ChartTraders guide

Trading is risky. You can lose some or all of the money in your trading account. You trade at your own risk when you use ChartTraders. Read the full risk notice.

What ChartTraders does

Each night you get a gold (XAUUSD) chart with two lines on it, BUYS and SELLS, plus take-profit levels (TP1, TP2, …) above and below.

Your ChartTraders bot runs on its own server, connected to your own TradeLocker account. When gold rises through the BUYS line, it buys. When gold falls through the SELLS line, it sells. Every trade has a stop at the broker, and closes at the take-profits you choose.

You stay in control: it's your account, your settings and your chart. You can pause the bot at any time, and it never touches trades you place yourself.

Setting up takes three steps, done once: connect your broker, choose your settings, and then upload the chart, which you repeat every night.

Getting in

What you need

A TradeLocker account with the broker ChartTraders uses (PlexyTrade, server PLEXY). Demo or live.
Your invite link from ChartTraders. It works once and lasts 7 days.

New to this? Start on a Demo account until you're happy with how the bot trades.

First time

Open your invite link.
Choose a password: at least 10 characters, with upper and lower case letters and a number.
Read the risk notice and tick the box. You can't continue without it.
Click Save and sign in.

If your page says your bot server is being set up, wait about 10 minutes. The page updates by itself.

After that

Go to app.chartreplays.com/login and sign in with your email and password. Bookmark that page, not your invite link: the invite link only works once. Forgot your password? Ask ChartTraders for a new invite link.

For your safety, you're signed out when the screen hasn't been used for 5 minutes. Just sign in again. Your bot keeps trading while you're signed out.

Step 1Connect your broker account

Account type: Demo (practice money) or Live (real money).
Broker server: Already filled in (PLEXY). It must match the server on your TradeLocker sign-in.
TradeLocker email and password: The ones you use to sign in to TradeLocker.
Account number: Only if you have more than one account. Leave it empty to use your first one.
Gold symbol: Leave it as XAUUSD. The bot finds your broker's own name for gold.
Paper trading: Tick this to watch the bot with real prices without placing any orders.

Click Connect. When it works you see your balance and the price of gold.

Your password goes straight from your browser to your own bot server, where it's stored encrypted. The ChartTraders website never stores it. Use Change account or Disconnect any time.

Step 2Choose your settings

The settings are already filled in with the rules ChartTraders runs. The one setting everyone must decide for themselves is risk per trade.

The one thing to understand: risk per trade

Risk per trade is how much one losing trade may cost you. Choose either:

% of my balance. For example, 1 means a losing trade costs about 1% of your account, so the $ amount grows and shrinks with the account.
Fixed $ amount. For example, 20 means a losing trade costs about $20, whatever the balance.

Pick one in the "Risk per trade, as" box; you can switch at any time. Only the box for your choice is used. Most traders risk 2% or less per trade, because several losing trades in a row is normal.

The smallest gold order is 0.01 lots. At that size, every $1 gold moves is about $1 of profit or loss. With a $2 stop, the smallest trade risks about $2.50 once the broker's spread is counted. If your risk per trade is less than the smallest trade needs, the bot can't trade, and the page tells you.

Risk

Max lots per trade: The most the bot puts on one trade (all its orders together), whatever the risk setting works out to. If your risk would need more, the bot trades this size and risks less. In gold, 1 lot moves about $100 for every $1 gold moves; 0.01 lots about $1.
Never risk more than (%): A safety ceiling. If a trade would risk more than this % of your balance, the bot makes it smaller.
Daily loss limit (% or $): After the bot's trades lose this much in a day (UTC), no new trades until 00:00 UTC. It's in % of your balance at the start of the day if your risk is a %, and in $ if your risk is a fixed $ amount; the dashboard shows "Daily loss limit reached". Only the bot's own trades count, and uploading a new chart doesn't reset it. Leave empty for no limit. (Bot servers set up before November 2026 take only a %, and a new chart starts the count again.)
Max trades per chart: The most trades the bot takes on one chart. Leave empty for no limit.

