The complete user guide

1 · Trading basics (start here if you're new)

VortexTick automates futures trading — specifically micro index futures like the MNQ (Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100) and MES (Micro E-mini S&P 500). A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell an index at a set price; you profit when price moves in your direction and lose when it moves against you. Micros are small-sized versions, which makes them the standard instrument for prop-firm evaluations and newer traders.

Three terms you'll see everywhere in this guide:

• Entry — the price where your position opens.
• Stop loss — a protective order that closes the trade if price moves against you by a set amount. This caps your loss.
• Take profit (target) — an order that closes the trade in profit at a set level.

VortexTick's whole job is to attach a disciplined stop and target to every entry automatically (a "bracket"), enforce a healthy reward-to-risk ratio, and stop you from breaking your own rules.

2 · Create your account

1. Go to the registration screen (or click LAUNCH APP → "Create one").
2. Enter your name, email, and a strong password. Identity is handled by AuthForge, our security layer — your password is hashed and never stored in readable form.
3. Submit. You'll be signed straight into the trading terminal.

Already have an account? Use Sign in on the same screen.

3 · Secure it with two-factor authentication

2FA (Google Authenticator / Authy / any TOTP app) adds a second lock so a stolen password alone can't reach your account. We strongly recommend enabling it before connecting a live broker.

1. In the terminal, open the Risk / Security panel from the bottom dock.
2. Choose Enable 2FA. A QR code appears.
3. Open your authenticator app, tap "+", and scan the QR code.
4. Enter the 6-digit code the app shows to confirm. 2FA is now active — you'll enter a fresh code at each login.

4 · Choose a plan

Two seats, both starting in simulation:

• Evaluation Pass Seat — for micro-contract testing and clearing a prop-firm evaluation. One broker link, the standard bracket engine, and core anti-tilt safety locks.
• Professional Multi-Broker Seat — for multiple live funded accounts: concurrent multi-broker routing, high-velocity bracket arrays, autonomous volatility trailing stops, and the full performance journal.

You can start free in sim and upgrade from the Account panel whenever you're ready. See live pricing on the home page.

5 · Terminal tour

The terminal is a single black screen built for focus. Key areas:

• Chart — live candles with session shading and the silver breakout channel drawn automatically.
• Top chips — real-time status: latency, risk state, spread health, and the divergence signal.
• Session clock HUD — shows which global futures session is active (New York, London, Sydney, CME Globex) so you're never trading a dead market.
• Bottom dock — opens the panels: Trade, Risk, Journal, Stats, Account.
• Master switch — the one-click hub that arms/disarms automation (red = paused, green = active).

6 · Connect a broker

To trade live (not sim) you link a broker so orders can route to a real account.

1. Open the Risk panel → Broker Links.
2. Connect your Phidias Propfirm account through the Tradovate gateway and paste your API credentials. Keys are stored masked and never shown again in full.
3. Save. The link shows a live health badge: ● HEALTHY, amber RESTRICTED (plan limit), or red if degraded.

7 · Configure your risk rules

This is the most important step. In the Risk panel you set the rules the engine will enforce on every order:

• Risk-to-reward floor (R:R) — the minimum reward relative to risk (default 1:3). Orders that don't clear it are blocked before they're sent.
• Max daily drawdown — the most you can lose in a session before the anti-tilt lockout flattens everything and freezes routing.
• Daily profit target — used to auto-size positions toward a goal without over-risking.
• Stop distance — fixed ticks, or volatility-fitted (the engine sizes the stop to current 1-minute range).

Set these to match your prop-firm rules or personal limits. When in doubt, use the built-in Smart Calibration Guide (the "?" in the Risk panel) — it explains every parameter in plain language.

8 · Place your first trade

The fastest path is the one-click smart order:

1. Open the Trade panel.
2. Pick a direction: LONG (betting price rises) or SHORT (betting it falls).
3. Press the direction button. VortexTick reads live volatility, computes entry, a protective stop, and a target that respects your R:R floor, sizes the position from your risk settings, and submits the whole bracket as one unit.
4. Watch the order log populate. Your stop and target are already working — you don't manage them manually.

Prefer manual control? Enter your own entry/stop/target in the same panel; the engine still validates R:R and every guardrail before it transmits.

9 · The guardrails (how VortexTick protects you)

These run server-side, automatically, on every order. You don't turn them on — they're always watching:

• Anti-tilt lockout — hit your daily loss limit and the system flattens all positions and locks routing for the session. No revenge trading.
• R:R enforcement — any order below your reward-to-risk floor is rejected before transmission.
• News buffer — routing pauses around high-impact economic releases.
• Slippage circuit breaker — if a broker link starts filling materially worse than expected, new entries on that link pause until you clear it.
• Toxic-spread gate — when the bid-ask spread blows out (thin, dangerous liquidity), new entries are blocked until it normalizes — then it self-heals.

When a guardrail blocks a trade you'll see a clear status chip explaining why. That's the system doing its job.

10 · Signals & divergence

The chart draws a silver breakout channel — the structural boundary the strategy watches. When price clears it with momentum, that's a breakout the engine can act on. The divergence chip tracks the statistical relationship between MNQ and MES (a Z-score); a strong reading with a compression band flags a higher-probability setup. These are context tools — you always decide whether to arm automation.

11 · The performance journal

Every trade is logged automatically. The Journal panel shows a monthly calendar heat-map, win rate, profit factor, average R, and a tilt-advisory banner if you're on a losing streak. Use it to review honestly — the numbers don't flatter you, which is exactly the point.

12 · Account & billing

The Account panel shows your tier, capability badges, connected broker keys (masked), 2FA status, and a one-click button to manage billing and invoices through the secure Stripe customer portal. If a payment fails you get a 48-hour grace window — the terminal stays fully live and simply warns you — before dropping to simulation limits. Nothing is ever destructively cut off.

13 · Best practices for new traders

1. Sim until it's boring. Consistency in simulation is the prerequisite for live size.
2. Respect the lockout. If anti-tilt trips, you're done for the day. That rule exists to protect the account you worked to fund.
3. Trade the active session. Watch the session clock — thin, off-hours markets are where accounts die.
4. Change one variable at a time. When you adjust risk settings, change a single parameter and journal the result before changing another.
5. Let the bracket work. The whole point is not touching the stop. Manual intervention is where discipline breaks.

14 · Quick glossary

• MNQ / MES — micro Nasdaq-100 / micro S&P 500 futures.
• Bracket — an entry plus its attached stop and target, managed as one unit.
• R:R — reward-to-risk ratio; 1:3 means the target is three times the stop distance away.
• Drawdown — how far your balance has fallen from its peak.
• Tilt — emotional, rule-breaking trading, usually after a loss.
• Slippage — the difference between the price you expected and the price you got.
• Prop firm / evaluation — a company that funds traders who pass a rules-based test on a simulated account.

15 · Get help

Stuck or have a question? You reach the operator directly. Use the contact page or email support@eactivenet.com. Before going live, please also read the Risk Disclosure — futures trading carries substantial risk of loss, and VortexTick is software, not financial advice.