Understanding the Platform Structure
Before you start adding data, it helps to understand how the different parts of Trader Node work together. Each module has a specific job, and they're designed to give you a complete picture of your trading business.
The Five Modules
Think of Trader Node as having two sides: the cost side and the revenue side, plus a few supporting modules.
Cost Side: Challenges
Challenges represent money going out. When you purchase a prop firm evaluation, that's a cost to your business. The Challenges module tracks:
Which challenges you've purchased
How much each one cost
What phase you're in
Whether you passed, failed, or are still working on it
Challenges don't track profit or trading performance—they only track the cost of trying to get funded.
Revenue Side: Funded Accounts
Funded accounts represent money coming in. When you pass a challenge and receive a funded account, that account can generate payouts. The Funded Accounts module tracks:
Your active funded accounts
Payouts you request and receive
Refunds from the prop firm
Account status (active, breached, cancelled)
This is where your trading business actually makes money.
Your Own Capital: Private Accounts
Private accounts are different from both challenges and funded accounts. These are trading accounts you own, funded with your own money. The Private Accounts module tracks:
Your account balances over time
Deposits you make into the account
Withdrawals you take out
Your actual trading profit or loss
This is the only place in the platform where true trading performance is calculated.
General Business: Transactions
The Transactions module handles everything else—income and expenses that don't fit into the other modules. This includes:
Software subscriptions (charting tools, VPS, etc.)
Education and coaching costs
Any income that isn't a payout or refund
General business expenses
The Big Picture: Dashboard
The Dashboard doesn't hold any data itself. Instead, it pulls information from all the other modules and shows you:
Your overall business health
Total money in vs. money out
Monthly profit and loss trends
Quick summaries of each module
You can't edit anything on the Dashboard—it's purely for viewing your business performance.
Key Differences to Remember
The Challenge-to-Funded Journey
One common workflow is the journey from challenge to funded account:
Purchase a challenge → Record it in Challenges, including the cost
Work through phases → Update your phase status as you progress
Pass the challenge → Mark it as completed
Convert to funded → Use the conversion feature to create a Funded Account
Receive payouts → Record payouts as they come in
The platform maintains the link between the original challenge and the funded account, so you can always see the full history.
What About Individual Trades?
Trader Node is designed for business-level tracking, not trade-by-trade analysis. You won't log individual trades, entry prices, or position sizes here. Instead, you're tracking:
How much you're spending on challenges
How much revenue your funded accounts generate
How your private account balances change over time
Your overall business profitability
For detailed trade journaling, you'd use a separate tool. Trader Node answers the question "Is my trading business profitable?" rather than "Was that trade a good idea?"