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VantageGrid Help Center

Everything you need to operate with clarity.

A complete operating manual for onboarding, trade history, institutional analytics, Prop Firm Guardian, Pro API access, and the most common fixes. Search, deep-link, and resolve issues without waiting for support.

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Onboarding

The VantageGrid operating loop

VantageGrid works best when you use it as a closed improvement loop: connect data, review trades, tag behavior, study risk, update playbooks, and enforce guardrails.

1. Bring in trades

Use manual entry, CSV import, platform webhooks, MetaTrader exporters, crypto exchange sync, or API integrations. The first goal is complete closed-trade history.

2. Add context

Tag setup, mistakes, emotion, confluence, session, screenshots, and notes. Context turns a trade log into behavioral intelligence.

3. Act on the pattern

Use Institutional Lab, Prop Firm Guardian, AI Coach, Calendar, Replay, and Playbooks to turn data into rules for the next session.

Broker Setup

Connecting your first broker or platform

Start with the connection type that matches your trading workflow. If a direct connector is not available for your broker, CSV import and webhook/API routes still let you maintain a reliable journal.

OANDA

  1. Export your account history from OANDA as CSV.
  2. Open /import and upload the file.
  3. Map instrument, open time, close time, side, size, entry, exit, fees, and realized P&L.
  4. Save the broker template if the mapping is correct.
  5. Review imported trades in Trades and add setup and psychology tags.

For OANDA, verify timezone and fee handling carefully. A shifted timestamp can distort session analysis, daily P&L, and Calendar heatmaps.

Binance and crypto exchanges

  1. Open Account Settings or Integrations and choose Crypto Exchanges.
  2. Create a read-only exchange API key. Do not enable withdrawal permissions.
  3. Enter the exchange, key, secret, and optional label such as "Binance Main".
  4. Run sync and confirm fills appear as trades.
  5. Use account filters to separate crypto from futures, forex, or prop accounts.

VantageGrid stores exchange credentials encrypted at rest. You should still rotate any exchange key that was pasted into the wrong tool or shared externally.

MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5

  1. Open Account Settings and download the MT4 or MT5 Expert Advisor.
  2. In MetaTrader, open the Data Folder and place the file in the correct Experts folder.
  3. Restart MetaTrader and drag the EA onto a chart.
  4. Allow WebRequest for your VantageGrid URL.
  5. Paste your VantageGrid platform API key and confirm that trades arrive.

TradingView webhooks

  1. Open Account Settings and copy the TradingView webhook endpoint.
  2. Create a TradingView alert. TradingView webhooks require a paid TradingView plan.
  3. Paste the JSON alert message from VantageGrid.
  4. Send a small test alert and confirm it appears in the journal.
Import

CSV mapping and templates

Integrations

API keys and live sync

Trades

Validate imported history

Interface map: first connect data, then validate trades, then add behavioral context.

Trade History

Manual, CSV, webhook, or API: which import path should you use?

MethodBest forWhat to verify
Manual entrySmall accounts, backfilled examples, missed trades, screenshots, and discretionary review.Entry, exit, side, quantity, fees, account name, and close timestamp.
CSV importHistorical account history from brokers, prop dashboards, OANDA, TradeStation, NinjaTrader exports, and generic broker files.Column mapping, timezone, duplicate handling, realized P&L, commissions, and account labels.
Webhook or platform bridgeLive journaling from NinjaTrader, MetaTrader, TradingView, TradeLocker, DXtrade, and automation tools.API key, endpoint path, order IDs, heartbeat status, and whether partial fills are matched correctly.
Pro APIExternal AI agents, execution bots, risk pre-checks, and custom operating workflows.API key security, Pro subscription status, rate limits, and idempotent client behavior.

After any bulk import, open Reports and Calendar. If the equity curve, daily P&L, and trade count look wrong, fix mapping before adding more data.

Behavioral Data

Tagging trades for behavioral analysis

Tags are the bridge between what you felt, what you planned, and what happened financially.

