Dashboard Overview

The trading dashboard is the heart of TestMax. It is where you replay historical market data, place trades, manage positions, and analyze price action. This page walks you through every area of the interface so you know exactly where everything is and what it does.

Dashboard layout

The dashboard is organized into six primary areas:

1. Sidebar (left) — Navigation, instrument selection, and account info
2. Account bar (top) — Balance, equity, and P&L, plus Help, fullscreen, and panel settings
3. Chart area (center) — Price chart with drawing tools and indicators
4. Order entry panel (right) — Side, order type, quantity, price inputs, and the submit button
5. Positions panel (bottom-right) — Open positions with live P&L
6. Playback controls (bottom) — Play, pause, step, speed, and timeframe controls

You choose the instrument, dates, and starting timeframe before the replay begins, in Session Setup.

Each area is designed to keep critical information visible at all times while you trade, without requiring you to navigate away from the dashboard.

Sidebar

The sidebar on the left provides navigation to all sections of TestMax and displays key account information.

Navigation items

• Dashboard — The main trading interface (you are here)
• Analytics — Performance analytics, equity curves, and trade history
• Journal — Your trade journal (opens the journal tab in Analytics)
• Algo Playground — Python strategy editor and backtesting (Pro)
• Referrals — Invite friends and earn bonus days
• Settings — Account preferences, subscription management, and display options

Challenge Mode evaluations (Pro) are started from the Dashboard when you set up a session. Affiliates see an extra Affiliate item with their commission dashboard.

Bot status indicator

When running an automated strategy from the Algo Playground, the sidebar displays a bot status indicator showing:

• Current execution status (running, paused, completed)
• A progress bar indicating how far through the backtest data the strategy has processed
• A stop button to terminate execution early

Account summary

At the bottom of the sidebar, you will see a summary of your current account:

• Plan — Free or Pro, with a link to upgrade if applicable
• Username — Your display name

Session Setup

Session Setup opens when you click Start Replay on the dashboard. It contains the primary controls for configuring your trading session: the instrument, the date range, and the starting timeframe.

Instrument selector

NQ and ES futures are available on Free with the latest two months of data. MNQ, MES, and GC futures currently require Pro. Check the instrument picker or catalog for current availability. Oil replay uses LIGHTCMDUSD (WTI CFD); CL futures are not currently available.

Click the instrument selector to choose which market you want to trade. Available instruments include:

Symbol	Name	Exchange	Tick Size	Tick Value
NQ	Nasdaq 100 E-mini	CME	0.25	$5.00
ES	S&P 500 E-mini	CME	0.25	$12.50
GC	Gold Futures	COMEX	0.10	$10.00
EURUSD	Euro/US Dollar	Forex	0.00001	$1.00

Note

The table lists the core contracts; the picker also carries spot metals, further FX pairs and index and energy CFDs, and it is the authority on what exists today. Access is set per instrument per plan — every instrument is open to every plan unless it is restricted, and a restricted one appears with a badge naming the plan it needs.

Date picker

Use the Start Date and End Date pickers to select which historical trading sessions to replay. The calendar shows available dates with data. Pick the same date for both to replay a single day.

Tip

Free users can replay a rolling window of roughly the most recent 2 months per instrument; dates older than that are marked PRO. Pro users have access to the full historical archive.

Chart area

The chart area is the largest section of the dashboard, occupying the center of the screen. It displays a candlestick chart of the selected instrument and timeframe.

Chart features

• Candlestick rendering — Standard OHLC candlestick bars with customizable colors
• Price axis (right side) — Shows the current price scale with the last traded price highlighted
• Time axis (bottom) — Shows timestamps for the visible bars
• Crosshair — Moves with your cursor, displaying the exact price and time at any point on the chart
• Volume — Volume bars displayed below the candlestick chart
• Trade markers — Entry and exit points are marked directly on the chart when you place trades

Drawing tools

The chart includes a drawing tools toolbar with access to 89 drawing tools (87 on Free). See Charts & Drawing Tools for the full list.

Multi-chart layouts (Pro)

Pro users can display up to 4 charts simultaneously in configurable layouts (side-by-side, stacked, or grid). Each chart can have an independent instrument and timeframe, allowing you to monitor multiple markets or view the same instrument across timeframes.

Order entry panel

The order entry panel on the right side of the dashboard is where you configure and submit orders. It contains:

Quantity

Set the number of contracts you want to trade. This quantity is also used by the keyboard shortcuts (B and S). The default is 1 contract.

