Whispertrades

Getting Started

Updated Aug 25, 2026

New to Whispertrades? This page walks you through your first session, from creating an account to watching your first automated trade. Each step links to a detailed guide when you want to go deeper.

Whispertrades has two sides that work together:

  • Backtesting: test an options strategy against high-fidelity intraday historical data going back to 2016.

  • Bots: run that strategy automatically in your own brokerage account.

You can use either one on its own. If you are here just for research, steps 1 through 3 are all you need. If you want automation, we recommend proving a strategy in a backtest and a paper account before trading it live.

1. Create Your Account

Sign up here. All you need is an email address. There is no software to install, no code to write, and no long-term commitment.

2. Add Funds

Everything on Whispertrades is pay-as-you-go, and charges are deducted from a balance that you fund in advance. Click your balance in the top right corner of any page, then choose Add Funds. We accept debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, and PayPal, and your first deposit can be as little as $5.

See Adding Funds for the details, and review bot pricing and backtest pricing to see exactly what you will pay. You only pay for what you use, and you will always see a backtest's estimated cost before you run it.

3. Run Your First Backtest

Test your strategy against history before you put real money behind it. Create a new backtest, pick your symbol and date range, then add a position with your strike selection, entry rules, and exit rules. When it finishes, the results show detailed performance metrics, charts, and a log of every simulated trade.

Not sure what to test first? Start with a strategy you already trade manually, or browse the community to see what other traders are testing and sharing.

4. Connect Your Brokerage Account

To trade live, connect Whispertrades to your existing brokerage account. We support Schwab, Tastytrade, and Tradier. Go to the Brokers page from your account menu, choose your broker, and log in through your broker's own secure form. When you are redirected back to Whispertrades and see a green Active status, you are connected. See connecting a brokerage account for a full walkthrough.

No broker yet, or want to practice first? Create a paper trading account from the Brokers page with any starting balance you like. Paper bots work exactly like live bots, but every trade is simulated.

5. Create Your First Bot

A bot is your strategy written as rules that Whispertrades follows for you. Create a new bot from the Bots page and select the brokerage (or paper) account it should trade in, then define:

Already have a winning backtest? You can convert it into a bot in one step, with your tested settings carried over.

6. Enable Your Bot and Watch It Work

New bots start disabled so you can review the configuration first. When you are ready, enable the bot and it will begin monitoring the market on its run schedule, entering and exiting positions by your rules.

Follow along from the dashboard, your bot positions, and the bot logs, which record every decision the bot makes and every reason it did or did not trade. You can also turn on bot notifications to be alerted when your bot opens or closes a position.

Once a bot is managing a position, make any changes from Whispertrades, not from your brokerage account. Manually adjusting a bot's orders at the broker can cause disconnected positions and other undesirable side effects.

Next Steps

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