First steps
There are two figures you need to set before anything else. Without them Stancel runs, looks fine and seems to be watching — but it isn't, because it doesn't know what to measure against.
It takes five minutes, and it's the five minutes that matter.
1 · Tell it what your challenge is
Open the SETTINGS tab and find the Funding group. Three fields:
| Field | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Starting balance | What the challenge started with. Not today's balance | 10000 |
| Daily loss | Your funding firm's daily limit, as a percentage | 5 |
| Total loss | The total limit, as a percentage | 10 |
The starting balance is the CHALLENGE's, not today's. If you started with 10,000 and you're now at 9,400, the starting balance is still 10,000. Entering 9,400 would be giving yourself €600 of margin you've already spent.
Why this can't be guessed
Stancel can't read your funding firm's rules: every one has its own, some measure the daily loss from balance and others from equity, and quite a few change the rules between phases.
So it doesn't guess. It would rather not know than know wrong, because a made-up figure here is a safety stop that trips late.
⚠️ With the starting balance at zero, the safety stop can't fire. It's not a fault: there's nothing to measure against. The panel tells you with a warning in the guard's line, and that warning is there precisely so you find out.
2 · Check that the guard can see you
Go back to DASHBOARD. At the top there are three spheres:
- TODAY — how much of the daily limit you've used
- TOTAL — how much of the total limit you've used
- TARGET — how far you are from clearing the challenge
If all three show figures and not dashes, the guard is measuring. Below there's a sentence that says it in words: "5,000 left today and 9,885 to the limit".
If it says something else, go back to step 1. That sentence is your proof that you're protected, and it's worth checking on day one.
3 · Choose your risk per trade
In SETTINGS, Plan group, there's Risk per trade (%). This is what Stancel uses to calculate lot size. It's set to 0.25% by default and accepts anything from 0.05% to 2%.
There's no universally correct number, but there's one worth having clear in your head: the percentage you can lose several times in a row without going past the daily limit. With a 5% daily limit and 1% per trade, five losses in a row would put you out for the day.
It's in Plan and not in a group called "Risk" because it's a decision about the plan you're drawing, not a property of the account. The challenge's limits — those really are the account's — live in Funding.
4 · And a check that saves you a scare
Before trading with real money, do this once on a demo account:
1. Open a small position from the panel. 2. Check it shows up under TRADES. 3. Close it from the panel.
It takes thirty seconds and confirms the three things that need to work: that the panel sends orders, that it sees them, and that it closes them. If anything doesn't work, better to find out there.
Stancel doesn't arm itself. To be able to send orders it has to be armed explicitly, and the real account has its own separate permission. This is deliberate: a panel that can trade from the first second is a panel that trades when you didn't want it to.
What's already set without touching anything
Everything else comes with sensible factory defaults: the theme, the density, the indicators, the sessions and the calendar. It can be changed, but it doesn't need to be, to get started.
The only thing that is not set is the above, and that's on purpose: these are your own figures, and nobody else knows them.