Trading Sandbox Account - Overview
Unlike traditional broker-provided virtual accounts, the Sandbox is not bound by brokerage margin rules or limitations, giving you more freedom to practice and test strategies.
Trading Sandbox Account was built specifically to overcome these shortcomings, allowing traders to:
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Test advanced strategies without brokerage-imposed limits.
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Gain confidence in how options positions will behave through expiration and assignment.
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Track true results on completed trades for more effective learning and analysis.
As with other simulated trading systems, the Sandbox uses delayed market data. However, it goes beyond conventional paper trading platforms in several key areas:
Fast & Reliable Order Execution
Orders are processed quickly during market hours, creating a more realistic trading experience compared to laggy paper trading systems.
Supports Conditional Orders for Stocks
Effortlessly include Stop and Limit Orders when buying stock.
Options Handling That Works
Options are properly assigned and exercised as they would be in a real account, removing the gaps found in most brokerage simulators.
Accurate Trade Capture
The Sandbox records and captures gains/losses on completed trades, giving you a clear picture of how your strategies perform over time.
Full Journal Support
When auto-journaled (default setting) is set, all activity is captured. Track your progress to see what strategies work, what needs more practice, for important feedback.
How To Add:
Sandbox has been added as a drop-down selection in the Portfolio section of your trading platform
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Click the bottom left corner tab of the platform to display all account tabs
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Click the “+” icon appearing below these tabs
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Select “Sandbox” from the dropdown list. Check the “I agree…” box
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Name your account and select a color identifier, if desired.
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Start trading!
Life of Trade Journal View
Life Of The Trade
“Life of Trade” View in the Journal offers another way to view your trading activity and results.
Trades are grouped by Symbol, making it easier to follow the trade from Open-Adjust-Close – along with any Assigning/Exercising of the underlying stock.
This view further allows you to sort by Account, Symbol, etc for more targeted analysis.
Platform Features Release: December 2022
Announcing the latest Release which added a powerful Lower Indicator on the Charts Tab: 52 Week Hi/Lo. Price/Date info has been added to X/Y axis
52-Week Hi/Low Indicator
The newest lower indicator: 52-week Hi/Low Indicator is a Broad Market Indicator. It is not Stock specific.
View how individual Stocks/ETFs are faring compared to the Broad Market.
Select from NYSE, NASD or AmEx
There are two views:
Show Difference Only – Display either a green or red (or no) bar representing the net advancers/decliners for that period.
Show High & Low (uncheck box)– Displays both green/red bars to illustrate number with new 52 week high/lows.
The background color identifies a bullish or bearish trend, based upon the number of days selected (Trend Period)
Example: If 3 days are selected, background highlight will begin on the 4th consecutive day of gains (or losses).
X/Y axis – Price/Date display
The cursor’s crosshairs will display the Price/Date info along the X/Y axis for easier reading.
This information will still appear in the upper/right corner above the chart:
Drawing Key Activation
Use your keypad to activate drawing lines on the Chart by following these steps:
1. Click either in Header area above the chart – OR –
Click the Annotation icon>Line
2. Click on chart, then “Alt” and “T” keys where you want to start line.
Once activated from either of the starting points (1), the function works on the current chart, without having to reactivate by clicking on the Header or Annotation icon.
Platform Features Release: November 2022
Announcing the latest Release allowing for customized Watchlist views. Improvements in Journal functionality will increase responsiveness and allow users to better control the data displayed. Format enhancements were also made to increase readability
Watchlist Views – Create, Save & Edit
The ability to create your own Watchlist views based on criteria important to you enhances the work flow of finding the best candidates for trading.
Click on 
next to the (Default) Watchlist, then select “Add New” to get started.
Build your own views from over 160 data points, then adjust the display position in the order you want them to appear.
Click on 
icon to edit a view you previously created.
Learn more by clicking below:
Improvements
The Journal default displays Order/Trade activity from the Activated Trade Account.
To switch or add accounts, simply click on the other Account tabs or select by group: Real, Virtual, Manual or All accounts.
The improved functionality allows for faster journal activity display and easier trade analysis.
Change Log
- Resolved Score Icon Navigation from Home/Market Tab
- Corrected Fundamental/Dividend missing data
- Moving Average indicator functionality restored on Custom Page
- Corrected display data on Fundamental Tab
- Addressed candlestick not appearing first 20 minutes on Mondays.
- Rectified downloading data from Screener
Set Up Trade & Journal Sharing (Premium Desktop Feature)
Trade and Journal Sharing
Step 1:
Select “Sharing” under the Portfolio Tab to to access these features of sharing trade ideas with peers or trading groups or have access to an Instructor’s Trades or Journal History.
Trade Sharing allows for potential trades to display in “Order Staging” listing the Source of the Order.
Journal Sharing can be used to follow a Trading Group, Instructors, Peer, Public Accounts as well as Newsletters/Trading Room applications.
Step 2: On the left-hand panel, click on “My Shared Accounts”
Shared Accounts are grouped into 4 categories:
- My Shared Accounts – Elect to share Order Staging and/or Journal Sharing
- Accounts I’m Following – Other peers, trading partners, instructors
- Subscription Accounts – Newsletter or Trading Group applications
- Public Shared Accounts – allows access to a Public Directory with performance metrics
Step 3: Set up your User Profile
Click “Edit“
Add a User Display Name
Provide a Bio and/or Information about the account. This is what others will see.
The Formatting option allows you to customize the Bio/Information box.
Click “Save“
Step 4: Set Up Account Profile
1. In the middle panel, click on the Account to be shared
2. On the bottom right panel of the page, click on “Create Sharing Profile“
3. On the pop-up window, add an Account Display Name and Account Description.
Note: Both are required.
