every active or staged strategy after asking whether managed positions should also be closed.
  4. Use See Health on a row to open a live strategy-health popup with score, drift warnings, slippage proxy, filter notes, and news-risk cues.
  5. Prefer this tab over scattered manual checks when you need a central live-status view.
Link to this guide ↗
Resume or stop a strategyThis tab is also where OttoTrader expects you to manage restored or paused sessions.
  1. Select the strategy row you want to control.
  2. Use Resume Selected Strategy when OttoTrader indicates a saved or restored strategy needs to be resumed from the active-session workflow.
  3. Use Stop Selected Strategy when you intentionally want to end the live session.
Link to this guide ↗
Live TradingOpen/Closed PositionsOpen/Closed Positions is the Live Trading account-health view. It shows whether your trading session still has protection coverage, open positions, and closed-trade history behaving the way you expect.
Read protection stateThis is where you quickly sanity-check account condition before or during live operation.
  1. Start at Protection Health. OttoTrader surfaces whether visible positions have native protection, local-only protection, or need attention.
  2. Use the display controls to decide whether demo positions are visible and whether the table should focus only on the selected exchange context.
  3. If the numbers do not match your expectations, stop and investigate before continuing live action.
Link to this guide ↗
Use open and closed positions to verify behaviorThis area helps you understand whether live execution matched the strategy logic you expected.
  1. Use Open Positions to inspect current entries, protection posture, TP/SL projected dollar impact, and live control actions. On smaller monitors, use the left/right table arrows or horizontal table scrollbar to reach every risk column, and hover clipped cells to read the full value.
  2. Use Close Selected Position when you only want to close one trade, or Close All Positions when you are certain every loaded position should be exited at once.
  3. Use Change Position Value to adjust an open position's TP or SL. OttoTrader refreshes that position's market price first. A long SL must remain below the current price; a short SL must remain above it. Either can move beyond entry to protect profit. Demo changes stay local; supported live contexts also replace native protection. If the price cannot be refreshed or the levels would already trigger, the edit is rejected without changing protection.
  4. Watch for the Closing All Positions spinner when a destructive bulk close is already in progress so you know OttoTrader is still working.
  5. Use Closed Trades to review entries, exits, margin usage, leverage, and realized performance after positions finish.
  6. Fees can be negative when a normalized exchange execution reports a rebate. Base-asset buy fees or rebates change the Spot quantity and are counted once in PnL. Fees without an available USD conversion stay identified in their original asset; dollar totals include only valued costs.
  7. Treat Open/Closed Positions as the evidence layer for real execution, not just an afterthought.
Link to this guide ↗
Desktop WorkspaceStrategy WarehouseStrategy Warehouse gives Starter, trial, Pro, and Creator accounts the full Quant Builder for building, saving, importing, exporting, and drafting with external AI instructions.
Build and save a custom strategyThe custom builder is designed for deterministic strategy construction, not vague idea collecting.
  1. Open Strategy Warehouse and use the Visual Builder tab to define lifecycle, execution model, blocks, and risk settings.
  2. For a clock-based range with no profit target, choose Clock Range Breakout + Stop + Timed Exit and add Clock Range Anchor under Setup Rules. Set the schedule timezone, range boundaries, exit time, timestamp basis, and weekend controls. Fixed Capital Risk By Stop Distance uses a constant reference capital; Research Quantity Step can reproduce whole-unit sizing. This execution model supports Backtesting and Demo; live/testnet stop-only protection is not enabled.
  3. Weekly decision feeds aggregate from Monday 00:00 UTC. Retest strategies using weekly feeds after upgrading from an earlier weekly-boundary implementation. Lowercase m means minutes; calendar-month decision feeds such as 1M are unsupported and rejected. A clock range entirely inside a skipped daylight-saving hour produces no setup for that session.
  4. For a stateful pending-setup strategy, keep Setup Candidate Mode on Legacy Single unless the strategy genuinely produces several distinct persistent opportunities. Ranked Multiple Candidates uses explicit total/per-direction bounds and a capacity policy, deterministically selects one candidate, and supersedes its siblings after a fill; it still permits only one open position and is not the separate multiple-active-strategies-per-pair feature.
  5. Formula libraries have shared expansion and nesting limits. If validation reports a formula complexity limit, simplify repeated references or deeply nested formulas before saving, syncing, or running the strategy.
