Challenge FAQs

Software FAQs

API FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions about our FTMO-Like Challenge

Why is this challenge free? How do you make money?

Many users are asking this question - the answer is simple - we are not a prop firm. We are software company. We are running this challenge to improve our software and promote our software in the prop business world. In a way you can look at it as a testing job. We are paying traders to help us test our software... Other way to look at it is that we can't compete with FTMO's MFF's of the world. So we are keeping our challenge free for now to attract new traders. We are hoping that we will make some money by earning commissions from the brokers we are promoting and some other advertised products on the site. This is all a big experiment for now ... don't worry .. we will pay the successful traders. We don't plan to scam anyone out of their winnings...

 

How will the payouts be made?

Once you reach your target and see the Target Reached status on your dashboard, you can then contact us for payment. We will then do a full audit of your account to make sure all program rules were followed. Once we confirm, we will initiate payouts via Skrill. We are trying to add more payout options but for now, this is the only option available.

 

Frequently Asked Questions about our fxReports software

How does fxReports software work?

Following video explains how the software works.

 

 

Following image explains basic design of the software:

 

  • The basic functionality of fxReports software is to publish your trading activity to your website.
  • Anyone can register as Admin and create a program.
  • This program can be a prop firm backoffice like FTMO or MyForexFunds or it can be an analytics platform like myfxbook or anything else where there is a need to publish and track trading activity on the website.
  • One program can have one admin.
  • One program can have unlimited number of members.
  • Admin can add / remove members as well as add / remove accounts under a member.
  • One member can have unlimited number of trading accounts.
  • One trading account will have one dashboard / matrix associated with it.

What are the types of accounts?

You can create two types of accounts. One is Admin type and other is Member type. Admins can add other users, add accounts under those users, delete existing accounts and so on. Members can only view their dashboards under their account. They cannot add or remove users or accounts. Admin accounts are meant for those who want to run programs like a prop firm or some type of program where they will be working with multiple users trading under their program. You can create an admin account also if you wish to run a website like myfxbook. There are no limits on who can become an admin as long as you know the functionality and use it to your own advantage.

 

How to find trade server for any MT4 or MT5 account?

 

Help video on how to find trade server:

 

How to use this software to read trading history from any broker and any MT4 account?

 

Help video on how to use the fxReports software to read MT4 trading history for any account with any broker:

 

How to use MT4 or MT5 EA option to read MT4 trade history and send to your website?

 

If you wish to use MT4 or MT5 EA to send data from your trader's account to the website, you can do so using the architecture as shown below. This option works as follows:

  • Data is read by MT4 EA and sent to your website.

  • This option is expensive because you need to run VPS and MT4 for each account with the EA running on a chart in it.

  • This option needs higher manpower to maintain and manage the setup.

  • This option is the best to catch violations such as balance drawdown and equity drawdown as EA is continuously monitoring the account that it is running on.

    Following image explains this architecture in more details.

    • Illustration: how the MT4 EA option works in fxReports software

     

    How to use MT Connector Service option to read MT4 trade history and send to your website?

     

    If you DO NOT want to use MT4 EA but rather use an automated system to send data from your trader's account to the website, you can do so using the architecture as shown below. This option works as follows:

  • Data is read by our proprietary backend service – called MT4 data connector service.

  • This option has recurring monthly fee you will have to pay for us to maintain and run this backend service.

  • This option means lower maintenance and keep-up work for you as we do the heavy lifting of reading MT4 trading history for each account and update to your website.

  • This option is less effective in tracking drawdowns such as balance drawdown and equity drawdown as it moves a lot slower as compared to a dedicated EA running on each account.

    Following image explains this architecture in more details.

    • Illustration: how the MT Data Connector Service option works in fxReports software

     

    What does the status of the account mean and what different statuses an account can have?

     

    Status of a trading account indicates how the account is being treated by the system. For example, if the status says ACTIVE, it means the account is actively being monitored and the trading history is being read and displayed on the dashboard. ACTIVE accounts get updated at a regular interval (depending on what method of data update is being used). However, any other status means that the account updates have stopped. Following various status are possible for an account:

  • ACTIVE - account is active and trading history is being updated in the dashboard.

  • EXPIRED - account age is more than the number of days allowed by the program. For example - if the admin has setup the program / challenge with max number of days allowed to reach the target to 60, then the account is marked EXPIRED as soon as 60 days are over from the account creation date.

  • VIOLATION - OBDD - account has violated the Overall Balance Drawdown (OBDD) limit set by the admin. This means that the current balance has gone below the allowed percentage as compared to the initial balance.

  • VIOLATION - OEDD - account has violated the Overall Equity Drawdown (OEDD) limit set by the admin. This means that the current equity has gone below the allowed percentage as compared to the initial balance.

  • VIOLATION - DBDD - account has violated the Daily Balance Drawdown (DBDD) limit set by the admin. This means that the current balance has gone below the allowed percentage as compared to the starting balance of the day.

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    How to setup your own FTMO-like forex trading challenge using fxReports software?

     

    Please watch the following YouTube video to learn about this.

     

     

    Steps by step instructions on how to setup the EA on MT4 to send data to website?

     

    Following image explains the steps involved in this process.

    Illustration: steps by step process of using the EA to send data

     

    Following video gives illustration of the process to be followed to get the FTP setup and use EA to send data to the website.

    Illustration: how the MT4 EA option works in fxReports software

     

    What is chart suffix and how to find it?

     

    Chart suffix is a small extension that brokers add to their symbol charts. For example, some brokers may have their symbols setup as USDCHFm - notice that little "m" in the end? That is the chart suffix.

    You can find chart suffix by going to the market watch window or just by opening a chart for any symbol that you are allowed to trade. Note that in some cases, broker may have multiple suffixes - or charts with no suffix and suffix in the same market watch window.

     

     

    Frequently Asked Questions about our API Service

     

    What is the last ticket used for?

     

    When the API tries to read the MT4 data history, you are given the option to pick a ticket number from the account where you want to start. This feature is useful especially if you don't want to download the entire history every time. This not only saves on the processing time but also helps in many other scenarios such as - bandwidth optimization, lower calculation logic requirements, more optimized design and processing and so on. If you don't send this information, you will get the entire data history (whatever is available in the MT4 history tab) every time you call the API. We strongly urget that you use this parameter but it needs to be used carefully as the all the tickets before this number will be ignored by the API when sending the data back.

     

     

    What is the format of the output CSV file that we get back from the successful API call?

     

    When API call is successful, you get the CSV data back in the following format.

    There are two main types of records the CSV file has:

    1 - Trade record - this is indicated by the first character as "T". In case of MT5, these will be indicated by D for deal, P for position.

    2 - Header record - this is indicated by the first character as "H".

    For each column and its purpose, refer to the following images.

    Image 1 - Illustration of Header record in CSV file:

    Image 2 - Illustration of Trade record in CSV file:

     

     

    Can you share more information about the API and how to test it ?

     

    Following video will provide more information about this topic: