How to use the trade import feature in Trading Vault

Introduction

Trading Vault offers a convenient trade import feature that allows users to seamlessly integrate their trading activities into their journals. You can import trades from a supported broker via file upload or connect your brokerage account for auto-syncing. If your broker is not supported, you can still import trades by using our CSV file template.

When you import trades, all compatible trades in the file will be added to your journal. If a trade already exists in your journal, it will be updated to reflect the most recent information from the uploaded file.

To get started with importing trades, navigate to the ‘Trade Imports’ section from the left-hand side menu. This screen displays your ‘Trade Import Profiles,’ where you can configure profile settings and view your import history.

Creating and managing trade import profiles

Creating a new trade import profile

  1. Select ‘New’: To create a new Trade Import Profile, click on the ‘New’ button.
  2. Configure profile settings:
    • Broker: Select your broker from the drop-down list.
    • Name: Give your profile a distinctive name for easy reference.
    • Trade account: Choose the trade account into which you want your trades imported.
    • Default strategy: Select a default strategy to be assigned to each imported trade. If your trades use various strategies, select ‘No Strategy’ and edit each trade individually after importing.

Managing trade import profiles

  • Re-order Profiles: To rearrange your trade import profiles, click and drag using the handle on the left-hand side of each profile.
  • Delete Profiles: To delete a trade import profile, use the 3-dot menu on the profile.
  • Auto-Sync Status: The green and red dots indicate whether auto-syncing is enabled (green) or disabled (red).

Trade import profiles

Viewing and editing trade import profiles

  • Select a profile: Click on a trade import profile to view its settings and import history.
  • Edit settings: You can modify most settings from the initial creation, except for the selected broker.
  • Import open trades: Use the toggle to control whether open trades are imported.
    • Off: Only closed trades will be imported into your journal.
    • On: Open trades will be imported as open trades. If the trade is closed in a subsequent import, the original trade will be updated with the new data reflecting the closed status.

Import history

The Import History section provides a comprehensive timeline of all your trade imports, detailing each import's specifics:

  • Date/time: When the import occurred.
  • Account: The trade account associated with the import.
  • Trades added: Number of new trades added during the import.
  • Trades updated: Number of existing trades updated with new data.
  • Total trades: Total number of trades processed in the import.
  • Import method: Whether the import was conducted via file upload or auto-sync.

Managing import entries

  • Delete an import: Use the 3-dot menu to select and delete an import entry. This action will remove any trades added by that import, but it will not reverse changes to any trades that were updated.

Upload trades

Preparing your trade file

  • File format: Ensure that your trade file is in a compatible format for your specific broker. Common formats include .csv and .html.
  • Original layout: The file must be in its original layout and unedited as provided by the broker. Modifying the file could cause errors during the upload process.

Uploading your trade file

  1. Drag and drop: Drag and drop your trade file into the designated area on the upload screen.
  2. Browse your device: Alternatively, click to browse your device and select the file to upload.

Confirming your upload

  • Validation message: After selecting your file, a message box will appear confirming if your file is valid. This message will also display the number of trades that will be added and updated in your journal.
  • Confirm or cancel:
    • Confirm upload: Click ‘Confirm Upload’ to commit the trades to your journal.
    • Cancel: Click cancel if you do not wish to proceed with the upload.

Auto sync

Overview of auto-syncing

Auto-syncing allows you to connect your broker account to Trading Vault, enabling automatic checking for new or updated trades. These trades will be added to your journal without requiring manual uploads. The synchronization process depends on your broker's support for this feature.

  • Supported brokers: If your broker supports auto-syncing, a ‘Sync Settings’ button will appear in the top right corner of the trade import profile screen.
  • Sync control: Once the sync is set up, you can pause and resume the synchronization at any time.

MetaTrader 4 & 5 auto sync settings

To set up auto-syncing with MetaTrader 4 (MT4) or MetaTrader 5 (MT5):

  1. Access sync settings: From your MT4/5 broker profile in Trading Vault, select ‘Sync Settings’ to view your FTP server settings.
  2. Open MT4/5 FTP settings:
    • Navigate to Tools → Options.
    • Select the FTP tab.
  3. Configure FTP settings:
    • Copy the FTP Server into the matching field
    • Copy the FTP Login name into the matching field
    • Copy the FTP Password into the matching field
    • Leave the Path field empty
    • Select Passive Mode
    • Enter your MT4/5 account number (found in the top left of the screen)
    • Select Automatic publishing of reports via FTP
    • Set Refresh every to 5 minutes

Note: You must have have MT4/5 open in order for the reports to be published and imported into Trading Vault. This can occur retroactively after the trade was executed.

Custom broker profile via CSV

If your broker is not currently supported or you have legacy data from a previous journal e.g. a manual spreadsheet, you can configure a custom profile to import these trades. This will allow you to specify how data is mapped from your spreadsheet into a trade. Once configured, the same data mapping can be reused for multiple uploads.

Configuring a custom profile

To set up a custom profile:

  1. Create a custom profile
    • Select custom as the broker when creating a new profile.
    • Select setting from the top right corner of the profile.
  2. Configure CSV file settings
    • CSV Delimiter: Specifies what each column in your CSV file is separated by
    • Contains header row: Indicates the first row in your file is a header and will be skipped
    • Date format: The format of dates in your file
    • Time format: The format of times in your file
    • Long direction keyword: The term (word or letter) used to indicate if a trade was taken in the long direction.
    • Short direction keyword: The term (word or letter) used to indicate if a trade was taken in the short direction.
  3. Configure data mappings
    • For each field you want to import from your file, specify the matching column in your file to the trade field. A column is represented by letters with A indicating the first column in your file.
    • Some fields are required.
    • If importing snapshots, you can choose to give the snapshot a custom name or match it to an existing snapshot slot.
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