# Futures Template

> Ready settings for a futures strategy that sends Discord or Telegram futures calls to Interactive Brokers, and what IBKR does for futures.

*Source: https://tradelabs.org/docs/templates/futures*

## Who it is for

This template is for traders who copy index futures calls, such as NQ, MNQ or ES, from a Discord or Telegram room. The strategy reads long or short from the call and places the order at Interactive Brokers. You need TWS or IB Gateway running on your computer.

## Settings

Start from the **Discord futures to Interactive Brokers** template, then set these values. [The Strategy Editor](/docs/copy-trading/strategy-editor/) explains each setting.

| Tab | Setting | Value | Why |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| General | Source | Discord or Telegram | TradingView is not offered for futures. |
| General | Inherit trade details from message | On | A contract named in the call wins over the Contract setting. |
| General | Direction | Both | The strategy takes long and short calls. |
| General | Ticker | NQ, or the symbol the room trades | The template starts on NQ. |
| General | Contract | Current | The strategy trades the front month and rolls forward on its own. |
| General | Entry | Market | The order fills at the current price. |
| General | Exit | Market | A limit exit that does not fill leaves the position open. |
| General | Time in force | Day | An order that does not fill does not stay open to the next day. |
| Brokers | Broker | Interactive Brokers | IBKR is the only futures broker. |
| Sizing | How to pick the trade size | Fixed size | Every trade uses the same size. |
| Sizing | Default quantity | 1 | The template uses 1. |
| AI | AI selling | On | The strategy acts on exit calls. |
| AI | Memory | Normal | The AI remembers the position the caller opened. |
| Risk & exits | Stop loss | A dollar amount you accept to lose | Futures are leveraged, so a small move is a large amount. |
| Risk & exits | Take profit | A dollar amount | The position closes at your target. |
| Protections | Duplicate protection | On | A repeat of a recent signal does not trade twice. |
| Protections | Double-down protection | On | The strategy does not keep adding to a contract it holds. |
| Protections | Slippage cap | 1% | A fill more than 1% from the expected price is rejected. |
| Notifications | Send to Discord | On | Fills and errors show in your Discord channel. |

## Broker differences

Futures trade on Interactive Brokers only.

| | Interactive Brokers |
| --- | --- |
| Entry and exit order | Market or Limit |
| Limit price | Bid, Mid, Ask |
| Contract | Current, Next, Third, or Pin a month from the live IBKR contract list |
| Stop loss and take profit | Bracket order at IBKR |
| Allow extended hours | Not shown for futures |
| Double-down protection | Block, or a cap |

Things the editor does for you:

- With **Ticker** set to ALL, or with IBKR not running, **Pin** shows a plain month box instead of the contract list.
- The line under **Contract** shows which contract will trade.

## Test it

Set the IBKR account **Mode** to **Paper**, then send a test signal with **Simulate**. Follow [Test before you go live](/docs/copy-trading/#5-test-before-you-go-live).

## Related pages

- Instrument: [Futures](/docs/reference/instruments/futures/)
- Broker: [Interactive Brokers](/docs/reference/brokers/interactive-brokers/)
- Risk tools: [Protections & Guardrails](/docs/reference/risk-tools/protections/)