Configuration
What each setting does — and what to set it to
This is a practical settings reference — plain language, concrete recommendations, and an honest note on which settings actually matter. Bookmark it and come back as your workflow grows.
Do these before your first live session
- 01Daily loss limit — the hard stop that prevents you from trading after a defined drawdown. Without it, a bad day can become a bad week. Set it now: Settings → Risk → Daily Loss Limit.
- 02Max open positions — prevents accidentally stacking too many trades at once. Start at 1–2 while you're learning the platform. Settings → Risk → Position Limits.
- 03Data health check — set to 30 seconds so you hear about a feed drop quickly, not 5 minutes later. Settings → Data → Health Check Interval.
- 04Journal template — build at least a 3-field template before your first trade. You can't review patterns from blank entries. Settings → Journal → Templates.
- 05Test your alerts — fire a test notification to confirm each channel actually reaches you before you need it.
- 06Save your chart layout — so you don't spend 10 minutes rebuilding your workspace every morning. Layout → Save Layout.
Section 1
Data & Market
These settings control where Dome gets its market data. Most people never need to change them after the initial setup — but it's worth understanding what each one does.
Add / Remove Providers
Add or remove data sources. Each provider connects independently — you can disable one without deleting it. Disabled providers are skipped when Dome looks for a failover.
Settings → Data
API Key Storage
Your keys are stored encrypted on your machine — not sent to our servers. If a key gets compromised, regenerate it with your data provider and paste the new one here.
Encrypted local
Health Check Frequency
How often Dome pings your provider to confirm it's still alive. 30 seconds is the right balance — fast enough to catch a drop quickly, not so frequent it stresses an unstable connection. Drop to 10s only if you need faster alerts.
30s recommended
Failover Order
Drag providers into priority order. After 3 missed health checks, Dome switches to the next one automatically. You'll see a brief orange status indicator while it switches over.
Drag to reorder
Data Cache Size
Stores historical price data locally so charts load faster. Bigger cache = faster loads, more disk. 2–5 GB is plenty for most traders. You can clear it anytime without affecting your journal or workspace.
2–5 GB recommended
Section 2
Chart Settings
Mostly personal preference. Set your default timeframe to the one you spend most time on — that's the main one that saves you a click every session.
Default Timeframe
The timeframe that loads every time you open a chart or click a symbol. Set this to your primary trading timeframe — it's the one setting in this section that makes a real daily difference. Common choices: 5m for scalpers, 15m for intraday, 1H for swing traders.
15m recommended
Color Scheme
Candle colors, background, grid lines, volume bars. Changes apply immediately and save per-layout. If you have color vision deficiency, switch to blue/orange instead of red/green — that's under Accessibility in the same menu.
Per-layout
Indicator Defaults
If you always use a 21 EMA instead of the default 20, set that here. One-time setup, applies to every new chart you open going forward. Saves reconfiguring the same indicators every session.
Settings → Charts → Indicators
Drawing Tool Persistence
Keeps your drawn levels, trend lines, and zones when you close and reopen a chart. Leave this on — most traders who mark up levels before the session want them to still be there the next day.
On (recommended)
Multi-Chart Sync
Changing the symbol on one linked chart updates all others with the same link color. Useful for multi-timeframe setups — switch the symbol on your 4H chart and the 15m and 5m update automatically. Assign different link colors to control which charts sync together.
Color-coded links
Section 3
Risk Settings
These are the most important settings in the entire platform. Set them before you trade anything live. They're not just alerts — they're hard stops that protect your account when discipline wavers.
Daily Loss Limit (%)
The percentage of your account you're allowed to lose in a single day. When you hit this number, Dome locks out new orders and shows a session-end notice. Start at 2–3% if you're unsure. This automatically stops your bots too if triggered. It's the single most important setting in the platform.
2–5% of account
Max Drawdown Alert (%)
A warning that fires before the hard limit hits. You'll get a notification when your session drawdown reaches this level. It doesn't stop trading automatically — it just warns you. Think of it as an early tap on the shoulder before the hard stop kicks in.
50% of daily limit
Max Open Positions
How many trades can be open at once. When you hit this number, the New Trade button greys out until one closes. Start at 1–2 while you're learning the platform. More open trades means more things to watch — and more ways for a fast market to catch you off-guard.
1–3 recommended
Exposure Alerts
Fires when your total open risk across all positions crosses a threshold. Useful for catching situations where two correlated trades add up to more risk than either one shows individually. Settings → Risk → Exposure.
Settings → Risk → Exposure
Bot Safety Gates
Applies the same daily loss limit and position limits to bot-generated orders. Leave this on. Only disable it if your automation handles its own risk controls from a separate system.
