How to actually use the trading workspace
From loading your first chart to reading Quant Brain, understanding orderflow, and working with multiple timeframes — this is everything you need to get comfortable with the core workspace.
This is where you spend most of your time. Load a symbol, pick your timeframe, and let the candles finish loading before you do anything else. A chart that's still building isn't ready to trade off.
Navigate and select symbols
Press / to jump straight to the symbol search box, type the ticker, and hit Enter. Use the back and forward arrows to move through recently viewed symbols without retyping anything.
The symbol, price, and change are always visible in the Data Strip at the top. Watch for the price animating — that confirms live data is flowing. If nothing's updating, check your feed status.
Change timeframes
Click any button in the toolbar or use keyboard shortcuts: 1 = 1m, 5 = 5m, F = 15m, H = 1H, D = Daily. Need something custom like 3m or 2H? Use the Custom... option at the end of the toolbar.
Add and manage indicators
Press I or click Indicators in the top menu to open the browser. Search by name or browse by category. Each indicator has a settings icon (⚙) that appears on hover — click it to adjust parameters without removing and re-adding.
To remove an indicator, hover its label in the chart legend and click the × that appears. The eye icon toggles visibility without deleting it — useful when you want to hide something temporarily.
Quant Brain runs behind the chart and gives you structured context — trend, volatility, volume zones, market structure, and order flow pressure — in one panel. Read it before you form any view on direction.
Which way is this market actually moving, and is the move strong or weak? A high score (70%+) means price has been making consistent progress in that direction. A low score means the trend is choppy or transitioning — not a great time to lean hard in either direction.
How wild is it right now? High volatility means bigger moves and wider stops. A stop that works fine in a Normal regime gets hit casually in a High one. When you see High or Extreme, widen your stops and reduce your size — or wait for the regime to settle.
Where have buyers and sellers spent the most time? These areas often act as magnets or barriers — price tends to gravitate toward them or bounce hard off them. "Building" means volume is currently accumulating at that level right now, which makes it worth watching.
What's the shape of the price action? Higher highs and higher lows means an uptrend. Lower highs and lower lows means a downtrend. A structure break — where price fails to make the next expected swing — is often the first sign that a trend is running out of steam.
Are more orders buying or selling right now? Delta measures the imbalance between aggressive buyers (hitting the ask) and aggressive sellers (hitting the bid). Positive delta = buyers are more aggressive. Negative = sellers are. Important caveat: delta tells you who's pushing — not who's winning. Strong buying delta at resistance that holds often means sellers are absorbing the demand, which can flip into a reversal.
When a reading shows "Unavailable":
| Reading | What "Unavailable" means | Is it a problem? |
|---|---|---|
| Trend Direction | Not enough completed bars yet — happens at the start of a session or on a fresh chart | Normal. It fills in after a few bars close. |
| Volatility Regime | Not enough historical range data for this timeframe | Normal. Try a higher timeframe temporarily while it builds. |
| Volume Profile | Your current provider doesn't supply volume data for this instrument | Normal — not all providers cover this. Check your provider's coverage list. |
| Market Structure | Fewer than 3 swing points detected — needs more price history | Normal early in the session. Fills in as more bars develop. |
| Delta Context | Your provider doesn't supply tick-level bid/ask data | Normal for some providers. You need Level 2 or tick data to see delta. |
Orderflow shows you what's happening under the hood — which side is more aggressive, where absorption is happening, and where volume is concentrated. It's context, not a signal. Don't trade orderflow alone.
Orderflow shows pressure — not outcome
Strong buying pressure at a level can mean buyers are winning — or that sellers are absorbing the demand, which often leads to a reversal. The same reading can mean completely different things depending on the context around it. Use orderflow to filter and confirm your ideas, not as a standalone reason to enter.
| Concept | What it means | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Positive delta | More buys at ask than sells at bid in this bar. Aggressive buyers dominate. | Does price follow? If delta rises but price stalls, absorption may be occurring. |
| Negative delta | More sells at bid. Aggressive sellers dominate. | Does price drop consistently, or is there a level holding? Divergence is significant. |
| Absorption | Large orders on one side are being consumed without price moving in that direction. | Bid absorption at support is often a sign of institutional buying. Ask absorption at resistance = potential reversal. |
| Imbalance | Significantly more volume traded on one side at a specific price level, leaving a gap on the other. | Imbalance zones often act as magnets — price tends to return to fill them in subsequent bars. |
| Delta divergence | Cumulative delta rises but price doesn't follow (or vice versa). | A persistent divergence often precedes a directional resolution — the market will "decide" which is right. |
Check the higher timeframe first. If you're trading the 15-minute chart, look at the 4H first. Are they pointing the same direction? If they are, your trade has a tailwind. If they're fighting each other, wait.
