Help centre

How do I...

Every answer here comes from what Actal actually does, checked against the app. If a question is missing, ask it from the Feedback page in the app and it gets answered there and written up here.

Getting started

Accounts, the switcher, and what free during beta means.

Which account does the dashboard show, and how do I switch?Every screen follows the account picked in the switcher at the bottom of the sidebar, one account or all. Accounts are managed in Settings > Accounts.What does free during the beta mean, and what is lifetime access?Everything is free while Actal is in beta, no card, no trial clock. Beta users get a founder's price for life when Pro launches. Lifetime access is a grant.

Importing

Which file to export from each platform, and the column mapper for everything else.

Which Tradovate file should I import?Export the Orders report from Account Reports. It has every fill. The Performance report works too, one trade per position. Neither has commissions.Importing from TopstepX: Trades export or Orders export?Export the Trades tab from TopstepX: it has the fees and the P&L, and times carry a UTC offset. The Orders export imports too, but has no fees.Importing from Exness, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5Save the account history as an HTML report from MetaTrader 4 or 5 and drop it in. Works for Exness and any MT broker. Excel and CSV versions are not read.Using the column mapper for any CSVDrop any CSV. If the header is not recognised, Actal asks which column is which, once, and remembers it. Every field, the status filter and the stop column.

Reviewing trades

Grades, mistakes, screenshots, tags, risk and R.

Reviewing a trade: grades, mistakes with costs, screenshots and shortcutsGrade A to F on execution, log mistakes with what they cost, paste a chart and draw on it. J, K, 1 to 5 and Enter move you through the queue.Adding your own fields: tags, ideas and strategiesTags are free words on a review. Ideas are patterns linked to trades with their own stats. Strategies carry rules and grade criteria. All three filter Trades.The Stop and Risk columns, and how R is worked outR is net P&L divided by the trade's risk. Risk comes from a stop column, the import preview, the Risk card or the Add trade form. The Stop column is derived.Deleting trades, and what happens to their screenshotsSelect trades on the Trades page and click Delete. The review, screenshots, drawings and public cards go too. Ideas, tags, day types and library copies stay.

Plan and review

The premarket plan, scenarios and the daily review.

The premarket plan and the daily reviewFile a plan before the open with A, B and C scenarios per market, then close it out in the daily review: which scenario played out, did you trade the plan.

Day types

Labelling what kind of day it was.

Day types: what they are, whole day or per market, pictures and examplesDay types are your own labels for what kind of day it was, set once per trading day and applied to every trade that day. Whole day or per market.

Rules

Risk rules and what counts as a break.

Risk rules: each rule, what counts as broken, and why stopping at a limit is keptLoss limits, profit stop, give-back, max trades, max loss and size, consecutive losses, cooldown, window, allowed symbols. Broken by the trades after the line.

Stats

Filters, reviewed-only stats and the breakdowns.

Stats: filters, reviewed-only stats, trade number of the day, by day typeEvery stat follows the range, the account and the filters. Grade, strategy, tag and mistake stats come from reviewed trades only. Where overtrading shows up.

Friends and groups

What a friend sees and how to hide parts of your journal.

Friends and groups: what a friend sees, and hiding dollars and notesA friend sees your trades, reviews, screenshots, plans and rules, and you see theirs. Per friend, hide dollar P&L, notes or plans. Groups add chat and a board.

Account and settings

Timezone, trading day, display name and email.

The trading day setting: which day a trade counts onSettings > Profile > Trading day decides which day a trade counts on: midnight your time, the New York day, the CME session from 18:00 New York, or custom.Changing your timezone, display name and emailTimezone and display name live in Settings > Profile. The timezone follows your computer unless you pin one. Email cannot be changed in the app yet.

Troubleshooting

Numbers that do not match, imports that come up short, times that look wrong.

Why is my P&L different from my exchange?Actal's P&L is after commissions. An export with no commissions is gross until you set a rate. Funding and platform fees are never counted.My import shows fewer trades than the preview, or 0 tradesDuplicates are skipped, trades already imported from another file are left out, a status filter can drop every row, and some files hold no trades at all.Trade times and seconds: why a time looks wrongTimes are stored to the second and shown in your profile timezone. A file with no timezone is read in yours unless you change it on the preview.