Setup
The first step of the new-instance wizard — pick the account, algorithm, instrument, timeframe and how the bot runs. These choices frame everything the later steps configure. The same descriptions show as the `?` hints next to each field.
| Account Venue | The connected broker account this instance trades on. Locked once the instance is created. |
| Algorithm | The strategy bot this instance runs. Investion is the built-in multi-filter bot. |
| Symbol | The instrument this bot trades — e.g. EURUSD or XAUUSD. Its price, pip size and digits drive every calculation. Click a symbol's star in the list to keep it in your personal Favorites group at the top. |
| Timeframe | The base timeframe the bot's main logic runs on (M5, H1, …). Each filter can still run on its own timeframe on top of this. |
| Running Mode | Trade places real orders. Signal runs the exact same logic but only emits signals, without opening positions. |
| Trade Direction | Restrict the bot to Buy (long) only or Sell (short) only. |
| Instance Name | A label to recognise this instance in your dashboard. It has no effect on how the bot trades. |
Controls on this step
What the app checks before letting you continue, and why.
- Which saved templates you are shown — A published template is offered on every account whose market works the same way, not only on the exchange it was written on. A grid recipe saved against one crypto futures venue therefore appears on the next one you connect — the base order, coverage, scaling and target mean exactly the same thing there. What never crosses is the line between market types: a cTrader recipe measured in pips and lots is not offered on a crypto account, and the reverse holds too. Strategy templates are the exception and apply anywhere, because they carry entry filters and no instrument.
- Applying a template that names another contract — A saved template remembers its contract by NAME, and the name is matched against the catalogue of the account you are setting up. That is what lets one recipe serve several exchanges: BTCUSDT means the same instrument wherever it is listed. If this account carries nothing by that name, everything else in the recipe is still applied and you are told which contract was left behind — the pick stays as you had it rather than changing to something you did not choose. Names are matched exactly, so a venue that spells the same instrument differently will not resolve.
- Duplicate setup warning — The wizard warns you if the same account + symbol + algorithm + timeframe + direction combination already runs as another instance — running two identical instances would just duplicate the same signal. A Buy and a Sell instance on the same symbol/timeframe/algorithm are independent bots and can run side by side.