Start here
Helm coaches one disciplined loop: trade on your broker, then log every trade here so the risk engine and the AI coach can keep you honest. This guide covers the tools you need, a simple strategy to practice, how to place the orders, and the discipline that keeps an Apex evaluation alive. It never tells you what to trade — you always decide.
What you need
Three accounts, each with a distinct job. Helm sits beside them as the coach — it never connects to your broker and never places a trade.
Where you read price and mark your opening range. The free plan covers basic charting to start; intraday Bar Replay — for rehearsing setups on past days — may need a paid plan or data add-on.
The futures platform where trades are actually placed and filled. This is the only place execution happens. Helm reads nothing from here automatically — you log your results yourself.
A prop-firm evaluation on a simulated balance (e.g. the 50K EOD-trail account) with a set of rules — profit target, daily loss limit, trailing drawdown. Meet them and you may qualify for a funded Performance Account and reward eligibility under Apex's terms.
Helm is read-only. You trade on Tradovate, then record each closed trade here. Helm tracks your Apex rules against the trades and risk you enter, flags when you're getting close to a limit, and journals the session. It can never place, size, or cancel an order.
How Helm fits
Start a session, trade on your broker, then log every closed trade here. Use the Practice calc in the trade log to drill the setup risk-free with TradingView's Bar Replay — type your entry, stop, target, and contracts and it computes the risk, R, and P&L for you. End the session and read the AI review.
This guide is educational and is not financial, investment, or trading advice. Trading futures involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. Past performance and practice results do not predict future results. Helm is a read-only coaching and journaling tool — it never executes trades and never tells you what to buy or sell. Every decision is yours.