  6. In Quant Formula Condition, first_after(event, anchor, maximum_bars) selects only the first event on a later candle within a bounded window. Each true anchor rearms; use rising_edge(anchor) for edge-only rearming. value_when(condition, source, maximum_bars) captures a bounded numeric value. These replay completed candle history; they do not provide indefinite durable state or tick ordering. Required history is inferred automatically. htf("1h", low) already refers to the most recently completed hourly low.
  7. For Demo or research market entry with structural protection, choose Bar-Close Market Entry + Captured Structural Stop/Target. Add earlier evidence-only Filter providers, then finish with Market Entry Structural Stop / Target under ALL Filters. Its LONG/SHORT plans specify stop, target and price_tick_size; omit entry. Prices stay captured and fills are revalidated. Live/Testnet is blocked. Reverse entries, continuation adds and external-signal fast paths are unsupported for this model. Nearest Active Entirely Above Price / Below Price FVG selectors exclude overlapping zones.
  8. Use the Code tab when you want to paste OttoTrader strategy JSON from an external AI or another trusted source and validate it locally before loading it back into the builder.
  9. Save the strategy with a clear name once the configuration is coherent. OttoTrader uses saved names across Live Trading, Backtesting, exports, and reports.
  10. Use Strategy Warehouse > Library to review custom strategies and built-in sample strategies. Deleting a built-in sample hides it from local strategy choices on that device.
  11. Use Import JSON/HTML and Export Strategy when you need to move configurations between environments or keep a portable copy, and use See Health to inspect the selected strategy's closed trades across exchange contexts.
  12. Some imported strategies include a required runtime contract. Read its notice in the strategy's Execution controls, then match the exchange, symbol, market, timeframe, leverage, and Balance % in Otto Trade. The contract applies its Streak Guard and simulation costs; mismatched settings block entry. Compatible contracts support Binance isolated Live Real with a dedicated settlement policy and all capital in isolated. Importing a strategy does not start it.
  13. In Strategy Health, select a closed trade to enable Delete Entry beside Close. Review the before-and-after trade count, PnL, win rate, profit factor, average duration, fees, and exchange count, then choose Yes or Cancel. After Yes, the row disappears and the displayed statistics refresh immediately. Deletion excludes that entry from reported history and performance across the app, including after restart or history refresh. Actual balances, account equity, open positions, and execution guards stay unchanged; the original execution record is retained and there is no undo button. If the entry changed or the request fails, OttoTrader shows an explanation and refreshes the history for review.
  14. Strategy JSON files can be shared freely between OttoTrader users, including across different plan tiers.
Link to this guide ↗
Use exported AI instructions without breaking the builderBuilder Actions exports OttoTrader's current strategy contract for your preferred browser AI, while local validation remains authoritative.
  1. Open Strategy Warehouse > Strategy Builder. In Builder Actions, use Export AI Instructions. OttoTrader exports its universal full-builder contract, records the selected Visual Builder view separately, and copies a safe priming prompt.
  2. Open your preferred AI model using your own provider subscription. Upload the exported instruction file, paste the priming prompt first, and let the AI confirm it understands the OttoTrader rules before sending the real request.
  3. Describe the strategy in plain language, including its market idea, entries, exits, timeframe assumptions, direction, and risk controls. Require the AI to disclose whether the request is fully reproducible, partially reproducible, or unsupported instead of inventing unavailable behavior.
  4. Treat capability scope as part of that review. For example, OttoTrader can research an anchored VWAP standard-deviation band exit in Manual Backtesting or Strategy Optimizer, but that execution model is not available for Live Real or Demo deployment.
  5. After reviewing the capability-fit answer, request exactly one OttoTrader strategy JSON object with no markdown fences or surrounding prose.
  6. Paste the JSON into Strategy Warehouse > Strategy Builder > Code and select Validate Code. Treat the AI output as an untrusted draft until OttoTrader's local validator accepts it.
  7. If validation fails, send the exact message or a screenshot back to the same AI conversation and request a corrected JSON object. Do not bypass the validator or guess unsupported fields.
  8. After validation succeeds, select Apply To Visual Builder. Review the normalized name, lifecycle, execution behavior, direction, blocks, parameters, preview, and warnings, then use Save Strategy.
  9. Before any deployment, select the saved strategy in Backtesting > Manual and repeat historical tests across different windows and market regimes. Vary realistic sizing, fees, spread, slippage, intrabar replay, validation settings, and intended pairs or timeframes where appropriate.
  10. Review drawdown, trade count, stability, failure periods, and execution assumptions rather than only total return. A successful validation or one favorable backtest does not establish robustness.
  11. Forward-test an acceptable candidate in Demo before considering Live Real. AI generation, validation, backtesting, and Demo results never guarantee future performance or remove the risk of loss.
