Effective Date: October 5, 2026 Last Updated: October 19, 2026
1. Introduction
Cool Trading Journal is operated by Cool Trading Tools LLC ("we," "us," "our"). This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It covers cooltradingtools.io and our hosted application (the "Service"). This Policy is incorporated into our Terms of Service.
2. Information We Collect
2.1 Account information
Email address
Username
Password (stored as a one-way hash; we never see your plaintext password)
If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email, and Google account ID via Google OAuth
2.2 Billing information
Stripe processes all payments. We receive limited information from Stripe (such as the last 4 digits of your card, billing country, subscription status, and payment history)
We do not store full payment card numbers on our servers
2.3 User Content
Trades you log, including tickers, prices, dates, and entry/exit markers
Personal notes, tags, and analyses
Saved reports and playbooks
Selected news articles and chart configurations
AI Study Panel prompts and conversation history
AI Insights conversations and the AI's saved reviews of your trading
Notes the AI keeps about how you trade (its "memory"), which you can read, edit, and delete in your account settings
2.3.1 Trade history you bring in
Files you upload: the trades in the file (symbols, quantities, prices, fees, dates and times) and a record of the upload (file name, date, and how many trades it added). Once you confirm or cancel the upload we discard the file; each imported trade keeps its own row from it, with account numbers masked
Linked brokerage accounts (through SnapTrade): the name of your broker, your account name and a masked account number, and your transaction history (symbols, quantities, prices, fees, dates and times)
We never receive or store your brokerage username or password. You sign in on SnapTrade's page, and the link is read-only
The statistics shown in My Trades are calculated from this trade history
2.4 Usage and analytics data
Pages viewed, features used, button clicks, and session activity (collected via PostHog)
AI Study usage events (token counts, costs, model used) — used for billing and abuse prevention
Errors and performance data
2.5 Device and log data
IP address, browser type, operating system, referrer, and timestamps
Used for security, debugging, rate limiting, and abuse prevention
3. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
We use a limited set of technologies that may include cookies, session storage, and similar identifiers. Specifically:
Strictly necessary (always on) — login sessions, CSRF protection, and similar tools required for the Service to function
Analytics (consent required) — we use PostHog to understand how the Service is used. Analytics cookies are only set after you click Accept on the cookie banner shown on your first visit. If you click Decline, no analytics cookies are set and no usage data is collected from your browser.
Referral (set only if you arrive through a partner's link) — if you reach us through a link of the form cooltradingtools.io/r/<partner>, we set a cookie named ctt_ref for 60 days so that partner is credited if you sign up. It holds only the partner's name, never anything about you. It is not set on any other visit.
Your cookie preference is remembered for 12 months. To change it, clear your browser cookies for this site and the banner will reappear on your next visit.
Your analytics choice.
Ads measurement. On our public pages (the landing page, sign-in, sign-up, home and The Cool Trading Times) we load the X (formerly Twitter) ads pixel so we can tell whether our ads on X lead to sign-ups. It loads unless you clicked Decline on the cookie banner. We do not use any other advertising cookies or pixels, and we do not build advertising profiles of you.
4. How We Use Your Information
Provide the Service: authenticate you, store and display your trades and notes, run the AI Study Panel, import your trade history and calculate your trading statistics, run AI Insights, run the stock scanner, deliver your subscription
Process payments: via Stripe, including subscription renewals
Communicate with you: transactional emails (account, billing, security, password resets, important product changes)
Keep you posted: occasional emails about new features and offers for account holders; every one carries an unsubscribe link, and opting out never affects the transactional emails above
Improve the Service: debug issues, analyze aggregate usage patterns, monitor for abuse
Enforce our Terms and comply with law: investigate violations, respond to legal requests
5. AI Features and Your Data
When you use the AI Study Panel, your prompt and the trade or chart context you've selected are transmitted to our third-party AI provider for processing.
When you use AI Insights on My Trades, your question, your trading statistics, the trades for the period you are looking at (symbols, dates and times, sizes, prices, and profit or loss), and the AI's memory notes about you are transmitted to our AI provider in the same way.
When you upload a trade file in a layout we don't recognize, the file's column names and a few sample rows, with anything that looks like an account number masked, are transmitted to our AI provider so the layout can be read. We keep those column names and a few masked sample rows with the upload record so we can add support for that layout.