On (recommended)
Recommended values by trader style:
Conservative
Daily loss limit 1.5%
Max drawdown alert 0.75%
Max open positions 1
Risk per trade 0.25–0.5%
Moderate
Daily loss limit 2.5%
Max drawdown alert 1.25%
Max open positions 2
Risk per trade 0.5–1%
Aggressive
Daily loss limit 4%
Max drawdown alert 2%
Max open positions 3
Risk per trade 1–2%
When the limit fires — walk away
When the daily loss limit triggers, the right move is to close Dome Terminal and step away from the market. Not reset the limit and keep going. The most expensive trades most traders ever take happen in the 30 minutes after they've already had a bad day and are trying to get it back.
Section 4
AI Settings
Local model means private, free, works offline. Remote model means better quality for complex analysis, needs internet, costs per query. You control exactly what each one can see.
Active AI Provider
Switch between a local model (runs on your machine, fully private, no internet needed) and a remote provider (better reasoning, needs internet, sends data to the provider's servers). Local is the default. Use remote when the quality difference is worth it for a complex task.
Local (recommended)
Context Scope Controls
Toggles for what the AI reads when you ask it something — journal entries, chart data, Quant Brain readings, portfolio state, etc. Each type is independent. Turn on what's relevant to your question. The AI gives better answers with focused context than with everything at once.
Per data type
Response Format
Concise gives you a short answer — best during a live session when you need context fast. Detailed gives fuller explanations — better for post-session review or research. You can also override per-query by starting your message with "brief:" or "detailed:".
Concise (default)
What each data type sends — Local vs. Remote:
| Data type | Local model | Remote provider | You can disable it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chart price data (OHLCV) | ✓ Local only | Optional | Yes |
| Quant Brain readings | ✓ Local only | Optional | Yes |
| Today's journal entries | ✓ Local only | Never sent | Yes |
| Watchlist symbols | ✓ Local only | Optional | Yes |
| Account balance / P&L | ✓ Local only | Never sent | Yes |
| Open alerts | ✓ Local only | Optional | Yes |
Section 5
Journal Settings
Fewer fields is better. You won't use a 20-field template consistently. Aim for 5–7 fields you'll fill in every time — setup type, entry reason, emotion, risk, and outcome are the ones that matter most.
Entry Field Customization
Add, remove, reorder, and rename fields. Types: text (short answer), note (long text), number (P&L, R-multiple), select (dropdown), and rating (1–5 scale). Keep it short enough that filling it in after a trade takes under 2 minutes — otherwise you'll skip it.
Settings → Journal → Fields
Auto-Tagging Rules
Set conditions that auto-tag entries. Example: if P&L is negative and the trade lasted under 2 minutes, auto-tag "impulsive entry." Structured metadata without having to remember to add it manually while you're still in the session.
Condition-based
Review Reminder Frequency
Dome prompts you to review your journal on a schedule. Weekly is the most practical for most traders. Consistent review is what turns a journal from a log into something you actually learn from.
Weekly recommended
Export Format
Export your full journal or a filtered date range. CSV is best for spreadsheet analysis. PDF makes a formatted report you can share with a coach. JSON preserves all metadata for re-import if you ever switch setups.
CSV
PDF
JSON
Section 6
Alerts & Notifications
The goal is fewer alerts that you actually act on — not a constant stream you learn to ignore. A good alert tells you exactly what to check when it fires. A vague alert is just noise.
In-App Notifications
Banner alerts appear in the top-right corner and stay visible for 8 seconds (configurable from 3–30 seconds). Every alert is logged in the Alert History panel whether or not you saw the banner — so you never miss what fired.
On (recommended)
Sound Alerts
Six tone options — pick something distinct enough to hear but not so aggressive that it stresses you out during a four-hour session. Volume is set independently from your system volume so you can control it without affecting anything else.
Volume independent
Email Notifications
Sent within 30 seconds of an alert firing. Useful for price levels you're watching but not actively monitoring. The email includes the symbol, trigger condition, current price, and timestamp. Set up in Settings → Notifications → Email.
Optional
Alert Cooldown
Minimum time between repeat notifications for the same condition. If price bounces around your alert level, this stops you getting 50 notifications in a minute. 60–300 seconds works for most traders. Scalpers may want shorter cooldowns.
60–300s recommended
Deduplication
When multiple indicators confirm the same level at the same moment, you get one notification instead of five. Alert History still logs each individual trigger if you want to review them.
On (recommended)
Test every channel before you go live
Go to Settings → Notifications → Test Alerts and fire a test through each active channel. Confirm the banner appears, the sound plays, and — if configured — an email arrives. Do this on the same machine and network you'll actually trade on.