Link to this guide ↗
List a desktop strategy on the marketplaceMarketplace listings start with your OttoTrader account, seller setup, and a saved desktop strategy that you intentionally sync into Seller Studio.
  1. Choose Creator on the website and complete the seller application in Seller Studio. After approval, activate Creator from Billing with an immediate payment; Creator has no trial. Then finish Stripe payout onboarding so OttoTrader can pay you when a listing sells.
  2. Marketplace publishing and new purchases require current Creator access plus seller approval. Valid payment grace periods and active complimentary Creator grants retain access. After expiry or downgrade you can still review your existing seller workspace; existing buyers keep their ownership.
  3. Stripe onboarding and dashboard access require a recent authenticator verification. If asked, enter the current code in Seller Studio and open Stripe again.
  4. Move to the desktop app and build the strategy in Strategy Warehouse. Save it into your local Library with a clear name, because that saved library entry is what OttoTrader can sync into your seller workspace.
  5. Stay signed in with the same OttoTrader account on desktop, then use Sync To Seller Studio on the saved strategy. This pushes the desktop strategy into the website seller library tied to your account.
  6. Return to the website and open Seller Studio. You will find the synced strategy in your seller library or strategy draft area, ready to be turned into a real marketplace listing.
  7. Open that synced strategy, add the listing details OttoTrader needs such as title, price, description, supported markets, validation context, and version notes, then submit it for review or publish it when allowed.
  8. After the listing is live, manage future edits and releases from Seller Studio. If you improve the strategy on desktop later, sync the newer version again and publish the updated marketplace version from the website.
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Install and review bought strategiesProtected marketplace strategies live separately from your editable local builder content.
  1. Open Strategy Warehouse > Bought Strategies to refresh your owned strategy catalog from the website.
  2. Use Install Latest when you want the latest protected package or metadata version available locally.
  3. Use Save As New only when OttoTrader allows safe local derivation from the owned package.
  4. Use Remove Local Copy to remove the local installed copy without deleting the ownership itself from your account.
  5. Use See Health to inspect closed-trade performance for the selected bought strategy without exposing protected seller logic.
  6. Expect protected marketplace strategies to hide internal builder logic from website listings, exports, public reports, and AI explanations.
Link to this guide ↗
Desktop WorkspaceBacktestingBacktesting is where strategy trust is earned. OttoTrader supports focused manual runs, broader automation, and subscription-powered AI research through the local MCP Research workflow.
Run a manual backtestManual mode is the fastest way to test one strategy idea and understand what it really does.
  1. Open Backtesting > Manual and confirm the global pair search selected the pair you want. Change it in the top bar if needed.
  2. Configure the strategy, timeframe, date range, and risk settings you want to study.
  3. Historical candles are saved locally as they download. Repeated or overlapping date ranges reuse saved candles and fetch missing sections; a stopped download can reuse completed sections on the next run. Progress shows cached and downloaded candles, dates, and speed. Binance spot and USD-M perpetual history can use verified public archives. Other exchanges use their own candle APIs, subject to their available history.
  4. Stopping a historical download also stops alternate-provider fallback at its next cancellation check. An in-flight network request may finish or time out first. Alternate Binance archives require a matching checksum and obey download and extraction size limits; an unavailable or invalid archive can fall back to another disclosed public source.
  5. OttoTrader rejects malformed candle prices and non-finite or negative volume when volume is present. Correct the data source and retry if validation fails. Old synthesized weekly cache entries are rebuilt using Monday boundaries; native candle history remains reusable.
  6. Historical Data, below the Manual backtest actions, shows local cache storage in GB. Cache historical data is on by default and remembers your choice across restarts for Manual, Strategy Optimizer, report reruns and MCP Research. Turn it off to download fresh candles without deleting saved files. Delete Cached Data asks for confirmation and clears saved candles and reusable candle memory, keeping your strategies, trade history and exported reports. Cache controls are unavailable while research or candle downloads are running.
  7. Streak Guard uses the same labeled loss and win rules as Otto Trade. Each rule needs both a consecutive-trade trigger and a number of entry signals to skip; Off disables that rule. Pause after exit (hours) uses the same full-close cooldown as Otto Trade, measured in historical time during a backtest. Strategy Optimiser also provides locks and search ranges for these values.
  8. Choose a Realism & Credibility preset, then adjust fee, slippage, spread, deterministic entry partial-fill quantity reduction, futures funding, liquidation, and advanced assumptions for the run. Partial fills estimate execution behavior rather than modeling the full tick-level order book queue.
