2. The terminal and your workspace

Your account and your broker (ACM, BR, IBKR)

ACM manages your Gloom account, and BR connects a brokerage account so your real positions appear in a portfolio and stay in sync.

  • 4 min
  • 3 questions
  • Lesson 7 of 8

Why you would care

How do you get your real holdings into Gloom, safely? Typing 30 positions by hand is slow and goes stale the day you trade. Connecting your broker keeps the portfolio true on its own. And knowing what a connection can and cannot do (read your positions, or also trade) is basic hygiene.

The idea from scratch

Your Gloom account

A Gloom account (also called Gloom Cloud) is free. It syncs your layouts, lists, notes and alerts across devices and unlocks chat and phone alerts. You sign in with an email and a password, or by scanning a QR code with the Gloom mobile app (the command Log In with QR Code).

ACM opens its settings, in tabs: profile (and whether it is public), emails, your Pro plan, your teams, your password. Ctrl+S saves. UPGRADE opens the Pro checkout.

Brokers

A broker holds your real account and executes your trades (chapter 01, Orders, long, short and margin). A broker connection lets Gloom read that account.

  • Read-only connections import your accounts and positions. They cannot place orders.
  • Positions sync into a broker portfolio. A later sync updates it and removes positions the broker no longer reports. That is why you cannot delete a broker position by hand in PF.
  • Connection details (tokens, keys) are saved on your device only, never synced to your Gloom account.

Each broker is a plugin you install first. The app's documentation lists:

BrokerHow it connects
Interactive BrokersBrowser sign-in, or a statement token (Flex); a separate Gateway plugin adds live data and a trading console
PublicAn API secret from that broker's settings; read-only
RobinhoodA browser sign-in; read-only account and stock positions
SimpleFINA one-time setup token; imports accounts that hold investments, read-only
Diagram: BR: add a broker profile leads to Sign in or paste a token; Sign in or paste a token leads to Sync accounts and positions; Sync accounts and positions leads to Broker portfolio in PF; Broker portfolio in PF leads to PORT risk, alerts, theses use it; Sign in or paste a token leads to Local only (stays on this device).

See it in Gloom

Gloom screenshot: The Brokers pane on a new profile
The Brokers pane on a new profile: one row per broker profile, with its status, broker, connection mode, number of accounts and last sync time. Captured 2026-10-06.

open ittype BR.

  1. PROFILE: the name you give a connection (you can have several).
  2. STATUS: connected or not, or what is missing.
  3. BROKER and MODE: which broker, and how it connects (for example a statement token or a live gateway).
  4. ACCOUNTS and SYNCED: how many accounts were found, and when they were last read.
  5. No broker profiles.: nothing connected yet. Press a to add one.

Keys: a add, c connect, s sync, e edit.

IBKR: the trading console

With the Interactive Brokers Gateway plugin installed and a gateway running on your computer, IBKR opens a trading console for that account. This Academy does not teach order entry: follow the plugin's own instructions, and remember that the research panes in these lessons only read data.

Practice and recap

Try it3 tasks
  1. Which connections in the table are read-only? (Public, Robinhood, SimpleFIN; Interactive Brokers Flex reads statements.)
  2. You sold a stock at your broker. What happens to it in your broker portfolio? (The next sync removes it.)
  3. Where are your broker tokens stored? (On your device only.)
Common mistakes4 mistakes
  • Deleting a broker position in PF and expecting it to stay gone.
  • Expecting broker credentials to follow you to a new computer. Connect again there.
  • Assuming Gloom can trade on every connection. Read-only connections never send orders.
  • Mixing manual and broker portfolios and double-counting a position.
Check yourself3 questions
  1. What does a read-only connection let Gloom do?
  2. Why is a broker position not deletable in PF?
  3. Which command opens your account settings?
Answers
  1. Read your accounts and positions, not place orders.
  2. Because the next sync would bring it back: the broker is the source of truth.
  3. ACM.
Words in this lesson6 words
Gloom account (Gloom Cloud)
Your free account: sync, chat, phone alerts.
broker connection
A link that lets Gloom read your brokerage account.
read-only
Can read data but cannot change anything or trade.
broker portfolio
A portfolio filled and updated by a broker sync.
sync
Reading the broker again and updating the portfolio.
token
A secret code that lets an app access an account; keep it private.

Educational material about reading market data, not investment advice.