FAQ

Questions about running OptionsJourney, and what to check when something doesn't look right.

About the app

Does my computer need to stay on?

For bots, yes, during market hours. The app runs on your computer, so while that computer is off or asleep, bots don't enter and stops the app watches itself can't act. Stops and limit orders resting at your broker keep working. Keep awake during market hours, on by default in Settings → This computer, stops the computer sleeping on weekdays from 9:15 to 4:15 New York time. See When the app or computer is off.

Where are my trades and broker logins kept?

On your computer only. Your trades, bots and settings are in your data folder, and your broker logins are in the computer's own password store (see Where things are). None of it goes to the people who make OptionsJourney: the app talks to your broker directly.

Can I use it from my other computers or my phone?

Yes. Keep the app running on one computer, ideally one that stays on during market hours, such as a desktop or a spare Mac. Bots run there, whichever device you're looking from.

1. On that computer, turn on Settings → This computer → Open from other devices, click Save, then choose Restart OptionsJourney in the OJ menu.
2. At home: on another device on the same Wi-Fi, open http:// followed by that computer's address and :2026, for example http://192.168.1.20:2026. You'll find the address in the computer's Wi-Fi or network settings.
3. Away from home, or on your phone: install Tailscale on that computer and on your phone or laptop, and sign in to the same account on each. Then open http:// followed by the computer's Tailscale address and :2026. Only your own devices can reach it, and you don't have to change anything on your router.

Be careful: the app has no login of its own. Anyone who can reach it can see your accounts and place orders. Only turn this on for networks you trust, such as your home Wi-Fi or your own Tailscale network, never on public Wi-Fi.

Can I put it on the internet, or on a server?

Not as it is. Never make it reachable from the internet with port forwarding, a public server or a plain tunnel: with no login, anyone who found the address could trade your accounts.

For experienced users: you can give it a web address if a login service stands in front of it and only lets you through, for example a Cloudflare Tunnel protected by Cloudflare Access that only accepts your own email (see Cloudflare's guides). That service is then the only thing between a stranger and your accounts, so check that it asks for a login before you rely on it. Tailscale is simpler and safer for most people.

Where did the P/L Calendar and Trading metrics go?

They have their own tab now: Metrics, next to Journal at the top. They still use the Journal's filters and dashboards, and old links and bookmarks take you there. See Metrics.

Can friends share one copy?

No. Everyone who opens a copy sees the same accounts and can trade them. Each person installs their own copy and connects their own broker (see Setting up).

When something's wrong

Each answer starts with the most common reason. Many come down to the app not running at the time: see When the app or computer is off.

The app won't open or isn't working

• There's no green check-mark icon in the system tray (Windows) or the menu bar (Mac): the app isn't running. Open OptionsJourney from the Start menu (Windows), or from Spotlight (⌘ Space) or Launchpad (Mac).
• The icon is there, but the page won't load: choose Restart OptionsJourney in the OJ menu, wait a few seconds, then choose Open OptionsJourney.
• A page says "Something went wrong": see below.
• Finding the logs: choose Open logs in the OJ menu. If there's no menu, the logs folder is inside your data folder: AppData\Local\OptionsJourney on Windows, Library/Application Support/OptionsJourney on a Mac (see Where things are).
• Reinstalling: run the installer again, as in Installing. Your trades, bots and settings are kept, because they're stored separately from the app.
• Still stuck? Send optionsjourney.log from the logs folder to [email protected], with a line on what happened.

Why is a trade missing from the Journal?