  9. Fixed fee / order USD adds a flat charge to each executed entry or exit, alongside percentage commission. For a comparison report with $3 commission per completed trade, set 1.50 and zero percentage commission. Use separate venue-cost assumptions when assessing deployability.
  10. For Margin backtests, set Margin Borrow Model and Borrow bps / hour explicitly. Off reproduces a report that excluded interest; Fixed hourly bps applies your chosen hourly assumption to borrowed exposure. Imported and saved presets preserve these settings.
  11. Run a manual backtest to inspect net performance, train/test or walk-forward validation, Monte Carlo robustness, and overfit warnings before scaling the idea into broader automation.
  12. For a more detailed comparison, choose Realism & Credibility > Validation > Zoned Train/Test. Set Train/Test Zones (default 4) and Train % (for example 70). Each consecutive zone reruns the same fixed strategy on its earlier 70% and later 30%, with fresh capital and positions in each segment and prior candles used only for warm-up. This adds simulation time and does not retune the strategy. Compare every zone in the results and Full or Public HTML reports; test data is only out-of-sample if you have not used it to develop or select the strategy.
  13. Use the chart, summary metrics, and execution details together so one headline number does not carry the whole decision.
  14. Reports combining independent simulations do not show average flat time between trades as if those simulations were one portfolio. Individual trade durations and pooled profitability remain available.
Link to this guide ↗
Use Strategy OptimiserStrategy Optimiser is for broader parameter and context sweeps once the strategy already makes sense.
  1. Open Backtesting > Strategy Optimiser.
  2. Remember that Strategy Optimiser is available during an active Pro trial and on Pro or Creator. Paid Starter keeps full manual backtesting but not Optimiser automation.
  3. Choose pairs, candidate settings, locked fields, validation mode, and credibility scope.
  4. Final winners only is the default for heavier credibility checks because Monte Carlo and deeper validation can slow large searches.
  5. Use Strategy Optimiser when you want to compare multiple pairs, timeframes, or overrides around a strategy through one broader search workflow.
Link to this guide ↗
Research with Claude or ChatGPTMCP Research lets an eligible user connect an AI subscription to OttoTrader's local validation and backtesting engine without buying AI API tokens from OttoTrader.
  1. An idle research connection may stay open while waiting for work. If a busy response asks you to retry, continue the existing request instead of starting duplicate research.
  2. Open Backtesting > MCP Research. The feature is available during an active Pro trial and on Pro or Creator. Paid Starter cannot start MCP Research, and a close-only account can use only reconciliation and position-closing surfaces.
  3. Choose Claude Web or ChatGPT Web from the AI client dropdown, then click Connect / Install to start the outbound relay for this OttoTrader session. The relay stays off after a new app launch until you click Connect / Install again. For Claude Web, sign in to Claude, click + beneath the chat, then use Connectors > Add connector > Add custom connector and paste https://api.ottotrader.io/api/v1/mcp. Continue sign-in, OTP/MFA, desktop selection, and research-only approval on the official OttoTrader website. Keep OttoTrader open so the outbound relay can reach the selected desktop.
  4. For a web client, complete sign-in, MFA, and desktop selection only on the official OttoTrader authorization page. Never enter an Otto OTP inside an AI conversation. The AI never receives exchange credentials, and the research tool catalog cannot place live trades.
  5. In every new AI conversation, use Copy safe starter prompt. Require get_research_bootstrap, every ordered get_research_context page, the returned continuation token, and the readiness receipts before strategy generation, validation, or backtesting.
  6. Describe the research you want. The AI presents a compact brief covering the goal, market, history, risk ceiling, effort policy, and material non-defaults; OttoTrader keeps detailed realism, holdout, lookahead, and robustness defaults internal. Approve the brief before campaign work starts.
  7. Campaign creation belongs to the connected AI. Use the desktop campaign table to monitor Draft, Active, Paused, and Sealed states, and distinguish durable submission acceptance from queued, running, completed, failed, or cancelled execution.
  8. Keep the selected OttoTrader desktop online while the AI submits and polls local jobs. To continue from a later conversation, bootstrap again and use the selected campaign's resume prompt instead of repeating rejected or duplicate candidates.
  9. Review job details, execution assumptions, drawdown, trade count, validation evidence, data provenance, robustness, and errors rather than selecting only the highest PnL.
  10. Export strategy JSON or Save in library only after review. These actions make a candidate reusable in Strategy Warehouse; they do not deploy it to Demo or Live Real.
