OttoTrader is Windows-first desktop strategy software for self-directed crypto traders. It helps you build, validate, backtest, manage, monitor, and operate trading strategies while keeping execution control in the desktop app.

The desktop app is the main trading product. The website handles sign-up, account security, pricing, downloads, marketplace browsing, seller tools, Market Pulse, and Remote Trading Center access.

OttoTrader's supported desktop app is built for Windows. Use the website for your account, pricing, downloads, marketplace, Market Pulse, and Remote Trading Center access; use the Windows desktop app for strategy building, backtesting, exchange connections, and live or demo execution.

Confirm your email, set up authenticator-app MFA, download the Windows desktop app, then sign in from Settings > Account inside the desktop app.

Yes. The first-run tour walks through sign-in, Demo-first exchange setup, the active context, Live Trading, Dashboard, Strategy Warehouse, Backtesting, and optional Remote Trading Center setup without placing real exchange orders.

Yes. You can skip the tour, reset it from Settings > Account, or use the Quick Start Checklist while it is available.

Use the Tutorials section on this page for step-by-step guidance. It covers setup, exchange connections, Live Trading, Strategy Warehouse, Backtesting, Settings, Marketplace, and Remote Trading Center.

Yes. One OttoTrader account connects the website and desktop app. Your plan, trial state, seller status, marketplace purchases, cloud-backup eligibility, and Remote Trading Center access all come from that account.

Use the Download page on the website. Sign in first so the website can show the current Windows installer tied to the same update manifest the desktop app uses.

No. The desktop app can remember your email if you choose, but it does not keep your account password or authenticator code between launches. Reopening the desktop app requires a fresh sign-in.

Use the website for display name, password, MFA, billing, seller setup, privacy requests, and other account details. Use the desktop Settings area for desktop sign-in, exchange contexts, AI keys, cloud backup, RTC, notifications, and logging.

New Starter accounts begin with a 30-day full desktop trial, including Pro-level desktop features, Remote Trading Center, and encrypted cloud backup. After the trial, Starter keeps core access with fewer advanced tools. Pro keeps the full desktop app active. Creator adds marketplace seller tools.

After the trial ends, paid features such as Remote Trading Center and encrypted cloud backup turn off unless you upgrade. Your account, local desktop data, imported strategies, and owned marketplace strategies remain tied to you.

Yes. Selling is optional. Most users can stay focused on desktop strategy work, backtesting, live monitoring, marketplace buying, or Demo practice without becoming sellers.

No. OttoTrader is self-directed trading software. You choose the exchange account, strategy, pair, timeframe, risk settings, and live deployment decisions. You remain responsible for results.

No. OttoTrader is not copy-trading, managed accounts, pooled execution, or hands-off capital allocation. You stay in control of the strategy, the risk settings, and the decision to run it live.

Yes, but only through the desktop app after you connect a Live Real exchange context and choose to run live execution. Demo mode is local simulation and is the safer place to learn or test workflows.

Confirm the active context, exchange, market type, mode, pair, timeframe, strategy, balance, leverage, and protection settings. If anything looks wrong, stop and use Demo or Backtesting before touching Live Real.

The website includes Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Marketplace Terms, Seller Terms, Seller Claims Policy, and Risk Disclosure.

Open Settings > Exchange Connection. Choose a supported exchange tab, choose the market type available for that exchange, then use the Demo or Live Real card for the exact context you want. The desktop exchange matrix currently includes Binance, BingX, Bybit, Bitget, KuCoin, MEXC, Kraken, and Coinbase Advanced Trade. Availability may vary by market type, region, account permissions, exchange behavior, and OttoTrader release. Always treat the current desktop connection card, exchange-specific warnings, and validation state as authoritative.

Demo mode is local simulation. It lets you practice the workflow, test strategy behavior, and learn the interface without connecting a real exchange API key or sending live exchange orders.

Live Real means the desktop app connects to a real exchange account for that exact exchange, market type, and mode. Real balances and orders can be involved, so use it only when you are ready.

Use the narrowest permissions you need: read and trade permissions only. Do not connect withdrawal-enabled API keys to OttoTrader.

Running strategies keep their pinned runtime context, so changing the header does not silently retarget an already-running strategy session.

The desktop top bar includes a global pair search. Selecting a pair keeps Trade Setup, Chart, Manual Backtesting, and Automation aligned so you do not have to change the same symbol in several places.

Dashboard is the read-only overview for trading state. It summarizes PnL, open risk, usable balance, mark-to-market equity, fees, wallet movement, selected-day activity, and historical performance for the selected scope.

Live Trading is the operating area for Trade Setup, Chart, Active Strategies, and Open/Closed Positions. Use it for execution decisions and live account evidence after you have confirmed the active context.

Strategy Warehouse is where you build, save, import, export, manage, sync, and install strategies. The Library includes your custom strategies and built-in sample strategies, and sample strategies can be hidden from local choices if you do not want them listed.

Backtesting lets you test a strategy against historical data before running it live. Manual Backtesting is for one focused run. Automation is for broader pair, timeframe, and parameter searches when your plan includes it.

Settings is where you sign in, manage exchange connections, configure AI providers, enable Remote Trading Center, manage encrypted cloud backup, configure email notifications, and use logging tools.

Decision Reason explains why the current strategy did or did not produce an entry. It should read like human trade reasoning, not a raw engine trace.

Only if you want OttoTrader to call OpenAI or Anthropic directly from the desktop app. These are provider API keys from the OpenAI or Anthropic developer consoles, not consumer ChatGPT or Claude website logins. If you prefer not to connect API keys, Strategy Warehouse can export OttoTrader AI instructions plus a browser-AI priming prompt for use in ChatGPT, Claude, or another browser AI session.

