Tradovate For Beginners

Tradovate is a futures platform with a browser app, desktop app, and mobile app. The basics are the same on all of them: log in, pick a workspace, open a chart and DOM, and place simple orders.

Logging In And Workspaces

After your account is set up and approved, you can log in through:

• The web app (runs in a browser)
• The desktop app
• The mobile app

Tradovate uses workspaces to store your layout. A workspace is just a saved arrangement of charts, DOMs, and modules.

Typical beginner layout:

• One main chart for your primary contract (ES, MES, NQ, MNQ, etc.)
• One DOM (ladder) for the same contract
• Orders / Positions panel visible at the bottom or side

Opening A Chart

To open a chart, you:

• Choose “Chart” from the modules or right-click in an empty area to add one
• Type the symbol (for example, MES, ES, NQ, MNQ) and pick the correct contract month
• Set the timeframe (1-minute, 5-minute, 15-minute, etc.)

Basic settings most people start with:

• Candlestick or bar chart
• Simple indicators (if any): volume, maybe one moving average
• Crosshair enabled to read price and time clearly

Opening The DOM (Depth Of Market)

The DOM shows:

• Bid and ask prices
• Depth (resting orders at different price levels)
• Your active orders and position

You can place orders directly from the DOM by clicking in the price ladder, depending on how your buttons are configured.

Basic Order Types

Tradovate supports standard futures order types:

• Market: fills at the best available price
• Limit: sets a specific price you want to buy or sell at
• Stop: triggers a market or limit order once price reaches a level

You can configure brackets that include:

• A stop-loss level
• A profit target

These brackets are useful so every trade has a predefined exit structure.

Setting Up A Simple Bracket

In Tradovate, you can define an order preset that automatically attaches:

• A stop-loss at a certain number of ticks away
• A profit target at a certain number of ticks away

Once the preset is saved, using it means every time you enter a trade, the platform drops both a stop and a target without extra clicks.

Monitoring Positions And Orders

The Orders and Positions panels show:

• Current open positions
• Working (unfilled) orders
• Filled and canceled orders

From these panels you can flatten (close all positions) or cancel working orders.

Risk Controls In The Platform

While prop firms and brokers enforce their own loss limits on the backend, Tradovate also lets you:

• Set per-trade and per-day risk limits in presets
• Use flattened buttons to exit quickly
• Monitor real-time P&L in your workspace

Platform-side risk settings do not replace firm rules but help you avoid accidental oversizing or forgetting to exit.

Desktop vs Web vs Mobile

The basic logic is the same across versions:

• Symbol entry and contract selection
• Charts and DOM modules
• Orders and positions views

Differences are mainly layout and screen space. Many traders prefer desktop for active trading and mobile for monitoring.

Where To Find Exact Instructions

Tradovate provides its own documentation and tutorials that cover:

• Platform installation and setup
• Full list of order types
• Hotkeys and shortcuts
• Detailed risk and account settings

Those official docs and videos are the final reference for anything specific to the platform.