Order type selector

Choose from four order types:

• Market — Executes immediately at the last replayed price
• Limit — Executes at your specified price or better
• Stop — Triggers a market order when price reaches your stop level
• Stop Limit — Places a limit order at your limit price when price reaches your trigger

Price inputs

For limit and stop orders, enter your desired price. For stop-limit orders, enter the trigger and the limit price. On any order type you can also attach a bracket:

• Stop loss — The price at which the position is closed at a loss
• Take profit — The price at which the position is closed at a profit

Side and submit button

Choose BUY Long or SELL Short at the top of the panel, then submit with the PLACE button at the bottom. The button is styled green for buys and red for sells for quick visual identification.

Caution

Market orders and the B/S keyboard shortcuts execute instantly. There is no confirmation dialog. Always double-check your quantity and the current price before submitting.

For a complete guide to order types and execution behavior, see Order Entry.

Positions panel

Below the order entry panel, the positions panel shows all currently open positions. Each position row displays:

• Instrument — The symbol you are trading
• Side — Long or Short
• Quantity — Number of contracts
• Entry price — Your average entry price
• Current price — The latest market price
• Unrealized P&L — How much you would gain or lose if you closed the position right now (updates in real time as price moves)
• Close button — A one-click button to close that specific position at market

When you have no open positions, this panel shows a clean empty state.

For more details on position tracking, see Positions & P&L.

Playback controls

The playback controls sit at the bottom of the chart area and manage the replay of historical data.

Controls

• Play / Pause button — Starts or pauses the replay. Also toggled with the Space key.
• Step forward button — Advances exactly one bar. Also triggered with the → key. Only active when paused.
• Speed slider — Adjusts replay speed from 1x (two bars per second on any timeframe) to 50x (fast-forward). Every plan gets the full range. Pro accounts can also switch on Real time, where 1x plays each bar for its market duration, and Live candle, where the current candle builds from the real data inside it.
• Current timestamp — Displays the exact date and time of the current bar being shown on the chart.

Timeframe picker

The timeframe picker sets the candle duration on your chart. You pick a starting timeframe in Session Setup, and the Timeframe control in the playback bar changes it during the replay. Every plan gets the minute-and-up presets, and the second-based presets are part of Pro:

1s · 5s · 10s · 15s · 30s (Pro) · 1m · 5m · 15m · 30m · 1h · 4h · 1d

On Pro you can also type any timeframe you want — 7m, 90m, 2h, 3d — and pick weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly bars. Which values are available varies by instrument, and the picker tells you the rule for the instrument you are on and suggests the nearest value that works.

You can also change the timeframe from the keyboard. Type it on the dashboard, for example 15 or 1h, and press Enter. See Keyboard Shortcuts.

The timeframe you select affects both how the chart renders and the granularity of the step-forward shortcut (→). Choose based on your trading style — scalpers typically use 1m or 5m, day traders prefer 5m or 15m, and swing-style traders may use 1h or higher.

Replay behavior

When the replay is playing, new bars appear on the chart at the selected speed. Price updates are reflected in the order panel, positions panel, and account bar in real time. Orders (limit, stop, stop-limit, and bracket SL/TP) are evaluated against each incoming bar and fill when conditions are met.

When the replay is paused, the market is frozen. You can analyze the chart, draw on it, configure orders, and prepare your next move. Press Space or click Play to resume.

Account bar

Along the top of the trading screen, a horizontal account bar displays your current session financials:

• Balance — Your starting account balance plus or minus all realized P&L
• Equity — Balance plus unrealized P&L from open positions
• Realized P&L — Total profit or loss from closed trades in this session
• Unrealized P&L — Current floating profit or loss from open positions

These values update in real time as prices move and trades are executed.

Guided tours and onboarding

TestMax has four short guided tours that run on top of a replay session:

1. Chart basics — the replay chart, playback, the order ticket, saving and resuming, and where Help lives
2. Replay controls — play, pause, step, speed, timeframe, and jump
3. Drawing tools — choosing a tool, marking up the chart, and managing your drawings
4. Pro features (Pro) — seconds timeframes and the other Pro tools enabled on your account

The Chart basics tour starts on its own the first time you open a replay chart, and the Pro features tour follows when your account has Pro. Playback pauses while a tour is open, and you can close any tour with Escape. Tour progress follows your account across browsers.

During a session, replay any tour from Help in the account bar, which also links to the Pro features guide, Keyboard Shortcuts, and Support. Outside a session, Help sits at the bottom-right of the dashboard; start or resume a session to take a tour.

Alongside the tours, new accounts see:

• A getting-started checklist — complete your first session, place 5 trades, view your analytics, try a different instrument, and start a Challenge Mode evaluation (Pro)
• A short 4-question survey (trading experience, backtesting experience, the features you expect, and whether you would pay for them) — beginner answers tune your session defaults to ES on a 5-minute chart with a $100k starting balance

Next steps

Market Replay Deep dive into how replay works

Charts & Drawing Tools Full guide to chart features and 89 drawing tools (87 on Free)

Order Entry Learn every order type and how fills work

Positions & P&L Understand position tracking and P&L calculation