The thinking goes top-down: context first, entry second.
Clear uptrend. The last pullback held at the prior breakout level. Structure shows higher highs and higher lows. Trend strength at 71%. This is your permission to look for longs — not a signal to enter yet.
Price is pulling back into the 4H demand zone. Delta is negative (sellers pushing) but decelerating. Structure is still intact — this looks like a pullback, not a reversal. Good. Now wait for the entry timeframe.
Wait for the 15m to fail at making a new lower low, then close above the prior swing high. That's the trigger. Entry with expanding delta confirms buyers are stepping in.
Conflicting timeframes mean "wait", not "force it"
If the higher timeframe is bullish but your entry timeframe is showing bearish structure, that's not a reason to buy — it's a reason to wait. The best trades have all three timeframes pointing the same way, at least loosely. When they're diverging, the market is telling you the setup isn't ready yet.
Draw your levels before the session starts, not during a trade. Mark the zones you'll act on, the level where you're wrong, and where you'd take profits. Do this while the market's closed — your pre-session markup is part of your plan.
Horizontal Levels L
Click once to place a horizontal line at any price. Use these for prior highs and lows, round numbers, VWAP anchors, and your key support/resistance. Right-click to color-code, label, or connect it to an alert.
Trend Lines T
Click two points to connect them. Hold Shift to snap to 45°. Right-click and choose Extend Right to project the line into the future. Price approaching a well-tested trend line is worth your full attention.
Price Channels C
Two parallel lines marking the upper and lower boundary of a range. Price bouncing between them is context. Price breaking outside them may be a signal. Channels can be angled or horizontal.
Supply/Demand Zones Z
Click and drag to create a rectangle over a price range where significant buying or selling previously happened. Zone opacity and color are adjustable so overlapping zones stay readable when you zoom out.
Fibonacci Retracements F
Click the swing low, drag to the swing high. Dome draws the standard retracement levels (23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8%, 78.6%) and extension levels automatically. Fibonacci levels carry the most weight when they line up with existing horizontal structure or volume nodes. Standalone Fibonacci levels with nothing nearby are weak on their own.
Markup before the open, not during a trade
Do your chart markup in the 20–30 minutes before the market opens, while it's quiet. Drawing levels during a live trade splits your attention and turns planned decisions into reactive ones. If you didn't mark it before the open, it doesn't count as a planned level — don't trade it on the fly.
The small dot in your chart header tells you whether your data is live, cached, or unavailable. Live = prices coming in right now. Cached = you have old data but the live feed is down. Unavailable = no data at all. Don't trade on Cached or Unavailable.
The Data Strip above every chart shows the symbol, timeframe, data source, last update time, and feed status. If it changes from LIVE to CACHED or UNAVAILABLE, the color changes immediately — and you can set a sound alert to go with it in Settings → Notifications.
| Status | What's happening | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Live | Real-time data flowing from your provider. Chart updates on every tick or bar close. All Quant Brain metrics are current. | Normal state. No action needed. This is what you want to see during a live session. |
| Cached | Connection to provider was lost. Chart is displaying the last data received. The timestamp in the Data Strip shows when data stopped updating. | Do not enter new trades. Check your internet connection, then go to Settings → Data → Reconnect. If backup provider is configured, it activates automatically after 3 failed health checks. |
| Unavailable | No active connection and no cache exists for this symbol/timeframe combination. The chart area shows a placeholder. | Confirm the symbol is available from your provider. Some instruments are not covered by all data sources — check your provider's coverage list. |
| Delayed | Data is flowing but with a configured delay (some providers offer free delayed data). The delay duration is shown in the Data Strip. | Acceptable for analysis and planning, but do not use for live order timing. A 15-minute delay means you cannot act on current price action. |
If it's not Live, don't trade it
When the feed is Cached or Unavailable, stop. Don't guess what the market did while you were disconnected. Reconnect, confirm Live status, then re-read the chart fresh. A market that moved 20 points while your feed was down is not a market you have enough context to make good decisions about.
Set up a feed-drop alert
Go to Settings → Alerts → System Alerts and turn on Feed Status Change. You'll hear a sound and see a notification the moment your feed drops from Live. You'll know within 30 seconds — instead of finding out 10 minutes later when the candles stopped moving.