Under our agreement with our AI provider, your prompts and outputs are not used to train its models
Our AI provider typically retains request data for a limited period (around 30 days at the time of writing) for trust-and-safety purposes, then deletes it. Specific retention may vary. You can ask us who our current AI provider is at any time
We do not use your trade data, AI prompts, or AI conversations to train any AI model — ours or anyone else's
We do log AI usage metadata (token counts, costs, timestamps) for billing, abuse prevention, and product analytics
Do not enter sensitive personal information (such as full account numbers, government IDs, passwords, or material non-public information about any company) into the AI Study Panel or the AI Insights chat. Treat them as you would any third-party processor.
6. Service Providers and Third Parties
We share data with the following service providers, only as needed to operate the Service:
SnapTrade — linking brokerage accounts. SnapTrade connects to your broker and passes us your account and trade history; it handles your brokerage sign-in, which we never see (snaptrade.com/privacy-policy)
Our AI model provider — AI features (AI Study Panel, AI Insights, reading trade files)
Cloud hosting and database providers — application hosting and data storage
Yahoo Finance (yfinance), StockNews API, FinViz — market data and news (we send ticker queries; they do not receive your personal account data)
Professional advisors (lawyers, accountants) when needed, under confidentiality
Partners. If you signed up through a partner's link or code, that partner can see anonymous billing figures for the accounts they referred: the plan, the amount paid and their share. They never see your name, your email, your trades or anything you do in the Service.
We do not sell your personal information. Apart from the X ads pixel described in Section 3, which you can decline, we do not share your personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we do not "sell" personal information as that term is defined in the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
7. Data Storage and Security
Data is stored on managed cloud databases run by our hosting and database providers
All connections to the Service use HTTPS / SSL encryption
Passwords are hashed using industry-standard one-way hashing
We apply rate limiting, security headers, and access controls to protect against abuse
No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure; we cannot guarantee absolute security
8. Data Retention
Account and User Content: retained while your account is active. After account deletion, we make reasonable efforts to delete your data within approximately 90 days from our active systems
Backups: data may persist in encrypted backups for a limited additional period (typically up to 35 days) before being overwritten in normal backup rotation
Billing records: retained for up to 7 years as required by tax and accounting laws
Server logs: retained for up to 90 days for security and debugging
AI Study usage events: retained for billing audit and abuse prevention; aggregated and de-identified after billing reconciliation
Imported trade history: retained while your account is active. You can remove an uploaded file's trades, delete all imported trades, or disconnect your broker at any time from your account settings. Disconnecting removes the link at SnapTrade; deleting your account also removes your SnapTrade user
You may delete individual reports, playbooks, or trades at any time from within the Service
9. Your Rights and Choices
Depending on where you live, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:
Access — request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
Portability — receive your data in a portable format. You can export your account data, including your imported trades, AI Insights conversations, and the AI's memory notes, at any time from your account settings (downloads as a JSON file)
Correction — update inaccurate information (most fields are editable directly in your account settings)
Deletion — delete your account and associated User Content from your account settings, subject to the retention rules in Section 8
Opt-out — opt out of non-essential communications
Non-discrimination — we will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights
To exercise any right not available through your account settings, email cooltradingtools16@gmail.com. We may need to verify your identity before responding.
9.1 California residents (CCPA / CPRA)
California residents have the rights described above, including the right to know what categories of personal information we collect, the right to delete, the right to correct, and the right to opt out of any sale or sharing. We do not sell personal information.
9.2 EU/UK residents (GDPR)
If you are in the EU, UK, or EEA, you have the rights described above plus the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority. Our lawful bases for processing include contract performance (providing the Service), legitimate interests (security, analytics, fraud prevention), legal obligation (tax and accounting), and consent where required.
10. International Data Transfers
We and our service providers are based primarily in the United States, and your information will be processed in the U.S. and other countries where our providers operate. By using the Service, you understand that your information may be transferred to and processed in jurisdictions that may have different data protection laws than your own.
11. Children's Privacy
The Service is intended for users 18 years and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18 and do not target the Service to children. If we learn that we have collected information from a child under 13 in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we will delete it promptly.
12. Security Incidents
If we become aware of a security incident that materially affects your personal information, we will notify affected users by email and, where applicable, comply with breach-notification laws in your jurisdiction.
13. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page. For material changes, we will provide reasonable advance notice (typically by email or in-app notice) before the changes take effect. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
14. Contact Us
For privacy questions, data requests, or concerns: cooltradingtools16@gmail.com