  11. Treat all outputs as historical research rather than profit promises. MCP Research uses public market catalogs without exchange credentials and records that provenance; confirm the pair in the intended connected account before deployment. A valid campaign may end with no winner, and paper or Demo validation remains mandatory before live capital.
Link to this guide ↗
Export and reuse HTML reportsOttoTrader's HTML reports are meant to be visually strong and detail-rich enough to preserve real research, not just dump a few headline metrics.
  1. Use Export HTML Report after a run when you want a portable report that keeps the result story, not just the raw numbers.
  2. Choose Full Report for private review, retesting, and importable strategy context.
  3. Review the Equity Curve beneath the headline metrics. Full Reports use recorded equity samples when available; Public Reports show equity after each closed trade without timestamps or open-position fluctuations.
  4. Hover or tap the Equity Curve to see equity and elapsed closed trades. Full Reports also show the recorded sample date in UTC; Public Reports omit dates to preserve trade-timing privacy. You can also focus the chart and use arrow keys or Home/End. Long histories show the nearest retained sample; older Full results may need a fresh backtest to supply trade counts and dates for recorded equity samples. Native hover tooltips remain available in viewers that block scripts.
  5. Compare All, Long, and Short columns in Trade Performance Analysis: breakeven trades, expectancy, average win/loss sizes, profit factor, streaks, holding time, exposure, and outlier sensitivity. Read the definitions below the table: payoff ratio differs from profit factor, and excluding outliers is descriptive hindsight. Missing evidence appears as n/a.
  6. Use Period Consistency to inspect winning, losing, and flat weeks/months, average profit, and best/worst period amounts. Periods use UTC trade exits and include inactive periods within the scored window. Full Reports include dated weekly and monthly breakdowns; Public Reports retain weekly aggregates and month-level breakdowns. Account drawdown and closed-trade drawdown measure different equity paths.
  7. Choose Public Report for marketplace-facing, buyer-safe, non-importable performance context that omits protected strategy internals, builder structure, source logic, private configs, exact reconstruction data, AI prompts, and import payloads.
  8. Review the Realism & Credibility Assumptions, Validation/Robustness/Overfit Checks, Execution Cost Breakdown, and futures funding/liquidation sections so you can compare gross results, net results, fees, slippage, spread, funding, liquidation, validation, Monte Carlo, and overfit risk.
  9. Use Import From HTML Report only with reports that include importable strategy data, such as a Full Report. Public marketplace reports intentionally omit protected import data and should not be used as reconstruction files.
  10. Treat the HTML report workflow as part of your research discipline, especially when you want to compare iterations over time.
Link to this guide ↗
Website CompanionRemote Trading CenterRemote Trading Center is available during an active Pro trial and on Pro or Creator. It lets an eligible signed-in website session monitor its own desktop app and queue guarded remote actions without moving exchange API keys into the website; paid Starter and restricted accounts do not poll RTC.
Enable RTC for a known desktopRTC targets your own signed-in desktop because the desktop owns exchange credentials and execution.
  1. Open OttoTrader desktop, sign in, and unlock the desktop session.
  2. Open Settings > Account and enable Remote Trading Center if this is the first time the website has seen this device.
  3. After the desktop has published its first account-linked snapshot, the website RTC page can also ask that same desktop device to turn RTC on or off.
  4. Publish or refresh the desktop snapshot if the page tells you the website has not seen this device yet.
  5. Leave the desktop app open and awake. RTC cannot execute commands through a closed or sleeping desktop.
  6. Open the website Dashboard, then Remote Trading Center.
Link to this guide ↗
Automatic connection preparationThe website needs fresh proof that the command queue can reach the desktop.
  1. Open RTC. It automatically checks the desktop connection and shows a progress indicator.
  2. Wait for the desktop to acknowledge the test and refresh its snapshot.
  3. If the check fails, keep the desktop open, signed in, awake, and RTC enabled, then choose Retry connection.
  4. When the test succeeds, RTC can show fresher state and unlock eligible controls.
Link to this guide ↗
Use Live Dashboard and Live Trading viewsRTC is split between a summary view and guarded action views.
  1. Use Live Dashboard to review connected exchange contexts, open positions, active strategies, exposure, PnL, and desktop freshness.
  2. Use Live Trading when you need position risk cards, active strategy cards, command history, and guarded actions.
  3. Select a compact position or strategy card on the left to open its detail panel on the right.
  4. Use Refresh Stats when you want the desktop to publish updated runtime stats.
  5. Use dry-run actions before real actions when you want the desktop to validate target state without changing it.
Link to this guide ↗
Understand real RTC commandsReal RTC actions are guarded because they can affect positions or running strategies.