You are also able to add #tags to this Account Profile.
4. Click “Save“
Available buttons allow you to Generate New Code and Disable Code.
Account Options
Once Shared, you can “Unshare” account by clicking on button located in the upper right of this box.
Share Journal is checked by default.
Check box for Share Staged Trades if you wish to provide that on the selected account.
A code is automatically generated to Privately Share/Peer-to-peer share
Duration drop-down menu allows you to set how long the code is valid:
Single use only
Hour
Day
Week
Until Disabled
Export Reports (Desktop)
Clicking on 
located on the upper left corner of the Positions and Gains tabs allows you to export that information as a .csv file.
The Journal give you the ability to export reports in a PDF file on your desktop platform. But that’s just the beginning.
You can export from the Transaction or Reconciliation view filtered by Account, Symbol, Tags, Notes and/or Date Range.
Life of Trade View also allows you to filter by Order Status in addition to the above criteria for even more focused report. Only want to print Closed Trades? Want to see how many trades are Unmatched? Select those filters.
The top of your Journal report displays the Tag Summary based upon the account(s) and filtering criteria selected.
The trade detail report displays the status, Open, Close, Expire with a color code of the trade: Blue=Open, Green=Profit, Red=Loss, Yellow=Unmatched.
Link Trades in Journal
Trades can easily be linked in the Journal. This is helpful to keep related trades grouped together for easier tracking and analysis.
Some common applications include:
- Covered Calls – keeping stock and selling Calls with different Expirations
- Adjustment/Repair Trades
- Other previously Unmatched trades
This feature is best used in the Life of Trade View in the Journal.
The following steps will allow you to Link Trades: 
1. After selecting your account and sorting by symbol, expand one of the trade tabs you want to link to another trade group or set.
Click the ‘Link Icon‘
2. A pop-up window will list the Selected (Expanded) Trade, any related trade and Available Trade Sets for that symbol in that account.
Note: You can link trade sets both prior to and following your current, selected trade.
Example: You want to link a May 2019 expired Call to April 2019 and June 2019 Covered Call trade set.
3. Click “Link To This Trade Set” for trade set(s) to link selected trade to, then click “Close“.
In this example, we linked an Expired May 10 2019 short call to an April and June Covered Call trade set.
After linking the trade, notice the total Profit (Loss) Amount updated, but the trade duration did not.
This is because the May Call falls in between the original April trade entry and the June expiration.
If you have more trade sets to link, repeat the previous steps as outlined.
Final note: If you link a trade in error, simply expand the same trade tab and ‘uncheck’ the Link This Trade Set box.
Manual Account Overview
A Manual Account is versatile resource tool which can enhance your trading effectiveness. You can also use this to track trades from an outside brokerage account.
Use the Manual Account for educational purposes.
- It offers flexibility and control, while providing the Analytics and Journal to help you reinforce the “Learning to Earning” process. This allows you to focus on learning the strategies.
- Place trades any time of day or night – all get immediately executed at the price entered. No need for the market to be open.
- No Buying Power limits – no expensive spread margin requirements to adhere to, no limit on how much you can buy/sell
- Place trades in the past.
- Enter trades from Backtest Mode
Use to tracking external accounts
- Can be used to track trades placed at brokers not integrated into the platform
- You can enter the date and fill prices of your actual trades
- This enables portfolio management along with your other accounts
- You can use full Journal function for tracking your progress
Manual Accounts are identified by a narrow Red Bar and are, by default, Auto-Journaled.
Entering trades in a Manual Account takes only a few steps and is similar to a regular trade.
You can also bring up the ticket from any trade point. Simply start a trade and select the manual account just like you would select any other account.
(Bold indicates unique to Manual ticket):
1. Enter the Stock Symbol, or name of Company (Smart search will display potential matches)
2. If this is a past trade, use the calendar/date picker to select date
3. Click “Stock”, “Call” or “Put” to build trade, change quantity, Expiry and Strike (if applicable)
4. Bid/Ask will automatically populate if a specific price is not entered
5. Complete Order Type, Duration and Condition
6. Click “Review” to confirm information is correct, then ‘Submit” on next screen.
The order will appear in Order Status as “Executed” and operate the same way as other accounts.
Journal Navigation
It’s easy to look up trades. Choose from Stock symbols, tags used (ex: #bullCall, #longStraddle), Notes containing certain words or phrases, or date ranges from 1 Day to 1 Year.
On the individual Trade tabs, click the 
icon to expand the trade detail. To edit/add tags, notes, to the trade entry, click 
then ‘save’ when completed.
Once the Trade Tab is expanding , you have additional options: The “Replay” icon, 
, sends a trade from the Journal to Backtest Analysis. You can delete a Journal Entry by clicking on 
.
Virtual Account Overview
Virtual Trading gives you the real trading experience without risking any money. It is a valuable “next step” learning tool – designed to mimic the trading experience as closely as possible.
Trades are executed during Market hours – 9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. Eastern Time, however there is a 15 minute delay after Market open for orders to begin executing.
As with Live Accounts, there are limits on trades if there is not sufficient Buying Power in your Virtual Account. There can be expensive Spread/Margin Requirements to adhere to.
Virtual Accounts do have limitations that Live Accounts do not have:
Virtual Accounts are not subject or responsive to Corporate actions such as buyouts, name or symbol changes, stock/option splits and strike price adjustments to name some examples.
Virtual Accounts are “Auto-Journaled”. This automatically keeps record of all trades for later analysis and reconciling.
These practice accounts are identified by a yellow bar on the left side of the account window.
Virtual Accounts are powered by Choice Trade to provide the real trading experience.