Entry

Enter this many $ past the line: With $2, the bot buys at BUYS + $2 and sells at SELLS − $2, so a brief touch of a line doesn't trigger a trade.
Trade: Buys and sells, buys only, or sells only.
When price crosses a line again: Trade every cross: a new trade each time price comes back and crosses a line again, buys or sells.
Trade again, switching sides: after a buy, the next trade must be a sell, and the other way round.
One buy and one sell at most: no more trades on that chart after one of each.
If stopped at the other side's entry, take the other side: If a buy loses because price fell all the way to the sell entry, the bot sells there, and the other way round.

Stop (where a losing trade ends)

The other side's entry: A buy's stop is the sell entry, and a sell's stop is the buy entry. This is the ChartTraders rule.
Fixed $ from entry: For example, $10 below a buy's entry.
$ beyond the entry line: For example, $3 below the BUYS line for a buy.

A closer stop gives a bigger order for the same risk, but gold reaches it more often.

Orders and take-profits (you choose where to take profit)

You decide where each part of the trade closes. If you don't change anything, the whole trade closes at TP1, the nearest TP on your chart.

Orders: A trade can be split into 1 to 3 orders, with shares adding up to 100%. Each one closes at a TP from your chart (TP1 is the nearest), at $ from entry (a set number of dollars past the price the trade opened at, for example 7.50, the same every night whatever the chart says), or is a runner that follows price with a trailing stop ($ from entry needs a bot server set up from November 2026). A small trade (0.01 lots) can't be split, so it goes in as one order.
Move stops to break-even: Once a TP is reached, or once price has gone a set number of $ past the entry (for example $3), the remaining orders' stops move to the entry price, so if price comes back they close at about what you paid. Break-even stop at entry + $ puts the stop a little past the entry instead, to keep some profit: 0 (or empty) means exactly at the entry. The stop always stays at least $0.50 behind price (gold's spread would close the trade at once otherwise), so the smallest distance is $0.50, and it must be at least $0.50 more than the entry + $ amount. (The $ distance and entry + $ need a bot server set up from November 2026.)
Runners trail: How the runner's stop follows price: one TP behind, by $, by % of price, or not at all. "Start trailing at" sets the TP where trailing begins.
Skip TPs closer than $: TPs this close to the entry are ignored.

Timing

A chart lasts (hours): How long the bot trades a chart if you don't send a new one (24 hours by default).
New trades from / until (UTC hour): Only open trades between these hours. Leave empty for any time. New York is UTC−4 in summer and UTC−5 in winter.
Close before the weekend: Closes everything on Friday 10 minutes before gold stops trading for the weekend: 16:50 New York time, which is 20:50 UTC in summer and 21:50 UTC in winter. Prices can jump over the weekend. Turn it off to let trades stay open until Monday. (Bot servers set up before November 2026 close at 20:55 UTC all year, which is 65 minutes early in winter.)
A new chart closes the old chart's trade: When you send a new chart, a trade still open from the old one closes.
No new trades around high-impact news: Pauses new trades around big US news (Fed, jobs, inflation).

Click Save settings. Before anything is saved, ChartTraders checks your settings and tells you if the bot couldn't trade with them, or if they risk a lot of your account. See Warnings.

Test these settings on past charts runs your settings on the same past charts and prices as everyone else, so you can compare them with ChartTraders' rules. Past results don't promise future ones.

Step 3Upload tonight's chart (every night)

Click Add chart screenshots. Use one image with both sides, or a buys image and a sells image.
Click Read the levels. ChartTraders reads the BUYS and SELLS lines and the TPs from the picture. You can also type them in yourself.
Compare every number with your chart. The bot trades exactly what's in the boxes, so a wrong number means a wrong trade.
Click Check to see what the bot would do: entry, stop, order size and how much it risks.
Click Trade this chart.

A new chart replaces the old one, so send each night's chart once. Sending the same chart again restarts it.

Watching your bot

"Can your bot trade?"

This box at the top of your page says Yes when everything is set, or lists exactly what's missing and where to fix it.