  1. Real close, stop, resume, and protection commands use the MFA verification completed at sign-in. RTC does not ask for another OTP. Wait for automatic connection preparation, review the current target, and confirm your action. Connection checks never send trading actions automatically.
  2. Restarting a strategy or changing its risk/configuration settings invalidates earlier remote commands for that strategy. Refresh RTC and confirm again. Expired setting commands are also rejected; operations already accepted for execution may report completion afterward.
  3. The website queues a command. The desktop then validates device identity, target identity, exchange, market type, mode, state version, RTC enabled state, and current local runtime state.
  4. If the target state differs from the website snapshot, the desktop rejects the command and asks you to refresh RTC.
  5. Active strategy config changes stay on the desktop. RTC does not expose or edit protected strategy internals or active runtime config.
Link to this guide ↗
Desktop WorkspaceSettingsSettings is where OttoTrader desktop becomes account-aware, exchange-aware, and provider-aware. This is where you sign in, manage exchange contexts, connect AI tools, configure notifications, and manage logging.
Sign in and unlock desktop featuresOttoTrader desktop expects account sign-in before protected ownership sync and account-linked capability checks can work properly.
  1. Open Settings and then the Account subtab.
  2. Sign in with the same OttoTrader account you use on the website.
  3. After Checkout, wait for confirmed subscription access in website Account > Billing. If confirmation is still processing, use Refresh billing state. A successful browser redirect alone does not activate a plan. Billing may ask for a fresh authenticator code; Verify and continue retries your pending request with the verified session.
  4. Check Desktop Access in the account summary. A Pro or Creator plan label alone does not confirm desktop authorization. A valid administrator complimentary grant overrides subscription and trial restrictions until it is revoked or expires. If authorization is missing, expired, or cannot be verified, refresh Account or sign in again; contact support with the displayed reason if access remains restricted.
  5. Complete authenticator verification before using account-linked features. OttoTrader asks for your password and authenticator code again after a fresh app reopen, so the desktop account session is not silently remembered between launches.
  6. On a supported macOS app and backend, choose Unattended Operation > Enable / Configure recovery. Automatically reconnect my exchanges remembers connected sessions across supported exchanges, including sessions you connect later while signed in. Recovery keeps each exchange, market and Demo/Testnet/Live context separate; API secrets and passphrases stay in Keychain. Manually disconnecting a session removes it from recovery. You can enable exchange reconnection without selecting a strategy. Confirm with a fresh password and authenticator code; existing authorizations need this approval to add exchange reconnection.
  7. Optionally select local or installed bought strategies currently shown in Active Strategies, including paused, Needs Resume and pending-setup entries in supported Demo, Testnet or Live contexts. Inactive saved configurations are omitted; start a compatible strategy before configuring its recovery. Select all checks every eligible active strategy; Live trading still requires its separate authorization checkbox. Ordinary local strategies do not need a special runtime contract. Existing contracts still apply. Bought strategies keep their installed version and buyer settings locally; their protected rules stay on the server and need the hosted decision service. Live strategies require explicit real-trading consent. Install the matching recovery API release and approve existing strategies again after this update. Exchange reconnection does not start strategies. Windows automatic startup and unattended TradingView webhook commands are not available.
  8. Supervision begins at the next macOS login. The recovered interface stays locked; sign in to unlock it. Pause and Stop survive reboot, and changed strategy settings or bought-strategy versions require approval again. Recovery verifies the saved context, inventory and native protection before resuming; unresolved orders or missing evidence remain Needs attention. Missed entry signals are never replayed. Active Strategies shows the approved recovery intent and latest recovery result.
  9. Run recovery check shows a readable report covering startup registration, secure credentials, the current recovery lease, saved exchange sessions and strategy approvals. If a background task is busy, the check queues and opens its results when ready, including missing-credential errors. The check itself does not connect exchanges or start trading, and it does not certify reboot or power recovery. Closing the window keeps an authorized runtime running. Quit Otto until next login exits, while Disable Unattended Operation removes automatic recovery without closing positions. External outage email is a separate opt-in in the setup dialog.
  10. Setup checks that its saved unattended credential can be read back. After restart, a missing-credential message means you must sign in and authorize this Mac again. A Keychain-access error means the store could not be read; restore access for the installed OttoTrader app and renewal retries automatically. Do not delete the installation identity or other OttoTrader Keychain entries to troubleshoot recovery.
  11. Once signed in, account-linked flows such as owned-strategy sync, tier-aware automation, and encrypted cloud backup eligibility become available.
