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The Trader

The Trader

Once a strategy survives the Lab, The Trader is where you connect an account and watch it. It's a clean, honest dashboard built around your real account rules — and a direct-API key is verified and stored encrypted server-side, never shown back to you or kept in your browser.

How your credentials are handled

When you connect a direct broker API, the key you enter is sent over HTTPS — with your sign-in and App Check — to a TradeBricks Cloud Function that verifies it and then stores it encrypted in Google Secret Manager, a server-side vault used only by your own live-trading worker. We never display the key back to you, and it is not kept in your browser (only a non-secret marker, such as your username, stays local). Connect through SnapTrade instead and the aggregator holds the brokerage link, so we never receive a raw broker key at all. Disconnecting deletes the stored credential.

Connecting a provider

The Trader needs a connected account to show real numbers. The full connect flow — the providers, what each unlocks, and how your keys are stored — is its own page: Connecting providers. In short: on Connect, choose a provider and paste its credential, then press Connect. A direct-API key is verified and stored encrypted server-side, and the dashboard appears.

  1. Pick a provider on Connect — a prop firm like Topstep or a broker like Schwab.
  2. Enter its credential — an API key for Topstep, or an App key + App secret for Schwab. The fields are masked and never autofilled.
  3. Press Connect. The key is verified with the provider and stored encrypted in Google Secret Manager; only a non-secret marker stays in your browser.
Why store it server-side?

Broker and prop-firm keys can place orders and move money, and your live-trading worker must be able to use one even when your browser is closed — so the key can’t live only on your device. Rather than keep it in plaintext or in the browser, we verify it and store it encrypted in Google Secret Manager, behind least-privilege permissions so only your own worker can read it.

What the dashboard shows

The dashboard is deliberately calm and built from real account numbers, not invented P&L. Until a live feed is attached, every gauge sits at a clean baseline rather than showing fake activity.

Profit-target ring

A circular gauge showing progress toward your account’s profit target. The center reads the percentage and the dollar target; the arc fills as equity climbs. The target itself is read live from the provider — it’s your account’s actual pass threshold, not a number you picked.

Equity & pass/fail markers

Your current equity in large, plain numerals, flanked by two markers: the pass-at level (start balance + profit target) and the fail-below level (start balance − drawdown). At a glance you know exactly where you stand between the two lines that decide your account.

Drawdown-room gauge

A horizontal bar showing how much of your drawdown allowance you’ve used. It reads green with room available and fills toward red as you approach the floor — labeled with your account’s drawdown type (e.g. trailing).

Trading-day counter & rules

A day counter (with the minimum required, if your program has one), plus an on-demand details panel listing the full account rules: account size, profit target, drawdown limit and type, max daily loss, fee, and minimum trading days. Every one of those values is synced from the provider, not entered by hand. It’s hidden by default — depth on click.

Live sync arrives with SnapTrade

Real-time account data flows in once you link a brokerage through SnapTrade — no desktop app to install and no raw broker keys to hand us. Until that link is live the dashboard shows your real rules at a quiet baseline rather than guessing at activity.

Disconnecting

Press Disconnect any time. It deletes the stored credential from Google Secret Manager, clears the local connection marker, and returns you to the connect screen. All stored credentials are also deleted when you delete your account.

Prop-firm accounts

The Trader understands prop-firm evaluation rules — profit targets, trailing drawdowns, daily loss limits, and minimum trading days — so the dashboard reflects the exact constraints you’re actually being judged against, not a generic brokerage view. That makes it easy to see, at a glance, how much room you have before a rule is breached. Connect Topstep if you trade a funded evaluation.

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