Setup tags

Use stable names such as "London Breakout", "VWAP Reclaim", or "Liquidity Sweep". Do not rename the same setup every week or analytics will split the sample.

Mistake tags

Mark events such as FOMO, revenge, late entry, early exit, oversized risk, moved stop, no plan, or ignored news. These feed the Cost of Discipline and Psychology Heatmaps.

Positive process tags

Also tag Patience, Following Plan, Correct No-Trade, Reduced Size, and Stopped After Rule Hit. The platform should learn your best behavior, not only your mistakes.

Minimum useful habit: tag every closed trade with one setup tag and one process tag within 24 hours. That is enough to activate most behavioral analytics.

Dashboard

Reading the Dashboard without noise

Daily operating state

Use the top status area for market session, sync state, trade count, Guardian status, and account context. It is designed for fast scanning before and during a trading session.

Performance engine

Win rate, profit factor, expectancy, P&L, drawdown, and quality score show whether the edge is healthy. Use them together, not in isolation.

Discipline loop

Review mistake costs, live session coach, circuit breaker, mission plan, and trade permission before taking new risk.

Workflow shortcuts

Use Dashboard for monitoring, Trades for trade-level review, Analytics for deeper analysis, Playbooks for rules, and AI Coach for synthesis.

Feature Deep-Dive

The Institutional Lab

The Institutional Lab turns trade history into risk-adjusted, behavior-aware analytics. It is not just "how much did I make?" It is "was the process durable enough to scale?"

Risk quality

Sortino, drawdown, risk of ruin, tail behavior, and recovery factor show whether returns are stable enough to trust.

Strategy quality

Setup Intelligence, Strategy Lab, session windows, and market-regime analysis reveal where the edge actually appears.

Behavior quality

Psychology Heatmaps, mistake leaks, quality grades, and daily journal context reveal whether the trader is executing the plan.

Math Reference

Sortino Ratio, Kelly Criterion, and Risk-of-Ruin

Sortino Ratio

Sortino is a risk-adjusted return metric that focuses on downside volatility instead of all volatility. A strategy with choppy upside and controlled downside can look better on Sortino than on Sharpe.

Sortino = excess return / downside deviation

Kelly Criterion

Kelly estimates the theoretical growth-optimal fraction of capital to risk when win probability and payoff ratio are known. In practice, traders usually use fractional Kelly because full Kelly can produce severe drawdowns.

Kelly = W - ((1 - W) / R)

Risk-of-Ruin

Risk-of-ruin estimates the chance that normal variance pushes the account past a failure threshold. In VantageGrid this can be modeled through Monte Carlo paths and Guardian drawdown limits.

Practical interpretation

If P&L is positive but Sortino is poor, Kelly is extreme, or risk-of-ruin is high, the strategy may be profitable but fragile. Reduce size, tighten rules, or collect more data before scaling.

Monte Carlo Risk Lab

How to interpret Monte Carlo simulations

What it simulates

The engine samples from your historical closed-trade returns with replacement, then generates many possible future trade sequences. It asks: if your edge behaves like the past, what account paths are plausible?

Risk of ruin

This is the percentage of paths where drawdown breaches the configured danger threshold. If it is above your tolerance, reduce risk per trade or tighten stop conditions.

Median expected profit

The 50th percentile outcome. It is more useful than the average when extreme outliers distort the mean.

Best and worst case

Best case and worst case use percentile bands. Treat the 5th percentile as a serious planning scenario, not an impossible disaster.

Monte Carlo fan chart reading: focus on the lower band and maximum drawdown, not only the best path.

Equity Curve

Using the Equity Curve to spot strategy decay

Healthy curve

Higher highs, controlled drawdowns, stable trade frequency, and recoveries that do not require oversized wins.

Decay warning

Flat or falling curve while trade count rises, larger losses after winning streaks, or profit concentrated in only one day or one setup.

Behavioral warning

Equity drops that coincide with tags like FOMO, revenge, no plan, or oversized risk usually point to process failure, not market randomness.

Action

Reduce size, pause weak setups, review Replay, write a Daily Journal debrief, and require Playbook compliance before returning to normal risk.

AI Psychology Heatmaps

Link emotion and behavior to financial outcome

Psychology Heatmaps group closed trades by tags such as FOMO, Revenge, Patience, Following Plan, Hesitation, or Moved Stop. For each tag, VantageGrid calculates trade count, net P&L, and win rate.

If the radar is empty, add tags to closed trades. The feature needs enough journal data to separate real patterns from noise.

Asset Correlation

Understanding overlapping exposure

Asset Correlation inspects open trades and estimates net exposure by base and quote asset. For example, long EUR/USD adds EUR exposure and short USD exposure. Multiple positions can quietly create a concentrated USD, JPY, crypto, or index bet.

Positive exposure

You are net long that asset across open positions.

Negative exposure

You are net short that asset across open positions.

Guardian warning

If exposure exceeds a threshold, the Guardian warns that one news event could hit several trades at once.

Heatmap

The correlation matrix highlights instruments that often move together or hedge each other.

Prop Firm Guardian

Setting up FTMO, Topstep, MyFundedFutures, and custom rules

Rule fields

  • Account name and starting balance
  • Daily loss limit
  • Maximum trailing drawdown
  • Profit target
  • Consistency rule percentage
  • Timezone and reset timing

Firm examples

FTMO rules often focus on daily loss, maximum loss, and profit target. Topstep and MyFundedFutures-style accounts often require careful trailing drawdown handling. Always enter the exact rules from your current account contract.

Multiple accounts

Create separate Prop Firm accounts for each challenge or funded account. Do not combine personal and prop data if the rules are different.

Review cadence

Check Guardian status before the session, after each large trade, and near the daily loss threshold. If a rule changes, update the account before the next trade.

Guardian Lock

How Guardian Lock helps prevent daily drawdown breaches

Guardian Lock is a risk-control state. When current P&L, drawdown, or configured risk rules approach a dangerous area, VantageGrid can warn you, mark trade permission as unsafe, and return a denial from Pro API Guardian checks.

Guardian Lock is a guardrail, not a broker-side kill switch unless you explicitly wire your own execution system to honor it. If your platform can still place trades, you are still responsible for stopping.

Latency and Safety

Managing expectations for 100% safety

VantageGrid is monitoring and intelligence software. It depends on the data it receives from your broker, platform, bridge, webhook, browser, network, and server. During fast markets or outages, data can be delayed, incomplete, duplicated, or unavailable.

  • Always treat broker/platform account state as the final source of truth.
  • Build automation clients so they fail closed when Guardian validation is unavailable.
  • Use position sizing that survives one missed webhook or delayed update.
  • Do not rely on VantageGrid as your only protection against prop-firm rule breaches.
Pro-Tier Developer Hub

The Intelligence Hub for external AI agents

The Pro API lets trusted AI agents and automation clients retrieve compact trading context and validate proposed trades before execution.

Interactive Swagger/OpenAPI documentation is available at /api/docs. This Help Center explains the operational contract in plain English.

Authentication

Generating and protecting API keys

  1. Open Account Settings.
  2. Open the AI API section.
  3. Create a named key such as "Claude Research Agent" or "Execution Bot - Read Only".
  4. Copy the key once and store it in a password manager or secret manager.
  5. Use the key as a Bearer token or in `X-VantageGrid-API-Key`.
  6. Revoke keys immediately when an agent, machine, or teammate no longer needs access.
Authentication header
Authorization: Bearer vgai_your_api_key_here
X-VantageGrid-API-Key: vgai_your_api_key_here

VantageGrid stores Pro API keys using hash-based lookup and encrypted storage. You still must treat the visible key as a secret because anyone holding it can call your Pro API until it is revoked.