  12. If a renewal or first post-trial payment fails, OttoTrader shows a warning after every login and keeps the selected Starter, Pro, or Creator plan fully active for seven days. Pay before the displayed deadline. After it expires, OttoTrader stops strategies, cancels pending entries, preserves exchange-side protective orders, and permits only reconciliation and closing existing exposure until billing recovers.
  13. During an active Pro trial or on Pro or Creator, restore your saved cloud workspace first on a fresh machine, then enable encrypted cloud backup in Settings > Account and choose how often OttoTrader syncs your desktop workspace to your account. Paid Starter keeps local workspace data but does not upload cloud backups. Use the Review Cloud vs Local action whenever you want to compare both copies before choosing which one stays authoritative.
  14. Cloud restore saves both the strategy library and runtime workspace before reporting success. Stop active strategies, cancel or finish outstanding manual orders, and let exchange requests and any cloud sync finish before restoring. If a started restore fails, uploads and new entries remain paused until you retry successfully or restart and recover the preserved local workspace; closing existing positions and cancelling orders remain available. Older backups containing only a strategy library can still be restored.
  15. If saved local files cannot be read, startup offers recovery from a validated backup, Start Empty with the original files preserved, or Keep Files and Quit. Unattended startup waits for interactive recovery. After recovering older local files, review exchange positions and authorize Unattended Operation again before resuming.
  16. Signing out, switching accounts, or changing the account backend cancels the authority of pending cloud-backup work and review dialogs. Refresh or retry from the current account. Ordinary session-token refresh keeps same-account backup work valid.
  17. Cloud backup sends a compact upload confirmation to reduce bandwidth. Restore and Review Cloud vs Local still use your full saved workspace and the same safety checks.
  18. Enable Remote Trading Center here only when you want the website to receive desktop state and queue guarded commands for this desktop.
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Use the Exchange Connection subtab cleanlyExchange setup lives in one dedicated place so trading workspaces can stay focused on strategy review, monitoring, and execution.
  1. Open Settings > Exchange Connection.
  2. Choose the supported exchange tab you intend to configure. The desktop exchange matrix currently includes Binance, BingX, Bybit, Bitget, KuCoin, MEXC, Kraken, and Coinbase Advanced Trade. Availability may vary by market type, region, account permissions, exchange behavior, and OttoTrader release. Always treat the current desktop connection card, exchange-specific warnings, and validation state as authoritative.
  3. Inside that exchange, choose Spot or Futures from the market subtabs.
  4. Use the Demo and Live Real cards to connect, disconnect, set demo balance, or mark a context as the one OttoTrader should actively use.
  5. Admin and super-admin accounts may also see a read-only public exchange metadata audit above the exchange tabs. It checks CCXT catalog metadata without exchange credentials or orders; it does not determine whether a particular account or region is eligible to trade.
  6. Treat each card as one exact exchange context. If you are not sure where you are about to connect, stop and confirm the exchange tab, market subtab, and mode card before pressing Connect.
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Connect your own Tardis subscriptionTardis Connection is a bring-your-own-account prerequisite for independent Market Verification; OttoTrader does not supply or share a subscription.
  1. Create or use your own Tardis.dev subscription and obtain its API key. Tardis uses API-key authentication for this integration, not an OAuth sign-in.
  2. Open Settings > Tardis Connection, paste the key, and choose Connect Account. Validation runs in the background against Tardis access information, so the desktop interface remains responsive.
  3. Review the compatible access shown by OttoTrader. Only exact reviewed Binance BTC/ETH Spot or USD-M dataset scopes are enabled; unsupported exchanges, symbols, and date windows are not broadened or substituted.
  4. The key stays in the operating system credential store: Windows Credential Manager on Windows or Keychain on macOS. Strategy JSON, settings, evidence, logs, reports, alerts, URLs, exported AI instructions, and AI prompts remain secret-free.
  5. Use Test Connection after subscription or access changes. Disconnect stops automatic verification first and then removes the protected key. A failed new-key validation preserves the prior valid connection.
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Roll out automatic market verification safelyMarket Verification is a disabled-by-default operational comparison for the exact Binance BTC/ETH Spot and USD-M Tuesday-profile contexts it supports; it is not a strategy signal or profitability forecast.
  1. Connect a compatible user-owned subscription under Settings > Tardis Connection first. Market Verification remains unavailable until OttoTrader validates both the protected credential and a reviewed access scope.
  2. Open Settings > Market Verification and review the exact supported mappings before enabling anything. Unsupported symbols, out-of-window access, and similar contracts are not substituted.
