Getting Started

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• An account on a supported exchange (currently BitMEX, Bybit, Binance, Kraken, OKX, KuCoin, Deribit, Gemini, Phemex, and WooX). See the Exchanges guide for setup instructions.
• An API key on that exchange with trading permissions enabled — never enable withdrawal permissions.
• A plutarc account with prepaid balance. You can sign up on the pricing page.

Sign up using your email or a social login provider. After creating your account, top up your prepaid balance. There are no plan tiers or limits on bots, API keys, or templates — see Account & Billing for plan details.

Navigate to the API Keys page in your dashboard and click Add Key. Fill in:

• Label — a friendly name so you can identify this key later.
• Exchange — the exchange this key belongs to.
• API Key & Secret — copy these from your exchange account.
• Contract Type — Linear (USDT-margined) or Inverse (BTC-margined).

After adding, you'll be taken to the key's configuration page. Add at least one trading instrument — this tells the bot which symbols it's allowed to trade. You can search instruments by name, set per-asset leverage (within exchange-enforced limits), and enable or disable them individually.

If you want to test without risking real capital, enable Testnet Modewhen adding your key. This connects to the exchange's testnet for paper trading with fake funds. All strategies, analytics, and bot features work identically. See API Keys for details.

Your API secret is encrypted at rest and only decrypted in-memory at runtime. For full details, see API Keys.

Strategy templates define how your bot trades — which indicators to watch, how to combine their signals, and when to enter or exit positions.

If you're just getting started, pick a system template. These are built-in, tested configurations that you can use out of the box. You can always duplicate a system template later to customise it.

If you want to build your own, head to the Strategy Builder to learn about components, roles, combination modes, and sessions. The Strategy Cookbook also has ready-made configurations you can use as starting points.

Before deploying live, always run your strategy through the Backtester. Backtesting simulates your strategy against real historical market data so you can evaluate performance, drawdowns, and win rates without risking capital.

Configure the symbol, exchange, date range, initial equity, leverage, and fee rate — then run the simulation. Review the results to see equity curves, trade-by-trade breakdowns, and key metrics before going live.

After backtesting, consider running your strategy in testnet mode before going live. Testnet bots trade on the exchange's sandbox with fake funds, letting you validate real-time execution and bot behaviour without financial risk.

Go to the Bots page and click Deploy Bot:

1. Give your bot a label so you can identify it.
2. Assign an API key — your bot needs an active key to place orders. Each key can only be assigned to one bot at a time.
3. Assign a strategy template — choose the template your bot will execute.
4. Configure risk limits — configure risk limits on the bot's detail page under the Risk Limits tab, including maximum leverage, daily loss limit, and slippage tolerance. See the Risk Management guide for recommended starting values and best practices.

Once deployed, your bot begins its lifecycle and starts trading according to its strategy. For full details on bot management, see Bots.

With your bot running, use these pages to track results:

• Dashboard — fleet-wide KPIs, bot status cards, open positions, and live activity feeds.
• Trades — complete trade history with entry/exit details, execution metrics, and CSV export.
• Analytics — equity curves, drawdown charts, win rates, signal analysis, and activity heatmaps.

• Strategy Cookbook — explore example strategy configurations for trend following, mean reversion, breakouts, and more.
• Strategy Builder — learn how to build custom strategies from composable components.
• Exchanges — detailed exchange setup guides, permissions, and market type explanations.
• Troubleshooting — solutions to common issues if something isn't working as expected.
• Organizations — invite team members, assign roles, and collaborate on your trading operation.