Endpoint Reference

GET /api/v1/ai-context

Returns a compact, LLM-ready account context designed for models such as GPT, Claude, Gemini, and custom agents. Use it before asking an agent to coach, summarize, or reason about current trading behavior.

FieldDescription
recent_performanceRecent P&L, trade count, win rate, profit factor, expectancy, drawdown, and operating state where available.
emotional_patternsPsychology tag summary such as FOMO, Revenge, Patience, Following Plan, net P&L, win rate, and sample size.
guardian_statusCurrent Prop Firm Guardian and risk permission state.
behavioral_bias_summaryA concise interpretation of likely behavioral bias based on tags, recent results, and risk state.
Request
curl -s https://vantagegrid.pro/api/v1/ai-context \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer vgai_your_api_key_here"
Endpoint Reference

POST /api/v1/guardian-validate

Accepts a proposed trade and returns whether the trade is authorized based on the user's current drawdown and Prop Firm Guardian rules. External execution bots should call this before placing risk.

Request fieldPurpose
instrumentSymbol such as NQ, ES, EUR/USD, XAU/USD, BTC/USD, US30, or a broker-specific symbol.
sideBuy, sell, long, or short.
quantityProposed size or number of contracts/lots/units.
entry_priceExpected entry price if known.
stop_lossStop price used to estimate potential loss.
account_idOptional account selector. Use the correct prop account when rules differ.
Request and response
curl -s https://vantagegrid.pro/api/v1/guardian-validate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer vgai_your_api_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "instrument": "NQ",
    "side": "buy",
    "quantity": 1,
    "entry_price": 18500.25,
    "stop_loss": 18480.25,
    "account_id": 42
  }'

{
  "authorized": true,
  "reason": "Trade is within configured Guardian limits.",
  "guardian_status": {
    "daily_drawdown_remaining": 875.00,
    "lock_active": false
  }
}
SDK Example

Complete Python SDK example for AI integration

vantagegrid_client.py
from __future__ import annotations

from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import Any, Dict, Optional

import requests


class VantageGridError(RuntimeError):
    pass


@dataclass
class ProposedTrade:
    instrument: str
    side: str
    quantity: float
    entry_price: Optional[float] = None
    stop_loss: Optional[float] = None
    account_id: Optional[int] = None


class VantageGridClient:
    def __init__(self, api_key: str, base_url: str = "https://vantagegrid.pro", timeout: float = 10.0):
        self.base_url = base_url.rstrip("/")
        self.timeout = timeout
        self.session = requests.Session()
        self.session.headers.update({
            "Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}",
            "Content-Type": "application/json",
            "User-Agent": "VantageGrid-AI-Client/1.0",
        })

    def _request(self, method: str, path: str, **kwargs: Any) -> Dict[str, Any]:
        url = f"{self.base_url}{path}"
        response = self.session.request(method, url, timeout=self.timeout, **kwargs)
        if response.status_code == 401:
            raise VantageGridError("API key is missing, invalid, or revoked.")
        if response.status_code == 403:
            raise VantageGridError("Active Pro subscription required.")
        if response.status_code == 429:
            raise VantageGridError("Rate limit exceeded. Back off before retrying.")
        if response.status_code >= 400:
            raise VantageGridError(f"VantageGrid API error {response.status_code}: {response.text[:300]}")
        return response.json()

    def ai_context(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
        return self._request("GET", "/api/v1/ai-context")

    def guardian_validate(self, trade: ProposedTrade) -> Dict[str, Any]:
        payload = {
            "instrument": trade.instrument,
            "side": trade.side,
            "quantity": trade.quantity,
            "entry_price": trade.entry_price,
            "stop_loss": trade.stop_loss,
            "account_id": trade.account_id,
        }
        payload = {key: value for key, value in payload.items() if value is not None}
        return self._request("POST", "/api/v1/guardian-validate", json=payload)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    client = VantageGridClient(api_key="vgai_your_api_key_here")

    context = client.ai_context()
    print("Behavioral bias:", context.get("behavioral_bias_summary"))

    decision = client.guardian_validate(ProposedTrade(
        instrument="NQ",
        side="buy",
        quantity=1,
        entry_price=18500.25,
        stop_loss=18480.25,
        account_id=42,
    ))

    if decision.get("authorized"):
        print("Trade allowed by Guardian.")
    else:
        print("Trade blocked:", decision.get("reason"))

Execution bots should fail closed. If VantageGrid is unreachable, the safest default is not to place the trade.