The status label (top right)

Trading: Watching the chart; it trades when price crosses a line.
Waiting for a chart / Chart finished: Upload tonight's chart.
Connect your broker / Save your settings: Do Step 1 or Step 2.
Paused: You paused new trades. Click Resume new trades.
Paused for news: High-impact news is close. It starts again by itself.
Subscription inactive: Contact ChartTraders.
Not responding: Your bot server isn't answering. Open trades keep their stops at the broker. Wait a few minutes, then contact ChartTraders.

Buttons

Pause new trades / Resume new trades: Stops or restarts new trades. Open trades carry on with their stops and targets.
End this chart now: Ends the chart and closes the bot's open trade at the market price.

Your results

Win rate is the share of trades that made money. R compares each result to the amount risked: +2R made twice what it risked, and −1R lost the full amount. Fewer than 20 trades can swing a lot.

Suggested settings

ChartTraders may suggest settings that are doing well for other members. Click Use these settings or No thanks. Your own risk per trade always stays as you set it.

Warnings and what to do

Red: "Your bot can't trade like this." The bot would skip every trade. For example: your risk per trade is smaller than the smallest gold order needs, your "Never risk more than" limit is too low, or "Max lots" is under 0.01. Nothing is saved until you fix it. "Save anyway" is only for when you know a different chart will work.

Amber: "High risk." A losing trade would cost more than 2% of your account, or you trade every time price crosses a line with no maximum. It shows what 5 losing trades in a row would cost. To keep the settings, click I understand the risk. Your choice is recorded.

Blue: "Good to know." The bot trades, but not quite as set up. For example, a 0.01-lot trade can't be split into your orders, so it goes in as one order.

Problems

"Couldn't connect" in Step 1: Check your TradeLocker email and password, Demo or Live, the server name, and the account number if you have several.
Price crossed a line but there was no trade: Look at "Can your bot trade?" and Activity. Common reasons: your risk was too small to trade, a news pause, your trading hours, "Max trades per chart" reached, the same side twice under "Trade again, switching sides", or price was already past the line when you sent the chart (the bot waits for a fresh cross).
"Last problem" says the broker refused an order: Often there isn't enough free margin in the account. Lower your risk per trade, or add funds.
The chart numbers came out wrong: Type the right ones into the boxes before clicking Trade this chart.
Forgot password, or the invite link expired: Ask ChartTraders for a new invite link.
My invite link says it has expired: If you've already set your password, you don't need it any more: sign in at app.chartreplays.com/login.
It keeps asking me to sign in: You're signed out after 5 minutes without using the screen. Your bot isn't affected.

For the ChartTraders admin

Adding a member

Users tab: type their email and name, then click Create and get invite link.
Click Create server next to them. It takes about 10 minutes and costs about $6-7 a month on DigitalOcean.
Copy their invite link and send it yourself (text, email or Discord). New invite link makes a fresh one.
They follow Steps 1 to 3. You'll see their bot on the Results tab.

Results tab

Each member's trades, win rate, results in R and settings. A red Can't trade line under a member shows what's stopping their bot. Click a member for their trades, activity and whether they accepted the risk notice. Results by settings groups members using the same rules, and Same chart compares members who traded the same lines.

Fair test tab

Runs every member's settings on the same past charts and prices, at the same risk, so only the settings differ. Click Suggest… to offer good settings to members. They choose whether to use them.

Switching someone off

On the Users tab, switch their Subscription off: their bot stops opening new trades (open trades keep their stops). Removing a member's server deletes it.

Settings tab

The DigitalOcean token, the broker server members see, and whether live-money accounts are allowed. Set once.

Risk notice

Trading gold and other leveraged products is high risk. Prices can move fast, and you can lose some or all of the money in your trading account. Losing trades often come several in a row. Only trade money you can afford to lose.

ChartTraders is software. It isn't a broker, and it isn't financial advice. You choose the settings and the charts, and you're responsible for every trade placed on your account. By using ChartTraders, you trade at your own risk.

Results shown by ChartTraders, including other members' results and tests on past charts, don't promise future results.

Technology can fail: internet connections, the broker, TradeLocker or the bot's server. Every bot trade has a stop at the broker, but a stop can fill at a worse price than set, for example in fast markets, around news or when prices jump after a weekend.