Open Settings > AI Assistant in the desktop app, choose OpenAI or Anthropic, paste the provider API key from that provider's developer console, and run Test Connection. Do not paste consumer ChatGPT or Claude login credentials.

1. Create or sign in to your OpenAI developer account.
2. Open the OpenAI Developer Platform and go to the API Keys page.
3. Create a new secret key. If OpenAI shows a permission selector, choose the permission level you want for that key.
4. Copy the key immediately and keep it somewhere safe. OpenAI secret keys are meant to stay private.
5. Open the OttoTrader desktop app and go to Settings > AI Assistant.
6. Choose OpenAI as the provider, paste the key into the API key field, and test the connection.
7. If the connection succeeds, OttoTrader can store the key through Windows Credential Manager so you do not have to paste it every time.
8. If OpenAI asks for billing or project setup before API usage works, complete that in your OpenAI account and then test the key again in OttoTrader.

1. Create or sign in to your Anthropic Console account.
2. In the Anthropic Console, open Account Settings and generate an API key for the workspace you want to use.
3. Copy the key and store it safely. Anthropic API keys are private credentials and should not be shared.
4. Open the OttoTrader desktop app and go to Settings > AI Assistant.
5. Choose Anthropic as the provider, paste the API key into the key field, and test the connection.
6. If the test succeeds, OttoTrader can store the key through Windows Credential Manager for easier future use.
7. If Anthropic requires billing, workspace setup, or usage approval before the API responds normally, complete that setup in the Anthropic Console and then test the key again in OttoTrader.

On Windows, OttoTrader can store supported AI and exchange credentials in Windows Credential Manager. Your OttoTrader account password and MFA code are still not stored between desktop launches.

No. The AI Assistant is tied to OttoTrader workflows. It can help draft or revise custom strategies, explain current strategy logic, export OttoTrader-specific AI instructions plus a browser-AI priming prompt for external tools, and feed validated JSON back into the Strategy Warehouse Code tab, but you still review changes before applying them.

Yes. Strategy JSON files can be exported and shared freely between OttoTrader users. Plan limits still apply to features such as automation, encrypted cloud backup, RTC, and seller publishing.

Owned marketplace strategies appear in Strategy Warehouse > Bought Strategies after you sign in and refresh your owned catalog. You can install the latest local copy, review metadata, and remove the local copy without deleting ownership from your account.

Buyers see seller-provided listing details, supported exchanges and markets, validation notes, version history, buyer-safe Public Report context, and verified owner reviews. OttoTrader does not expose protected strategy configuration, internal builder logic, private configs, importable JSON, exact reconstruction data, Full Reports, machine details, or AI prompts.

Creator sellers apply and complete payout onboarding on the website, build and save the strategy in the desktop Strategy Warehouse, use Sync To Seller Studio, then finish listing details, Public and Full Report uploads, version management, and review flow in Seller Studio. Creator tier access does not automatically approve seller status.

No. Public Report export is buyer-facing, redacted, and non-importable. It intentionally omits protected strategy configuration, builder logic, private configs, exact reconstruction data, source logic, AI prompts, and import payloads. Full Report is private for OttoTrader review and retesting.

Billing, checkout, ownership, seller approval, listing review, and payout setup are safer and clearer on the website. The desktop app stays focused on strategy work, testing, and execution.

Yes. Backtesting is not a guarantee, but it helps you understand behavior, costs, risk, and weak assumptions before you run a strategy live.

Manual Backtesting is a focused test for one strategy, pair, timeframe, date range, and risk setup. Use it when you want to understand one idea deeply.

Automation runs wider searches across selected pairs, timeframes, and strategy settings. It follows plan access and can use validation modes such as train/test, rolling validation, or bounded walk-forward windows.

Full Report is private for review, retesting, and strategy restoration, and may include importable strategy context. Public Report is marketplace-facing, buyer-safe, non-importable, and removes protected strategy configuration, builder logic, private configs, exact reconstruction data, and import payloads.

Use Full Report or a Strategy Warehouse JSON export when you need an importable strategy file. Public marketplace reports intentionally do not carry importable protected strategy internals.

Remote Trading Center, or RTC, is a website companion view for your own desktop app. It can show desktop runtime state and queue guarded commands, but the website is not a browser trading engine.

The desktop app must be open, signed in, awake, connected to the account, and RTC-enabled from Settings > Account. The website also needs a fresh snapshot and successful Test Connection, and live-impacting commands require recent MFA verification.

RTC can refresh stats, show a Live Dashboard, show live/demo positions and active strategies, dry-run actions, request close/stop/resume commands, update TP/SL where supported, and request editable strategy config changes when the desktop allows it. The website queues the request; the desktop validates and executes.

No. Exchange API keys stay on the desktop app. The website queues guarded commands, and the desktop validates device identity, target identity, exchange, market type, mode, state version, RTC-enabled state, and current local runtime state before executing anything.

Test Connection proves the command queue can reach your desktop and refreshes the snapshot. Real close, stop, resume, protection, and config commands require recent MFA verification because they can affect live trading state.

RTC rate-limits repeated command attempts. If you press actions too quickly or retry failures repeatedly, the website may ask you to wait before trying again.

Yes. OttoTrader uses account authentication, email confirmation, authenticator-app MFA, website session controls, Windows Credential Manager for supported desktop credentials, encrypted cloud backup for eligible accounts, and guarded RTC commands.

Eligible accounts can sync an encrypted desktop workspace backup to OttoTrader so a new desktop install can restore the saved workspace before automatic backup resumes.

Market Pulse is website market context. It can help you stay informed, but it is not trade advice and does not replace your own strategy testing or risk review.

Start with this FAQ and the Tutorials section. For account, billing, marketplace, or access questions, use the website contact flow so the issue can be routed with the right account context.