Which Tradovate file should I import?
Export the Orders report from Account Reports. It carries every fill, so scale-ins and partial exits are rebuilt the way they happened. The Performance report imports too, one trade per position with the P&L Tradovate worked out. Neither file has commissions, so you set those once on the preview.
What to do
- 1
In Tradovate click the dropdown with your account name (the gear icon) and choose Account Reports. On the web platform it is Reports in the navigation.
- 2
Select the Orders tab and set the date range.
- 3
Click Download Report and save the CSV.
- 4
In Actal click Import trades, pick the account under Account, and drop the file or click Choose file. The file is recognised by its B/S and Contract columns.
- 5
On the preview, type your round-trip commission per contract in the box labelled "Commission per contract (round trip)". It is saved on the account for every later import.
- 6
Click Import N trades.
Orders or Performance
| Orders report | Performance report | |
|---|---|---|
| What a row is | One order. Only rows with Status = Filled become fills. | One matched buy and sell, with the P&L Tradovate computed. |
| How trades are built | Actal pairs the fills into round trips: scale-ins, partial exits and flips come out as they happened. | Rows are taken as stated. Rows that belong to one position are joined into one trade. |
| P&L | Prices times the contract's point value, rounded to cents. | Taken from the file. Rows without a readable P&L fall back to prices times point value. |
| Commissions | None in the file. Set a per-contract default on the preview. | None in the file. Same default. |
| Side | From the B/S column. | No side column. Bought before sold is a long, sold before bought is a short. |
| Timestamps | No timezone in the file. Read in your profile timezone. | Same. |
Orders is the better file because it carries every fill. Use Performance when you only have that report, or when you want Tradovate's own P&L figure on each trade. Both are the same file for Apex, Topstep on Tradovate, Lucid and the other prop firms that run on Tradovate.
How Performance rows become trades
Tradovate writes one Performance row per matched buy and sell. A 5-lot short bought back in two fills comes out as several rows of 1 and 2 lots. Actal joins rows that share a buy or sell fill id, or that are open at the same time in the same contract and direction, into one trade at its full size. Long and short rows never join, so a flip stays two trades. The joined trade sums the size and the file's P&L, averages the prices by size, and takes the earliest entry and the latest exit.
The preview says how many rows were joined: "Tradovate writes one row per matched buy and sell, so a position can take several rows. N rows were parts of M position(s) and were joined, one trade each at its full size".
Commissions
Neither Tradovate report carries commissions. Until you set a default, the preview says "No commissions in this export; P&L is gross until you set a per-contract default below." Type the round trip per contract, both sides together, so double the per-side rate your firm quotes. The value is saved on the account and filled in on every later import into it.
Trades imported before you set a rate keep $0 commission. Settings > Accounts shows "N imported trades have no commission, so net P&L is overstated." with a button "Apply $X per contract to them". That fills in the commission on every $0 imported trade in that account.
Importing both files for the same days
If the Orders and the Performance report cover the same trades, the second import spots them. A trade that the same account already has from another kind of file, same contract and side, entry and exit each within 10 seconds, is marked "other file" on the preview and left out by default. The preview says "N trades look already imported from another file." with a button "Import them anyway" if you really want both.
A match in another of your accounts is only pointed out, never left out, because copied trades across prop accounts look the same. The note tells you to discard the import and bring the file into the other account if both files come from the same broker account.
Timestamps
Tradovate writes times with no timezone. Actal reads them in your profile timezone. If the platform was set to another zone, change it on the preview under "File timestamps are in" and click "Apply and re-check". Dates are read as day/month when a day number above 12 proves it; otherwise the preview shows which way it read them and a button to switch.
Files that are not read
- The Cash History and Fills reports are not imported.
- Tradovate orders exported from the TradingView trading panel (a file named like tradovate-orders-all-...csv) import as a TradingView broker orders file. Filled orders become fills, and the account's commission default applies.
- A file with a header Actal does not know goes to the column mapper.
Questions people ask
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