📘Chapter 8: Understanding tradeUI vs webserverUI in Freqtrade

This article was produced by the Quantitative Trading Lab at https://www.itrade.icu. Visit for more benefits. Although often used together, trade and webserver serve completely different purposes and have distinct startup logic. Here's a detailed comparison:

Item	freqtrade trade	freqtrade webserver
✅ Startup Content	Starts the trading bot (live or dry-run)	Starts the visualization UI service (view data)
⚙️ Core Function	Execute strategy, place orders, monitor market	Graphically display strategy operation/backtest results
🧠 Runs Strategy Logic	✅ Yes (real-time execution)	❌ No (only reads data)
📦 Data Source	Real-time market data & order execution	Local SQLite database (or strategy output)
⏱ Use Case	Real/simulated trading	Browser view of strategy performance/order info
🔗 Connects to Exchange	✅ Yes	❌ No
📈 View Backtest Results	❌ No	✅ Supports backtest visualization
🚀 Browser Access	Optional UI, mostly backend	http://127.0.0.1:8080 (default)

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✅ Use Case Distinction

1. trade is the bot engine

You can run live trading or dry-run (simulation):

freqtrade trade \
  --config user_data/config.json \
  --strategy MyStrategy \
  --dry-run

• Continuously fetches real-time market data

• Executes strategy logic (buy/sell signals)

• Connects to the exchange and records orders, balances, profits

• Writes all data to a local database (SQLite)

💡 Without it, the bot does nothing!

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2. webserver is the visualization interface

It only reads existing data and provides a browser-based UI:

freqtrade webserver \
  --config user_data/config.json \
  --username admin --password 123456

• Displays current positions, trade history, strategy names

• Can monitor running strategies

• Can also display backtest results (after backtesting)

❗ It does not run strategies or connect to exchanges!

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🔄 Relationship Summary

• trade = the execution engine

• webserver = the observer UI

If you run only webserver without trade, you can only see historical records—no new trades will occur.

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🧩 Practical Advice (Docker Setup)

services:
  trader:
    image: freqtradeorg/freqtrade:stable
    command: >
      trade
      --config /quants/freqtrade/user_data/config.json
      --strategy MyStrategy

  ui:
    image: freqtradeorg/freqtrade:stable
    command: >
      webserver
      --config /quants/freqtrade/user_data/config.json
      --username admin
      --password 123456
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"

Then open your browser at:

http://localhost:8080

to access the trading bot dashboard.