Questions, answered.

TradeCraft models and tracks index option trades. It shows live option chains from your own broker account, prices the positions you build, draws the risk graph, keeps a journal of what you traded, and can step back through historical data you import. It is a decision and recordkeeping tool; it is not a trading platform.

No. It reads quotes and chains from your broker and never places, changes or cancels an order. You trade on your broker’s platform as you do today.

Schwab, Interactive Brokers (an IBKR Pro account; Lite has no API) and tastytrade. Live data comes through your own account at the broker, so you need an account you can enable API access on. See Connecting your broker for what to switch on.

Index options: SPX, NDX, RUT and VIX, plus /ES futures options. Coverage grows over time; the requirements page is kept current.

Windows 11. That is the only build we offer today.

For today’s chains and quotes, yes. Backtesting works from the historical files you import and does not need the broker connected.

We may offer limited trial subscriptions at our discretion from time to time. If one is available, it will be on the pricing page.

One. Your license is tied to the computer you activate it on; Settings shows that computer’s name, and so does your account page.

Free the old computer: on your account page, under Activations, choose Deactivate. Then install TradeCraft on the new one and enter your license key when it asks. Your data does not move with the license: copy your database with TradeCraft’s Backup DB first if you want it on the new computer.

Your account still lists the computer from before. On your account page, under Activations, choose Deactivate for it, then enter your license key in TradeCraft and choose Activate.

Close TradeCraft. Press Win+R, type %APPDATA%\TradeCraft and press Enter to open TradeCraft’s folder. Copy your backup file there and name it tradecraft.db, replacing the one that’s there. Start TradeCraft. On a new computer or a fresh Windows install, it asks for your license key again.

It is in your purchase email and on your account page. Settings in TradeCraft also shows it, with a Copy button.

Yes. Live quotes come from your broker over the internet, and TradeCraft confirms your license online. If it cannot confirm that your license is valid, it stops until it can.

On your account page, open Subscriptions, click your subscription and choose Cancel Auto-Renew. Canceling stops the next renewal. TradeCraft keeps running through the term you have paid for, then stops when that term ends. Nothing is deleted: your database stays on your computer, and renewing from your account page starts it again.

On your account page, open Subscriptions, change the Active filter to Canceled, click your subscription and choose Renew. Your license key stays the same. Then choose Activate in TradeCraft; it continues without a reinstall.

All sales are final. Because TradeCraft is delivered immediately on purchase, we do not offer refunds for any license term, including the unused part of a term after cancellation, except where a refund is required by law. Read the requirements before you buy.

From the download page. It asks for your license key; the download is for subscribers, and an expired or canceled key cannot fetch a new build.

TradeCraft’s installer is not yet signed with a Windows publisher certificate, so SmartScreen shows a warning the first time you run it. Choose More info, then Run anyway. Only download from this website.

Yes. Run the new installer over the old version; your database, settings and broker connection stay where they are. Back up your database before every update anyway: in the version you have now, choose Backup DB on the Data Mgmt tab, then install.

On your computer, in TradeCraft’s own database. Nothing you enter is sent to us, and your broker data never passes through our servers. Backup DB on the Data Mgmt tab saves a copy wherever you choose.

You need an individual brokerage account. At developer.schwab.com, register as an individual developer and create an app with the Market Data API. Schwab reviews new apps before they go live, which can take a few days. Once your app is approved you will have a client ID, a client secret and a callback URL; enter the three on TradeCraft’s Settings tab and click Connect. Schwab’s own sign-in page opens in your browser; TradeCraft never sees your Schwab password.

• An IBKR Pro account with trading permissions for U.S. options, futures and futures options. Lite accounts have no API.
• Market-data subscriptions for what you trade: OPRA for index options, the US Securities Snapshot and Futures Value Bundle for /ES and its options, and CBOE Streaming Market Indexes for the index prices themselves. Sign IBKR’s market-data API acknowledgment. Until the subscriptions are active, quotes are delayed by 15 minutes; IBKR turns real-time on the same day you subscribe.

Any tastytrade account. Sign in at my.tastytrade.com, open Manage → API Access, create an OAuth application with read access, then generate a grant for TradeCraft. The application’s client secret and the grant’s token go on TradeCraft’s Settings tab. One difference from Schwab: tastytrade lists /ES options only on the next six quarterly futures, so far-dated expirations Schwab shows are not available on this feed.

Check, in this order: the broker feed is selected and connected on the Settings tab; your market-data subscription at the broker covers that symbol; the market is open (index options quote during regular hours). If it still shows nothing, contact support with the symbol and the time.

No. Live data from your broker is all TradeCraft needs. Historical option chains are only for backtesting and replaying past dates, and you can add them any time.

Brokers do not supply it. Data vendors sell historical option chains, usually as CSV downloads by symbol and date range; search for “historical SPX option chain data” and compare. Get a sample file first and try it in TradeCraft before buying a history.

Each option row needs the date and time, the option root (SPX, SPXW, NDX, /ES and so on), expiration, strike, Call or Put, and both bid and ask. It also needs the underlying price (the index or future) at each timestamp. A file with only a last-trade price or only a mid cannot price a chain. TradeCraft reads .csv and .txt files, and .zip archives of them; you define the import format once by matching the vendor’s columns.

Use the support form. On TradeCraft’s Settings tab, Copy Support Info puts your version, computer and license status on the clipboard; paste that in with what you saw and what you expected.

Inside TradeCraft. The ? on every tab opens the guide for that screen. This page covers what happens before the app is open or outside it; the app’s own help covers the screens.