Tips & Best Practices

The time you invest in setting up the platform correctly pays off in cleaner data, better insights, and easier maintenance. Here's how to start right.

Setting Up Your Account for Success

Accurate data leads to accurate insights. Building a simple maintenance routine keeps your platform useful without becoming a burden.

Keeping Your Records Up to Date

The Dashboard is your trading business command center. Learning to read it effectively helps you make better decisions and spot problems early.

Reading Your Dashboard Like a Pro

Good record-keeping throughout the year makes tax season much easier. Here's how to use the platform to prepare for taxes without stress.

Preparing for Tax Season

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Contact

Help & Feature Requests

Getting Started

Getting Started Summary

Welcome to Trader Node

Understanding the Platform Structure

Your First Steps

Dashboard

Dashboard Summary

Understanding the Dashboard

Reading Your KPI Cards

Business Health Summary

Using the Date Range and Currency Filters

Dashboard Charts

The Yearly P&L Calendar

Module Summary Cards

Settings

Settings Summary

Accounts Settings

General Settings

Currency Settings

Categories & Tags Settings

Templates Settings

Billing Settings

Challenges

Challenges Summary

Challenges are prop firm evaluations—the tests you take to prove you can trade profitably and consistently. The Challenges module helps you track these evaluations from purchase through completion (or failure).

What Are Challenges?

When you purchase a new prop firm evaluation, add it to the Challenges module right away. This ensures accurate cost tracking from day one.

Adding a New Challenge

Every challenge has a status that tells you where it stands in the evaluation process. Keeping status up to date helps you maintain an accurate picture of your challenge pipeline.

Understanding Challenge Status

Managing Challenge Phases

Recording Challenge Costs and Refunds

Converting a Challenge to a Funded Account

Using Filters and Search

Bulk Actions for Challenges

Funded Accounts

What Are Funded Accounts?

Adding a New Funded Account

Understanding Account Status

Recording Payouts

Managing Refunds on Funded Accounts

Using the Account Detail Drawer

Filtering and Organizing Accounts

Private Accounts

Track your personal trading accounts, balances, and true trading performance.

 Private Accounts Summary

What Are Private Accounts?

The Most Important Rule: Deposits ≠ Profit

Adding a New Private Account

Recording Deposits and Withdrawals

Importing Broker Statements

Understanding Your Balance History

Calculating Net Trading P&L

Managing Account Status

Transactions

Track your general business income and expenses in one place.

Transactions Summary

What the Transactions Module Does

Adding Income Transactions

Adding Expense Transactions

Understanding Payment Status

Setting Up Recurring Transactions

Using the Unified Business Activity View

Filtering and Searching Transactions

Reports

Reports Summary

The Reports page lets you generate tax-ready financial reports for your trading business. These reports summarize your income, expenses, and net profit/loss in formats suitable for record-keeping and tax preparation.

Reports Overview

The Annual Tax Summary provides a complete overview of your trading business finances for a fiscal year. It's designed to give you (and your accountant) the key numbers needed for tax preparation.

Annual Tax Summary Report

The Income Report provides a detailed transaction-by-transaction list of all income your trading business received during a selected period.

Income Report

The Expense Report provides a detailed transaction-by-transaction list of all business expenses during a selected period. It's essential for tracking costs and documenting tax-deductible expenses.

Expense Report

The Reports feature helps you organize financial data for tax purposes, but it's important to understand its limitations and follow best practices for accurate record-keeping.

Tax Disclaimer and Best Practices

Key Concepts

The platform uses cash-basis accounting to track your trading business finances. Understanding this concept helps you interpret your numbers correctly.

Cash-Basis Accounting Explained

Behind every number you see on the Dashboard and in reports is the Ledger—the platform's master record of all financial activity. Understanding the Ledger helps you understand where your numbers come from.

The Ledger: Where All Numbers Come From

If you trade in multiple currencies—USD, EUR, GBP, and others—it's important to understand how the platform handles them.

Understanding Currency Handling

Money can come into your trading business from different sources. Understanding the distinctions helps you interpret your finances accurately.

Payouts vs. Refunds vs. Income

Money flows out of your trading business in two main categories: challenge costs and general expenses. Understanding the distinction helps with analysis and reporting.

Challenge Costs vs. Expenses

Tags provide flexible organization across all modules. They help you categorize, filter, and analyze your data in ways that make sense for your business.