ChartnautDOCS

procedure

Your first hour

Use this hour to take Chartnaut from empty to useful: create a backtest session, take a few trades, and find them in your journal — with notes and chart context saved.

No broker required. MetaTrader live trading is optional at the end. Three thoughtful practice trades beat twenty rushed ones.

What you'll have done

  • Opened the Dashboard

  • Created a backtest session and traded in the Terminal

  • Found those trades in Trades and added a note

  • (Optional) Connected Demo or MetaTrader for live trading

Steps

1. Open the Dashboard

Go to Dashboard in the sidebar.

Glance at Getting Started goals. Use them as a checklist, not a test. Details: Dashboard.

2. Create a Playbook (optional)

Go to Playbooks and create one if you want trades organized under a strategy name.

Name one idea — for example "ORB fade – first week." Skip "Main" or "Everything."

You can skip this and run a plain backtest to move faster. When you're ready for playbook collection, see Playbooks overview.

3. Create a backtest session

  1. Open Backtest in the sidebar.

  2. Click New session.

  3. Pick instruments and a date range (use Advanced only if you need commissions or risk limits).

  4. Click Start Session (top right).

Chartnaut opens the Terminal with the session loaded. See Create a session.

4. Take a few practice trades

In the Terminal:

  1. Press play on the session card so historical bars advance

  2. Pick one instrument

  3. Wait for a setup you'd actually take

  4. Enter, manage, and exit

  5. Stop at 2–5 closed trades

Learn the product first. Optimize the strategy later.

5. Review in Trades

Open Trades in the sidebar.

Open one trade:

  • Add a short note

  • Add a tag if you have one

  • Notice thumbnails / snapshots so you can reopen chart context

Optional: open interactive position replay on that trade once. That reopens one fill's chart context — different from continuing a full backtest session. See Position replay.

6. (Optional) Touch live trading

  1. Accounts in the sidebar

  2. Connect Chartnaut Demo or MetaTrader (MT4 / MT5)

  3. Terminal → choose Real-time from the mode menu

  4. Place a small trade, then find it in Trades

Live trading does not replace your backtest session. See Trade in real-time.

If you only have 20 minutes

Do steps 1, 3, 4 (one trade), and 5 (one note). Skip Playbook and live trading.

Pick up later

Your session stays in Backtest. To continue where you left off, open it and click Play — Continue your backtesting.

Important distinctions

Backtest session = practice on historical data in the Terminal.

Real-time = live markets through Demo or MetaTrader.

Connecting a broker does not start a backtest. Sessions are created from Backtest.

Next

  1. Backtesting overview — keep practicing on history

  2. Library overview — find every trade you just took

  3. Connecting your broker — when you're ready for live ticks

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