How to Connect Brokers and Platforms

Category: App Pages | Last updated: 2026-10-02 | Reading time: 8 min read

What Is the Connections Page?

The Connections page is where you link your broker accounts to Signal Trade App. Every account you add can be used as a leader, a follower, or both. The page also shows live connection status and lets you reconnect or delete accounts.

Supported Platforms

Step 1: Add a Tradovate Account

1. Go to Connections and click Add Connection.
2. Select Tradovate as the broker.
3. Enter a display name, then choose the Environment. This step matters most:
4. Prop firm for evaluation and funded prop-firm accounts (Tradeify, Apex, FundedNext and similar). Prop firms keep these accounts on Tradovate's sim environment, so picking Live connects fine but finds no accounts.
5. Live for your own brokerage account, or Demo / Sim for a Tradovate demo account.
6. Click Connect with Tradovate and log in on Tradovate's own page. Signal Trade App never sees or stores your Tradovate password.
7. Back on Connections, check that the status is CONNECTED and that your accounts are listed.

Step 2: Add a Rithmic / NinjaTrader Account

1. Select Rithmic from the broker list.
2. Enter your Rithmic username, password, and system (e.g., Rithmic Paper Trading or your prop firm).
3. If you use NinjaTrader, make sure it is connected to Rithmic and accepting orders.
4. Click Add Connection and wait for the status to show CONNECTED. Rithmic connections may take 10-30 seconds to authenticate.

Step 3: Connect TradingView Alerts

TradingView is not added on the Connections page. It sends alerts to a webhook URL that places orders on one of your connected accounts.

1. Open the Signals page and click + New Token. Choose the account it should trade, normally the leader of your copy group.
2. Copy the webhook URL. The token in the URL is the only credential, so keep it private.
3. In TradingView, create an alert, tick Webhook URL under Notifications, and paste the URL.
4. In the Message box, paste one JSON message and nothing else, for example: {"action": "buy", "symbol": "MNQ1!", "qty": 1, "takeProfit": 28050, "stopLoss": 27950}. Prices are absolute price levels.
5. Fire the alert once on a demo account and check that the signal log shows EXECUTED.

For strategy placeholders, exits and brackets in detail, see the TradingView to Tradovate setup guide and the TradingView webhook reference.

Connection Status Meanings

Each account under a connection also has a status. LOCKED means you locked it on the Risk Mgmt page, manually or with Lock during sessions: it receives no copies until the lock ends or you click Unlock now. INACTIVE means the broker no longer reports that account on this login.

Troubleshooting

• Credentials rejected: Log into the broker directly to confirm the password is correct.
• Connected but no accounts: For Tradovate prop-firm accounts, delete the connection and add it again with the Prop firm environment.
• Duplicate login: Logging into the same account elsewhere may disconnect Signal Trade App.
• Rithmic timeout: Rithmic servers can be slow during market open. Retry after 60 seconds.

Read next: Cockpit guide.

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