The likely reasons:

• It hasn't been read yet. The sync after a fill takes a few seconds, and if your broker's fill notice doesn't arrive, the trade waits for the next timed sync: every minute in market hours by default, every hour at other times (see How trades get into the Journal).
• The sync didn't work. A broker that can't be reached, or a Schwab login that has run out, stops that broker's trades coming in.
• The filters hide it. The trade list opens on your open trades and those closed today. A closed trade from another day shows once you pick All Time, or a date range that includes the day it opened, in the date button. A dashboard, a tag, an account, a period or a search can hide it too.
• It's a stock trade. All trades lists options only; shares are on the Stocks tab.
• It's a Paper bot's trade. Pretend trades are only in the Journal's Paper trades view (see Paper trades).
• It's from before the app's history starts. History starts on the day of the app's first sync. A trade you already held then has no opening here, so its close is listed in the folded box … broker records not placed in a trade at the bottom of the Journal: click it to open it.
• It's at another broker. Only TastyTrade and Schwab come in by themselves. Add other trades with ＋ Add a trade (see Adding a trade by hand).

What to check: press Sync now at the top of the Journal. Then open Transactions: if the trade is listed there, the app has it, and it's the Journal's filters. If it isn't, look at Last sync at the bottom of that page for each account's last good sync and the problem, if any (see Transactions).

Why does a trade still have a generic name like "SPX Double Calendar"?

Each sync links a trade to its bot and gives it the bot's name only when the match is clear: the bot's account, underlying and legs, opened within 2 minutes of one of its entry times, and no other bot fits as well. If two bots fit, the bot has no entry times, or you once unlinked the trade, it's left for you. Use Match all bots on the Automation page (see Matched for you after each sync).

Why didn't a bot enter?

Where to look first: the bot's Runs page (on the bot's page), where each entry time has a run with its Status and Reason. The Today timeline on the Automation page shows today's entries too, and 📅 Schedule shows what each armed bot does on any day (see Today's schedule).

No run at all means the bot didn't try that day:

• It isn't armed, or it's archived. Only armed bots enter (see Arming).
• It isn't one of its days: the market is shut (a weekend or holiday), or the bot's How often leaves that day out (see How often).
• It's a futures bot. These enter only from the Trade page.
• It uses an entry window and no minute passed yet. A minute that doesn't pass leaves no run; the bot's page shows the last check and why (see Entry window).

A skipped run says why in its Reason. The bot checks these in this order, and stops at the first one that says no:

After those checks the bot picks its strikes and prices the trade, and a run can still be skipped then: no strike that fits, deltas or the SPX price not available, a premium outside its bounds (the reason says "tried 7 times" if it kept trying; see Keep trying), a price too close to even, or a budget that doesn't buy one contract. Each says so in its Reason, and the ones about missing prices also send you one alert that day. A Paper bot's run is also skipped if your broker's check of the order would refuse it.

Missed means the order went out and was chased but never filled, so there's no trade (see What happens at an entry time).

What does "Needs a look" mean?

While a Live bot has a trade open, the app checks every 30 seconds that each group is protected. Anything it finds shows in Needs a look at the top of the Automation page, with a link to its run, and sends you one alert. The trade's bot badge in your journal turns red too. It goes by itself once it's sorted. The app never changes an order because of it.

A run whose Reason starts Needs you is different: it's one the app couldn't settle by itself (its entry order wouldn't cancel, say), or a filled trade whose exits may be missing. Check your broker; an order the app marked Unclear is explained in Unclear: check your broker.

Why does Schwab ask me to log in?

The reason: Schwab makes every app log in again every 7 days. The app reminds you with an alert at 48 hours left and at 12 hours left, and again once the login has run out (see Broker logins). A banner shows on every page from a day before, and Settings → Brokers shows Log in again soon, then Log in again.

Logging in to Schwab from this app on another computer, or from another program that uses the same Schwab app, also signs this one out (see Schwab: one computer at a time).

What to do: click Reconnect Schwab in Settings → Brokers and log in. Until you do, Schwab accounts don't sync, and a Schwab bot can't send anything: stops and targets already resting at Schwab keep working, but a stop the app watches can't close a trade (see Schwab bots).

Why does P/L Day show "≈"?

