Guides
Eleven steps from a fresh install to a saved desk. Each step is a real move in the terminal, and links into the full docs when you want to go deeper. Where the ship has a voice note for a panel, you can hear it right here.
Built so you never have to guess. — Rick
Sharpnel is a native desktop terminal for Windows (a macOS build is in development) — not a browser tab. Grab the signed installer from the download page, run it, and sign in. The app opens your system browser once to authenticate, then hands the session back locally.
The free Explorer tier lets you evaluate the terminal on 15-minute delayed data with no time limit; Pro unlocks live futures depth, the order-flow stack, and the macro panels.
One keystroke runs the whole terminal. Press Ctrl+Shift+P (or a bare :) to focus the palette. Type a ticker — ES, NVDA, BTC-PERP — to retarget the focused chart, or a timeframe — 5m, 1h — to change its resolution.
Every panel also has a symbol-first mnemonic. Type NVDA GEX to open dealer gamma for Nvidia, or ES DOM to open the order book for ES.
“Press control P to open the command palette, type any panel or action, and press enter to run the top match.”
With the palette focused, type SPY | 15m and hit Enter — the chart retargets and switches timeframe in one line. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan, and press Ctrl+E to recenter on the last bar.
Right-click the chart for indicators, drawings, chart type, and style. Studies and order-flow layers overlay right on the price panel.
“The chart is the main price panel, plotting price over time as candles, where studies, drawings and order flow overlay.”
Type add dom (or ES DOM) to dock the DOM ladder. It shows resting bid and ask size at every price, the traded volume histogram, and where size is stacking or pulling in real time.
Right-click any price row for Alert at <price> to arm a price alert on that exact level without leaving the ladder.
“The depth of market is a live price ladder showing the resting bid and offer size queued at each price.”
Type add footprint (or ES FP) to break each bar open into bid-versus-ask volume by price. The footprint is where you read imbalances, stacked one-sided aggression, and absorption — heavy volume hitting a level while price refuses to move.
“The footprint breaks each bar open to show traded volume at every price, split buy side and sell side.”
Type ES TS (or a bare TAPE) to stream the raw print-by-print tape — every execution with size, price, and aggressor side. Large prints are highlighted so a block or a sweep is obvious as it crosses.
“Time and sales, the tape, is the running list of executed trades with their price, size and time.”
Type SPY GEX to open the gamma exposure profile. It plots net dealer gamma by strike so you can see the call wall that can cap a move, the put wall that can cushion it, and the gamma flip where dealer hedging switches from dampening moves to amplifying them.
“GEX estimates aggregate dealer gamma by strike, marking where hedging flows tend to concentrate.”
Open the Alerts panel with add alerts. Create a simple price trigger — above, below, or crosses a level — with an optional re-arm delay, or compose a multi-condition rule on price, RSI, VWAP, and volume. When a rule fires, the terminal flashes the status bar and raises a desktop notification.
The fastest path is right-clicking a level straight on the DOM ladder — it pre-fills the symbol and price for you.
“The alerts panel manages conditions, like a level being crossed, and notifies you when they trigger.”
Connect a broker and the trade journal captures your fills automatically. It groups executions into trades, tracks R and P&L, and Pharos can walk you through a descriptive debrief of how the session actually went.
“The journal board records your trades with their context and your notes, so a session can be reviewed.”
Type the WMAP mnemonic for the macro atlas — vessels, flights, storms, and fault lines mapped to the tickers that care. It is the one panel that makes the news feel like a position rather than a headline.
“The world map plots live geographic data layers, and every dot drills down to a tradable instrument, with a three D globe mode.”
Once the workspace feels right — panels sized, timeframes set, studies loaded — save it as a preset with save morning and recall it any time with layout morning. Layouts persist per account, so your desk loads with you on any machine you sign in on.
ES | 5m | add dom | add footprint builds a full order-flow desk in a single command.