  3. Start with Off or Advisory. Run a supported Tuesday-profile strategy in Demo with its matching connected Binance context so OttoTrader can compare primary exchange candles with independently collected Tardis raw trades.
  4. Use Verify Now for a safe refresh and review each job's verified, stale, degraded, or blocked reason and approval expiry. Missing credentials, disconnected sessions, unsupported contracts, corrupt data, mismatches, and stale approvals must be resolved rather than bypassed.
  5. Complete an authenticated provider smoke test and a multi-week Advisory Demo or shadow soak before considering Required. Required can block only new automated Live Real entries for the exact verified context; it does not block exits, protection, cancellation, reconciliation, Demo, or backtesting.
  6. Never treat a verification match as evidence that a strategy is profitable or safe to fund. Keep real-money risk small and independently review the strategy and execution settings.
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Use Email Notifications and Logging settingsThese settings help you turn OttoTrader from a local tool into an operational workspace with notifications and traceability.
  1. Use the Email Notifications subtab to configure destination email and start the email notification service when you want event visibility outside the desktop window.
  2. Email notifications have a bounded waiting queue. If delivery falls behind, OttoTrader reports that an email was not queued; inspect the event in Logging. Restarting notifications may briefly wait for an earlier send to finish. Queued emails keep their original destination.
  3. Use the Logging subtab when you want to export, inspect, or preserve the operational record around what OttoTrader has been doing.
  4. Keep Logging especially close when you are comparing automation runs, debugging a strategy issue, or explaining live behavior after the fact.
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WebsiteWebsite account, marketplace, and helpThe website handles account management, downloads, marketplace discovery, seller tools, Market Pulse, legal pages, and support paths around the desktop app.
Use the website for account operationsAccount and billing work belongs on the website, not inside trading controls.
  1. Use the website to sign up, confirm email, set up MFA, change password, manage billing, and download the desktop installer.
  2. Use the Account page for security settings, privacy requests, seller status, and workspace tabs such as Tutorials.
  3. Use the desktop app for live strategy work, backtesting, exchange connections, and execution.
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Buy and install marketplace strategiesMarketplace discovery happens on the website; installation and operation happen in the desktop app.
  1. Browse marketplace listings on the website and read supported markets, validation notes, version history, and seller-provided details.
  2. Purchase only after reviewing the Public Report, fit, requirements, delivery notes, and support expectations for the strategy.
  3. Open the desktop app, sign in with the same account, then go to Strategy Warehouse > Bought Strategies.
  4. Refresh owned strategies and install the latest package locally.
  5. Use the installed protected strategy according to the delivery modes and install notes shown by the package.
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Publish as a Creator sellerCreator publishing uses both desktop strategy work and website seller tools.
  1. Use a Creator account and complete seller setup on the website, including the required payout onboarding.
  2. Build and save the strategy in desktop Strategy Warehouse.
  3. Use Sync To Seller Studio from the saved desktop strategy.
  4. Return to Seller Studio on the website to add listing copy, price, supported markets, validation context, version notes, and review details.
  5. Publish or submit for review when the listing is ready. Future desktop improvements should be synced again before releasing a new marketplace version.
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Use Market Pulse and Risk Radar as context onlyMarket Pulse and the desktop Risk Radar globe help with market awareness but do not replace your own testing.
  1. Read Market Pulse when you want market context around crypto, macro, regulation, exchange activity, stablecoins, or AI-linked narratives.
  2. Use the asset and topic filters to narrow the briefing. Open a headline for the full brief, expand Why it matters for context, or follow the named source to the original article.
  3. Refresh briefs checks for new stories on demand. Open a brief and use Back to briefing to return to the same filter, archive page, and story when it is still in the feed.
  4. Search the 30-day archive and combine market, topic, publication window, source, tone, and impact filters. Choose latest, oldest, or highest impact, then Apply filters. Remove an active filter chip or Reset all to broaden your view.
  5. Quick read opens a brief in place. Use Previous and Next to read the loaded stories, or Escape to close and return to your position.
  6. Switch between Briefs and Headlines to change reading density without reloading the feed. Individual briefs show an estimated reading time and a Copy link button.
  7. Use Newer and Older to browse the 30-day archive. Source publication times and the time a brief was added to Market Pulse are shown separately.
  8. Use Live Trading > Risk Radar in the desktop app when you want the same brief stream mapped by country or region.
  9. Do not treat Market Pulse or Risk Radar as a signal to run a strategy live.
  10. Use Backtesting, Demo, Dashboard, Live Trading state, and your own risk review before deploying anything.
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