Accounts

Accounts represent your brokerage trading accounts. UTM connects to your broker to sync positions, orders, and execute trades.

The Accounts page is about the accounts themselves, not your portfolio total. Portfolio totals such as combined equity live on the Dashboard and Performance pages. The page header carries one compact summary line: N accounts, N connected, N need attention. An account is counted as needing attention when it is disconnected, in an error state, or its last sync is stale relative to the background sync cadence. Trading mode is driven only by the global Paper/Live switch in the header (see Trading Mode below); there is no separate mode toggle on this page.

Account Types

UTM distinguishes between two account types:

Type	Description	Risk
Paper	Simulated trading, no real money	None
Live	Real trading with real money	Real financial risk

Trading Mode Safety

UTM enforces strict mode separation. You cannot place live orders while in paper mode, and vice versa. This prevents accidental real-money trades.

Connecting an Account

Step 1: Add Broker Connection

1. Navigate to Settings > Brokers
2. Click Add Broker
3. Select your broker (e.g., TradeStation)
4. Complete OAuth authentication
5. Broker connection is established

Step 2: Import Accounts

After broker connection:

1. UTM automatically discovers your accounts
2. Review the list of available accounts
3. Select which accounts to import
4. Accounts appear in your account list

Step 3: Configure Account

For each account, you can set:

Setting	Description
Nickname	Friendly name for the account
Account Type	Paper or Live (usually auto-detected)
Default	Make this the default for new orders
Active	Enable/disable trading on this account

Account Information

Balance Data

UTM syncs the following from your broker:

Field	Description
Equity	Total account value
Cash Balance	Available cash balance
Buying Power	Available for new positions
Day Trading Buying Power	Intraday buying power for margin accounts. Empty (null) for cash and paper accounts where the broker does not return one.
Reg-T Buying Power	Reg-T overnight buying power for non-daytrade entries. Empty when the broker does not expose it.
Initial Margin	Initial margin reported by the broker. Empty when the broker does not return one.
Last Equity	Prior-session-close equity. Alpaca exposes this; TradeStation has no analogue and always reports empty.
Multiplier	Leverage cap (1, 2, 4) on the account. Alpaca exposes this; TradeStation has no analogue and always reports empty.
Pattern Day Trader	Whether the broker has flagged the account as a pattern day trader. Empty when the broker does not report it.
Market Value	Value of all positions
Required Margin	Margin currently in use

Margin and Buying Power

Margin-enabled accounts (Alpaca margin, for example) report additional fields that govern how much you can trade and how the broker treats your account for regulatory purposes. UTM surfaces these in two places so you see the same picture your broker holds.

On the Dashboard, when any account in the current trading mode has margin data, a "Margin and Buying Power" card appears below the main stats with four items at a glance: Buying Power, Day-Trading, Reg T, and Initial Margin. If at least one account is flagged as a Pattern Day Trader, a blue "Pattern Day Trader" badge sits in the Portfolio Overview header so you cannot miss the designation.

On the Accounts page, expanding a margin-enabled account reveals the full breakdown:

Field	What it means
Buying Power	Cash plus borrowable margin currently available to open new positions.
Day-Trading Buying Power	Intraday limit for day-trade entries. Margin accounts only; cash and TradeStation accounts show an em dash.
Reg T Buying Power	Overnight buying power under Regulation T. Margin accounts only.
Initial Margin	Margin the broker has set aside against your current positions.
Last Equity	Equity snapshot from the prior session close. Useful as a reference point for today's P&L. Alpaca reports this; TradeStation does not.
Multiplier	Leverage cap the broker applies (typically 1x, 2x, or 4x). Hidden when the broker reports 1x (the cash-account default).
Pattern Day Trader	Whether FINRA has flagged the account as a Pattern Day Trader. "Yes" means the broker is enforcing the PDT rules on this account; "No" means the broker has reviewed and not flagged it. An em dash means the broker did not report a value (cash account or non-margin).

Pattern Day Trader designation

FINRA flags an account as a Pattern Day Trader if it executes four or more day trades within five business days while the day-trade count is more than 6% of the account's total trading activity. Once flagged, the broker enforces a $25,000 minimum equity requirement and limits the account to roughly 4x intraday leverage. UTM does not enforce or change this designation; it surfaces the broker's reported value so you can see the same regulatory status your broker holds. If the badge appears, treat it as informational and confirm the implications with your broker.

