The difference is rarely the question. It’s the setup around it. A Claude Project lets you build that setup once: standing instructions that apply to every chat, plus reference files Claude can draw on. Combined with Ophir’s live market data, that turns Claude into an analyst that knows how you trade.
This guide shows how to use Claude Projects effectively for trading: the seven settings that matter most. None of them require code.
An analyst, not a trading bot
Search for “Claude AI trading” and most of what comes up shows you how to build a bot that places orders. This guide doesn’t. The setup below makes Claude a research analyst: it reads live market data through Ophir, tests your ideas and checks setups against your rules. You stay the one who decides and executes.
Before you start: the two-minute setup
- 1Add Ophir. In Claude, go to Customize → Connectors, click Add, hover over Custom and choose Web. Name it
Ophir, pastehttps://mcp.askophir.ai/mcpas the server URL and sign in with your Ophir account. Connect Ophir to Claude walks through each screen. No account yet? Getting Started covers that first. - 2Create a project. Open Projects in the sidebar and click + New Project. On a Team or Enterprise plan, keep the project private: connectors only work in private projects there.
- 3Turn Ophir on in each chat. Click the + button in the message box, hover over Connectors and toggle Ophir on.
That gets you a working setup. The rest of this guide is what makes it a good one.
1. Set your defaults once in project instructions
Without instructions, Ophir falls back to the defaults in your trader profile. Those fit your trading style in broad strokes, not your exact setup, so every chat starts with you correcting them. On the project page, click Set project instructions and tell Claude how you trade, once:
I'm a [swing / day / position] trader. I mainly trade [XAUUSD, QQQ, NVDA, BTCUSD]. Defaults unless I say otherwise: - Timeframe: [1-hour] bars over the past [6 months] - Indicators: [EMA 20, EMA 50, RSI 14, ATR 14] How to answer: - Lead with market structure: trend, recent swing highs and lows, key levels. - Say what would invalidate the read. - If my idea conflicts with the data, say so plainly. - One timeframe per answer. Offer the next timeframe instead of pulling it automatically.
Keep it short and specific. A few exact defaults beat a page of preferences.
2. Forbid answers from memory
Add one more line to your instructions:
For any price, level or indicator, use Ophir. Never answer from memory.
This matters more than any other line. Ask “Where’s gold trading?” and Claude may answer from its training data, which can be months out of date, instead of calling Ophir. This rule makes it check first.
3. Keep a key-levels file in project knowledge
In the project’s knowledge panel, upload a short file that lists the levels you watch, one market per line:
Key levels, updated [date] XAUUSD: support 3,950 | resistance 4,270, 4,420 QQQ: support [level] | resistance [level]
Then add this to your instructions:
When charting a market, mark the levels from my key-levels file.
Ophir draws each level as a horizontal line, so every chart you ask for shows price against the levels you actually trade. Up to ten fit on one chart, which is plenty for a single market.
4. Add your trading plan so analysis is checked against it
Upload your written rules too: entry criteria, risk per trade, and the markets and sessions you avoid. Then ask for analysis against the plan:
“Does QQQ meet my entry criteria on the 4-hour right now? Check each rule.”
Claude reads the rules from your file and Ophir supplies the data. The answer becomes a checklist against your own process instead of a general opinion.
5. Ask for the right depth
Ophir has two speeds. Use the one the question needs.
| You want | Say | Typical wait |
|---|---|---|
| A quick look at price | “Chart NVDA daily, past 3 months.” | A few seconds |
| A full read | “Analyze gold’s structure on the 4-hour: swings, levels, momentum.” | 10 to 50 seconds |
A full analysis computes indicators across hundreds of bars and returns written findings. For a quick price check, a chart is faster and shows you the same price action.
6. Write questions with an objective
Ophir reads your question as an objective and works toward it. The sharper the objective, the sharper the answer.
“What’s going on with BTCUSD?”
“I think BTCUSD has bottomed. What in the past 6 months of daily data supports that, and what contradicts it?”
Three habits keep answers clean:
- One timeframe per question. Get the daily view, then ask for the 4-hour.
- A window that fits the timeframe. Daily bars over a year, or hourly bars over a few months, read well. Very long histories are slow and the most likely to fail, so for a long view, ask for weekly bars instead.
- A ticker Ophir covers. Use stock and ETF tickers (
NVDA,QQQ,SPY), forex pairs (EURUSD), crypto pairs (BTCUSD) andXAUUSDfor gold. For index futures, ask about the tracking ETF, such asQQQfor the Nasdaq-100.
7. Keep the project’s knowledge current
A project is only as good as its files. Two habits keep it sharp:
- Update your key-levels file weekly. Stale levels produce stale charts.
- Start a new chat for each idea. Your instructions and files carry into every chat, so short chats lose nothing. When a chat reaches a conclusion worth keeping, add it to your key-levels file or a notes file so the next chat starts from it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Claude good for stock trading?
Claude is strong at analysis: reading market structure, testing a thesis against data and checking setups against written rules. On its own, though, it can’t see live prices, which is why it needs a market data connection such as Ophir. It doesn’t predict prices, and no tool should be treated as if it does.
Can Claude trade for me?
Not with this setup. Ophir provides analysis, not order execution. Some brokers offer connectors that let Claude place orders, but handing execution to an AI removes the judgment step where most risk is managed. Using Claude as an analyst keeps you in control of every trade.
Are Claude Projects free?
Yes. Free accounts can create up to five projects. They’re also limited to one custom connector, which is enough for Ophir.
What’s the difference between a Claude Project and a regular chat?
A regular chat starts without your instructions or files. A project carries both into every chat inside it, so your timeframes, levels and trading rules apply automatically.
Set it up once, use it every day
Create the project, paste in the instructions above and ask Ophir about the market you trade most. From then on, every chat starts from your rules, your levels and live data. For questions about why a market moved, add web search to the same chat: Why Is Gold Down Today? walks through it.
Sources
This article is for educational purposes only and is not investment advice. Trading involves substantial risk of loss.