Guides
Longer explainers that sit alongside the courses: 48 of them across six groups, each opening with the answer and ending with the research it leads to.
What forex trading is
Forex is the exchange of one currency for another, and forex trading is doing that to profit from the change in the rate rather than...
Currency pairs
A currency is priced in terms of another, so forex trades in pairs, and the way a pair is written tells you which currency you are buying,...
Pips and lot sizes
A pip is the unit forex prices move in and a lot is the unit positions are sized in, and between them they turn a price change into money....
Spreads and commissions
The spread and the commission are the two charges a trade pays to open and close, and brokers arrange them differently across account types...
Leverage
Leverage lets a trader control a position many times larger than the money put down, which is what makes small currency moves worth trading...
Margin
Margin is the part of the account a broker sets aside to hold a leveraged position, and the words around it, free margin, margin level,...
Position sizing
Position sizing is deciding how much to trade so that the loss if the trade fails is one you chose in advance, and it is the single habit...
Stop-loss orders
A stop-loss order closes a position automatically when the price reaches a level you set, so that a losing trade is cut without you...
Risk-to-reward ratios
The risk-to-reward ratio compares what a trade stands to lose at its stop with what it stands to make at its target, and together with the...
Risk management
Risk management is the set of rules a trader follows so that no single trade, no single day and no single mistake can end the account, and...
Market volatility
Volatility is how much a price moves over a period, and it changes constantly with the session, the news calendar and the mood of the...
How to choose a broker
Choosing a broker is deciding which company will hold your money and stand on the other side of your trades, and the decision deserves more...
Trading platforms
The platform is the software the trader sees the market through and sends orders from, and for most retail brokers it is licensed from one...
Broker execution models
Market maker, STP, ECN, A-book and B-book are the words brokers use to describe what happens to your order after you place it, and they are...
Slippage
Slippage is the difference between the price you asked for and the price you got, and it is a normal part of trading in a moving market...
Regulation
A regulated broker is one that a financial authority has licensed and supervises, and the value of that depends entirely on which authority...
Client money
What happens to the money you deposit with a broker depends on the rules its regulator sets about keeping it separate, and on whether a...
Fundamental and technical analysis
Traders decide what to buy and sell in two broad ways: by studying the economics behind a currency, or by studying the price itself. This...
Economic indicators
Currencies move on the scheduled numbers governments and central banks publish, and a handful of releases account for most of the largest...
Commodities
Gold, silver, oil and the other commodities are offered by nearly every forex broker as CFDs, and they trade differently from currencies in...
Indices
A stock index CFD lets a trader take a position on a whole share market, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, the FTSE 100, the DAX, the Nikkei or...
Shares
Most multi-asset brokers offer shares as CFDs, and a growing number also offer the shares themselves, and the difference between the two...
Cryptocurrency CFDs
A bitcoin CFD at a forex broker tracks the coin's price without the trader owning any bitcoin, and it is banned for retail clients in the...
Futures and CFDs
A futures contract and a contract for difference both let a trader take a leveraged position on a price without owning the thing, and they...
What Is Prop Trading?
Prop trading means trading a firm's capital for a share of the profit. Online prop firms sell an evaluation; pass it and you trade a funded...
What Is a Prop Firm?
A prop firm is a company that funds traders. Online, it means a firm that sells evaluations, funds those who pass with simulated accounts,...
How Prop Firm Challenges Work
A prop firm challenge is a simulated account with a profit target and loss limits. Hit the target without touching a limit and you pass....
One-Step vs Two-Step Prop Firm Challenges
A two-step challenge has two phases with a larger then a smaller target and usually static drawdown. A one-step challenge has one phase, a...
Prop Firm Drawdown Rules Explained
Drawdown rules are the loss limits that close a prop firm account: a daily limit and a maximum limit, measured on balance or equity, static...
Static vs Trailing Drawdown
Static drawdown is measured from the starting balance and never moves; trailing drawdown follows your highest equity or balance upwards....
Prop Firm Profit Splits Explained
A profit split is the share of funded-account profit a trader keeps, typically 80 percent rising to 90 or more with time or scaling. The...
How Prop Firm Payouts Work
A payout is the transfer of your profit share from the firm: a request on a schedule, a review, and a transfer by bank, card or crypto....
How to Compare Prop Firms
Compare prop firms in order: transparency and payout record first, then the rules, the drawdown type, the target, the split, the payout...
Prop Firm Challenge Fees Explained
A challenge fee is the price of one evaluation attempt, from under 100 dollars for a small two-step to over 1,000 for a large one-step. It...
MT4 vs MT5
MetaTrader 5 is the newer, more capable platform and the one MetaQuotes develops; MetaTrader 4 survives on its enormous library of expert...
Forex Order Types Explained
Forex platforms offer a market order that fills now, limit orders that wait for a better price, stop orders that trigger at a worse one,...
Copy Trading Explained
Copy trading replicates another trader's positions in your account automatically, through a broker's own service or a platform such as...
Algorithmic Trading for Beginners
Algorithmic trading means rules executed by software: an expert advisor on MetaTrader, a cBot on cTrader or a Pine Script strategy on...
What Happens If Your Forex Broker Goes Bankrupt?
If a broker fails, what you get back depends on whether your money was segregated, whether a compensation scheme covers the firm, and...
Forex Broker Scams and How to Avoid Them
The common forex scams are the unlicensed broker that refuses withdrawals, the clone of a real firm, the account manager who loses your...
How to Check a Forex Broker's Licence
Checking a licence means finding the legal entity behind your account, looking it up on the regulator's own register, and confirming that...
Forex Broker Deposits and Withdrawals
Brokers accept cards, bank transfers, e-wallets and increasingly crypto, usually free on deposit and sometimes charged on withdrawal....
How Interest Rates Move Currencies
Money flows towards yield. When a central bank raises rates, or is expected to, holding its currency pays more and the currency...
Inflation and Currencies
Inflation strengthens a currency in the short run, because it makes the central bank more likely to raise rates, and weakens it in the long...
How to Use an Economic Calendar
An economic calendar lists scheduled releases with their time, currency, importance, previous figure, forecast and actual. Used daily, it...
Trading Gold
Gold is traded at most brokers as a CFD priced in dollars per ounce, XAU/USD. It moves inversely to real interest rates and the dollar,...
Diversification in Forex Trading
Diversification means spreading risk across positions that do not move together. In forex most pairs share a currency, so three trades can...
Forex Trading Fees Explained
The fees of forex trading are the spread, commissions on raw accounts, overnight swaps, and the occasional charges for withdrawals,...