For TradeStation accounts and any account where the broker does not report a margin field, the row shows an em dash rather than zero, so a missing value cannot be mistaken for a deliberate zero. If the broker does not report any margin fields at all, the section is hidden.

Positions

Each account shows current holdings:

• Symbol and quantity
• Average cost basis
• Current market value
• Unrealised P&L

Order History

View orders placed through this account:

• Pending orders
• Filled orders
• Cancelled/rejected orders

Trading Mode

Switching Modes

The active mode shows as a colour-coded badge in the header at every screen width:

• PAPER (green badge) - Demo trading mode
• LIVE (red badge) - Real trading mode

On wider screens the badge sits next to a one-click Paper/Live switch, so a single click flips the mode. On phones and narrow screens, tap the badge to open the status panel and flip the switch there. The two-tap path on small screens guards against an accidental flip. There is no extra confirmation dialog: UTM trusts your explicit choice and instead blocks any order whose account type does not match the active mode (see Mode Enforcement below).

Mode Enforcement

When you place an order or process a signal:

1. UTM checks your current mode (Paper/Live)
2. UTM checks the target account type
3. If they don't match, the order is blocked

This prevents scenarios like:

• Accidentally placing real orders while testing
• Processing paper signals to live accounts

Syncing Data

Automatic Sync

UTM syncs account data:

• On login
• After placing orders (7-second delay)
• Periodically in the background

Manual Sync

Click the sync icon next to an account to force refresh:

• Balance updates
• Position updates
• Order status updates

Sync Status

Status	Meaning
✓ Green	Recently synced, data is fresh
⚠ Yellow	Data may be stale
✗ Red	Sync error occurred

Account Permissions

Tradeable vs View-Only

Some accounts may be view-only:

Permission	Can View	Can Trade
Tradeable	Yes	Yes
View-Only	Yes	No

View-only accounts show balances and positions but cannot place orders.

Margin vs Cash

Account Type	Description
Cash	Can only use settled cash
Margin	Can borrow for larger positions

UTM displays buying power based on account type.

Multiple Accounts

Account Selection

When placing orders or signals, always select the target account:

1. Account dropdown shows all active accounts
2. Only tradeable accounts appear for order entry
3. Account type (Paper/Live) shown for each

Cross-Account Views

The Dashboard aggregates across accounts:

• Total equity (all accounts combined)
• Combined positions
• All recent orders

Filter by account for individual views.

UTM Start Date

If you started using UTM partway through your trading history, your broker may have positions or executions from before UTM was tracking them. These older records can show up as discrepancies during reconciliation even though they are expected.

Setting a UTM Start Date tells UTM to ignore trades and broker positions that were opened before that date. Reconciliation will only compare activity from that date forward.

How to Set It

1. Go to Settings > Accounts
2. Find the account you want to configure
3. Click the calendar icon next to UTM Start Date
4. Select a date and save

Set the date to the day you first started using UTM with that account. Trades opened before this date will be excluded from reconciliation comparisons.

The Accounts page shows the UTM Start Date read-only; use the Manage in settings link on an expanded account card to jump straight to Settings > Accounts.

Clearing the Date

In Settings > Accounts, click the X button next to the displayed date to clear it. Reconciliation will then compare all available history again.

When to Use This

This setting is most useful when you connected a broker that already had a long trading history. Without it, every historical position would appear as a discrepancy until you manually reconcile each one.

Reconciliation Threshold

Each account has a small noise floor for the daily cash-balance reconciliation engine. Cash changes smaller than the threshold are treated as noise and do not raise a capital-flow review prompt.

The default is $1.00. Increase it from Settings > Accounts if you see frequent prompts for small rounding deltas. The Accounts page shows the threshold read-only with a Manage in settings link.

See the Capital flows guide for the full picture of how UTM tracks cash movements and how the reconciliation engine works.

Troubleshooting

Account Not Syncing

1. Check broker connection status
2. Try manual sync
3. Re-authenticate broker if needed
4. Check broker API status

Balance Mismatch

Balances may differ from broker due to:

• Pending orders affecting buying power
• Sync timing (try manual refresh)
• Unsettled trades

Cannot Place Orders

Check:

• Account is marked as "Tradeable"
• Account is active (not disabled)
• Trading mode matches account type
• Account has sufficient buying power

Broker Disconnected

If broker connection fails:

1. Go to Settings > Brokers
2. Find the disconnected broker
3. Click Reconnect
4. Complete re-authentication

This may happen when:

• OAuth tokens expire
• Broker requires re-authorization
• Network issues occurred