The reason: P/L Day measures each open trade from the value the app saved shortly after the last close (4:15 PM New York time). If it has no saved value for a trade, because the app wasn't running then or it's your first day, it works from your broker's previous closing prices instead, which is close but not exact. The ≈ says part of the figure came that way ("≈ partly from the closes before").

What to do: nothing. The next close the app is running for, it saves the value and the ≈ goes. To avoid it, keep the app running through 4:15 PM. See P/L Day.

Why don't a calendar day's dashboard rows add up to its total?

The reason: a trade can be in more than one dashboard. A trade tagged both "0DTE" and "SPX" shows under both rows. The Total row counts each trade once, so it matches the calendar.

What to do: nothing. The panel says so under the table when it happens. See Details for a day, week or month.

Why does my stock chart start on a certain date?

The reason: the Portfolio value chart on the Journal's Stocks tab starts on the day the app first synced your trades. Your brokers only tell the app what you hold today, so the app works backwards from there through your synced buys and sells. It has no trades from before that first sync, so it can't work out earlier days. Shares you already owned then still count from that day on.

Also: if the chart isn't drawn at all and says a broker didn't answer, one of your connected brokers couldn't be reached. Reload the page in a while. A broker you never connected doesn't stop the chart. If one of your stocks split after your first sync, the line is wrong for that stock before the split. See Portfolio value.

Why can't I change a bot's order in Pending?

A bot, or a trade the app manages for you, places and moves its own orders: its stop, its target and its entry chase. If you changed one by hand, the bot would be working against you. So those rows have no buttons, say "Managed by …, use its controls." A bot's row names the bot, and links to its run when known; a managed trade's row says it's managed by the trade's rules. To change what a bot does, use its page, or pause it (see Pausing trading). Only orders you sent from the app can be changed or cancelled there; an order placed at your broker or in another app is changed where it came from (see Pending orders).

Can I bring in a trade I built in ThinkorSwim?

Yes. Copy the order in ThinkorSwim, then use the button with the ThinkorSwim logo and a 📋 (Paste ThinkorSwim order) on the Trade page. It fills the ticket; nothing is sent until you review and send it yourself.

When does an idea leave my Ideas list?

Only when you Delete it, or when you trade it and your broker accepts the order (or a bot takes it as its entry). A refused order, a preview, or an unclear outcome keeps the idea. An idea whose options have expired stays, with its final result, until you delete it. See Ideas.

Why didn't an exit fill before the close?

The likely reasons:

• The close ran out of time. A timed close, or a close you started, never chases past the market's close. When the market closes it stops, cancels its order and puts the stop back. On expiry day the options then simply expire (see Timed close).
• The app wasn't running at the close time, or orders were frozen. That side shows missed on the run page and you get one alert.
• It ran out of tries. Then the bot did what its If a close hasn't filled after the last try says (see If a close hasn't filled). After the close it never goes to the natural price or legs out: it puts the stop back instead.
• A timed close is tried once a day per side. If it didn't go through, it isn't tried again that day.

What to check: open the run page. Orders, step by step shows every price the close tried, and Exits shows where each stop and target stands now. If something is still open that you wanted closed, close it at your broker or from the run page the next trading day.

Why is nothing syncing?

The likely reasons:

• The app isn't running, or the computer is asleep. Nothing syncs then; trades filled meanwhile are read at the first sync after it starts.
• A broker can't be read: Schwab's login has run out, or the broker didn't answer.
• The timed sync is off in Settings → Syncing your trades (see Settings).

What to check: press Sync now in the Journal: the line it shows says how each broker did. Transactions → Last sync shows each account's last good sync and the problem that stopped the last one.

A page says "Something went wrong"

The reason: the app hit an error it didn't expect. Your data is safe, and nothing is sent to your broker because of it.

What to do: go back and try again. If it keeps happening, choose Restart OptionsJourney in the OJ menu. Still stuck? Choose Open logs in the same menu and send optionsjourney.log to [email protected], with the line the error page shows.