Frequently Asked Questions

No. The platform is an educational and execution-support tool. Markets are risky, past results do not guarantee future results, and you remain responsible for every decision and order. Read the Disclaimer and Terms before using any trading feature.

Start with ticker research and a manually tracked portfolio. When you are ready to explore automation, connect or configure a Paper account first, review the strategy parameters, and observe logs and results over time before considering Live trading.

Use it to review end-of-day ticker data, technical indicators, and research-oriented strategy views. It is intended to support your analysis, not to issue a trade recommendation or predict a guaranteed next move.

Create a portfolio with your holdings, cost, quantity, and purchase date. The platform prepares historical performance and ETF comparisons in the background, so a newly created portfolio may briefly show “Preparing” before its table and chart appear.

Research and portfolio pages use end-of-day data, which is refreshed after the market session. Broker-connected account information on AlgoTrade refreshes separately and should be treated as the source of truth for current broker balances, orders, and positions.

Paper mode is the default and uses a simulated brokerage account. Live mode can submit real orders to your connected brokerage account and requires an explicit confirmation. Paper results can differ from Live results because of fills, liquidity, spreads, and market conditions.

Yes. AlgoTrade shows the selected strategy, risk controls, sizing limits, and operational parameters before you start. Use Running Parameters to review the settings currently used by an active strategy. Strategy signal settings should be changed deliberately and validated in Paper mode.

A running strategy does not mean it should trade immediately. Option strategies wait for configured warmup bars and then require all signal, regime, risk, position, and daily-limit checks to pass. Review the WebSocket, polling, and system safety logs to see which filter is currently blocking an entry.

Emergency Exit stops your running strategies, cancels open orders for the selected account mode, and applies a short restart guard. It leaves existing positions open by default. The optional close-positions control is deliberately separate because it submits market close orders and may produce materially different fills than expected.

Use polling logs for the most complete strategy history, WebSocket logs for near-real-time updates, and System/Broker Safety Logs for broker-side safety actions. Compare all three with your brokerage account whenever an order, position, or status matters.

Yes. Your brokerage account is the authoritative record for cash, buying power, orders, fills, positions, and account restrictions. Review it regularly, especially before and after Live trading activity.

Include the page you were using, the approximate time and time zone, the account mode, the strategy name, and the relevant log message or screenshot. Never send brokerage API secrets, passwords, or full account credentials in a message.

A: To start trading stocks, you'll need to open a brokerage account with a reputable broker. You'll then need to fund your account and research and select the stocks you want to trade. It's important to have a solid understanding of basic investing principles before you start trading.

A:
* Making trade decisions based on emotions rather than solid rational analysis and due diligence!
* Trading too frequently - often you just make your broker and uncle Sam happy nothing else!
* Trading without a clear plan and a strategy Blindly chasing next hot stock - playing greatest fool game!
* Failing to have a risk managment in place and not cutting losses on time!
* Being overconfident after some profit - market finds a way to humble you!
* Trying to time the market based on a pulse!

A: There are many trading strategies, but some of the most popular include:

Day trading: buying and selling stocks within the same trading day to take advantage of short-term price movements
- Swing trading: holding stocks for several days or weeks to take advantage of medium-term price movements
- Value investing: buying undervalued stocks with the expectation that their price will rise in the future
- Growth investing: buying stocks with high growth potential and holding them for the long-term

A: A limit order is an order placed with a broker to buy or sell a stock at a specific price. This can help ensure that the trade is executed at the desired price or better.

A: A margin account is a type of brokerage account that allows investors to borrow money from the broker to buy stocks. This can increase potential profits, but also comes with increased risk.

A: A stock's beta is a measure of its volatility relative to the overall market. A beta of 1 indicates that the stock's price moves in line with the market, while a beta greater than 1 indicates that it is more volatile than the market, and a beta less than 1 indicates that it is less volatile than the market.

A: A stock's dividend is a portion of the company's earnings that is paid out to shareholders. Not all companies pay dividends, and those that do may pay them on a regular or irregular basis.

A: A stock's P/E (price-to-earnings) ratio is a valuation ratio that compares a company's stock price to its earnings per share. A high P/E ratio can indicate that the stock is overvalued, while a low P/E ratio can indicate that it is undervalued.

A: A stop-loss order is an order placed with a broker to sell a stock when it reaches a certain price. This can help limit losses in case the stock's price falls below a certain level.

A: Stock trading is the buying and selling of shares of publicly traded companies on stock exchanges. Investors buy stocks in the hopes of profiting from increases in the stock's price or dividends paid by the company.