Security

API key best practices

  • Create one key per agent, device, or automation workflow.
  • Name keys clearly so you can revoke the correct key quickly.
  • Store keys in a secret manager, environment variable, or password manager. Never hardcode them into public repos.
  • Rotate keys after contractor changes, machine loss, prompt leaks, log leaks, or accidental paste into chat.
  • Use HTTPS only. Do not send keys to browser extensions or third-party agents you do not control.
  • Monitor rate-limit errors. Sudden 429 responses can indicate a runaway agent or accidental loop.
Zero-Support Troubleshooting

Common issues and exact fixes

My CSV will not upload or the mapping looks wrong
  1. Confirm the file is a CSV, not XLSX renamed as CSV.
  2. Open the file and verify the first row contains headers.
  3. Map required fields: instrument, side, quantity, entry, exit, open time, close time, and realized P&L.
  4. Check decimal format. Use `1234.56`, not mixed comma and dot formatting.
  5. Remove totals, notes-only rows, deposits, withdrawals, and broker summary rows.
  6. Save a broker template once the mapping works.

Common header fixes: map `Symbol`, `Market`, or `Instrument` to instrument; map `Realized P/L`, `Profit`, or `Net PnL` to P&L; map `Commission` or `Fees` to fees.

The Chrome Extension or TradingView tool is not showing up
  1. Refresh TradingView and confirm you are logged into the correct TradingView account.
  2. Disable other chart extensions temporarily to rule out UI conflicts.
  3. Check whether TradingView changed its panel layout. If the button moved, search the alert or webhook panel manually.
  4. Confirm browser permissions allow the tool on `tradingview.com`.
  5. If using webhooks instead of an extension, confirm your TradingView plan supports webhooks and the alert is active.

If no VantageGrid extension is installed, use the TradingView webhook setup from Account Settings. The webhook flow is the supported fallback when browser UI integrations change.

Login issues, Google OAuth, or password recovery
  1. Use the same login method you used when creating the account. Email/password and Google OAuth can create different sessions.
  2. If password login fails, use Forgot Password and check spam, promotions, and security filters.
  3. If Google OAuth fails, allow popups and cookies for VantageGrid and Google, then retry in a clean browser session.
  4. If 2FA is enabled, enter the current authenticator code. Codes expire quickly, so wait for the next code if one is near expiry.
  5. Clear only VantageGrid site cookies if the browser is stuck in a redirect loop.
Subscription status, upgrade, or Pro access is wrong
  1. Open Billing and confirm Stripe status is active or trialing.
  2. Refresh the app after payment or sign out and back in.
  3. Use the Billing Portal to update card, invoice, or subscription details.
  4. If old wording says "Silver", treat it as legacy naming. The current paid tier is Pro Plan.
  5. Pro API routes require an active Pro subscription. Referral credits may unlock browser features but external API access is stricter.
I lost or exposed an API key
  1. Open Account Settings, AI API.
  2. Revoke the exposed key immediately.
  3. Create a new named key.
  4. Update the agent, bot, or secret manager using that key.
  5. Restart the agent and verify calls to `/api/v1/ai-context` work.
Sync is offline

Check platform bridge status, API key, webhook URL, internet connection, and whether the trading platform is running. If the key was regenerated, update it in the bridge or Expert Advisor.

Guardian blocks a trade I expected to allow

Review account selection, daily P&L, drawdown remaining, stop distance, quantity, and prop-firm rule configuration. If the proposed trade has no stop loss, an external bot may be denied because downside cannot be estimated safely.