IDLe is intended to provide the download of market quotations and their storage in a format compatible with MetaStock Professional 6.52 (and higher) and Ensign for Windows. IDLe can also convert saved data to a format compatible with TradeStation (formerly known as Omega Research ProSuite). IDLe operates according to the following scheme: at launch the application connects to the server and downloads the list of instruments (currencies) and intervals, then in determines whether new quotations are present on the server for each instrument and interval. If the quotations are present, IDLe will download them and save as files on your hard drive. This procedure is repeated automatically every few minutes until the application or the connections get closed. Between the downloads IDLe can receive the quotations in real time and relay them to the MetaStock and other applications for charting. If the application autorefresh feature is activated, the charts will be automatically refreshed upon receipt of new data from the server (in real time, or once a few minutes, depending on the settings).

Simultaneously with the quotation feed into the external techanalysis applications, IDLe can display the current quotations in the Quote spreadsheet window and load the news.