Clear, honest guides to the metrics that actually matter, how to tell a real track record from a faked one, and how to read every module in Karnek. No jargon, no fluff.
The cornerstone guides - and the flagship: how to read your strategy correlation.
Screenshots prove nothing. How to check an EA's track record for real: read-only feeds, demo versus live, drawdown over headline return, and the tells of a fake.
8 minRead → ConceptsA dashboard rarely lies with one false number. It lies in the gaps between honest figures measured over different populations. Seven traps, and how to catch each.
9 minRead → MetricsA dozen numbers on an EA's results page, and most are noise. Here are the six that matter, the order to read them in, and the traps that make each one lie.
8 minRead → How-toSeveral terminals, brokers and VPSs and no single screen for all of it. The ways to monitor multiple MT4/MT5 accounts, what to track, and how to be alerted.
8 minRead → Karnek ModulesRunning ten EAs isn't diversification if they all make the same bet. Karnek's correlation matrix shows how your strategies actually move together — here's how to read it.
6 minRead →How to read every analytical module in your Karnek dashboard. View all →
Set a drawdown limit and Karnek warns you at 80% and 90% of it, by email or Telegram, live from the terminal — before you breach it, not after.
5 minRead → Karnek ModulesThe EA Performance page ranks every strategy at every broker. Here's each column — and why lifetime totals and recent windowed figures are kept apart.
6 minRead → Karnek ModulesThe same EA can make money at one broker and lose it at another. Here's how Karnek's per-broker table shows you where, and why comparing per lot is the only fair way to read it.
5 minRead → Karnek ModulesRunning ten EAs isn't diversification if they all make the same bet. Karnek's correlation matrix shows how your strategies actually move together — here's how to read it.
6 minRead → Karnek ModulesAt month-end, Karnek builds a clean, branded PDF for every account — net profit, per-EA breakdown, drawdown, frozen and ready to send to a client.
5 minRead → Karnek ModulesA running terminal isn't a working one. System Health flags offline terminals, disabled autotrading and quiet strategies — with uptime you can trust.
6 minRead → Karnek ModulesThe dashboard's rotating insight picks the single most useful, non-obvious thing in your data — a broker edge, a correlation, a cost drag — and proves it.
5 minRead → Karnek ModulesThe dashboard card that counts the accounts needing a look — an offline terminal, autotrading off, a quiet EA or a drawdown nearing its limit.
5 minRead → Karnek ModulesA public performance page and badge for any account or EA, read straight from the terminal — losing months and all, so nobody can quietly edit it.
5 minRead → Karnek ModulesYour Karnek dashboard answers two questions fast: is everything OK, and where's my money? Every KPI card, chart and donut explained — honest bits included.
6 minRead →The why behind the numbers - risk, verification and honest reporting. View all →
Copy trading mirrors a human's trades; an expert advisor runs a strategy on your own terminal. Here's how they differ on control, cost and transparency.
5 minRead → ConceptsFaked screenshots, deleted losing calls, VIP upsells and broker kickbacks. Here's how forex signal seller scams work and how to protect yourself from them.
5 minRead → ConceptsA dashboard rarely lies with one false number. It lies in the gaps between honest figures measured over different populations. Seven traps, and how to catch each.
9 minRead → ConceptsProfit splits, payout cycles, minimum thresholds and first-payout conditions explained — plus the gap between passing a challenge and actually getting paid.
5 minRead → ConceptsOne evaluation phase or two? Here's how one-step and two-step prop firm challenges differ on targets, drawdown, cost and pass rate, and which suits which trader.
5 minRead → ConceptsCentral banks set interest rates and monetary policy, and no force moves currencies more. Here's what they do, why it matters and the major ones.
5 minRead → ConceptsInterest rates and the gaps between them drive currency flows. Here's how the carry trade and swap work, and why hikes and cuts move the market.
5 minRead → ConceptsMarket, limit, stop and stop-limit orders each fill in a different way. Here's what each one does, short worked examples, and when to reach for which.
5 minRead → ConceptsPAMM and MAM accounts let a manager trade your money alongside others'. Here's how they work, how they differ from copy trading, and the risks to check first.
5 minRead → ConceptsCPI is the consumer price index, the main inflation gauge. Here's why it moves currencies and rate expectations, and how traders react to the release.
5 minRead → ConceptsDepth of market is the live order book of bids and asks stacked by size. Here's how to read it, and why you only really get it on ECN forex accounts.
5 minRead → ConceptsForex pair correlation measures how two pairs move together or opposite. Here's why it multiplies hidden risk when EAs stack the same bet, with an example.
5 minRead → ConceptsGDP is gross domestic product, the headline growth gauge. Here's what it measures, how it moves a currency, and how the quarterly release is traded.
5 minRead → ConceptsQuantitative easing is a central bank creating money to buy bonds and assets. Here's how it usually weakens the currency, with a plain example.
5 minRead → ConceptsThird-party verification means an independent service, not the trader, confirms results are real. How it works, what it proves, and the fakes to avoid.
5 minRead → ConceptsA custom indicator is a user or third-party MT4/MT5 tool written in MQL. How it differs from the built-in set, and why paid 'holy grail' indicators let you down.
5 minRead → ConceptsA market maker is a dealing-desk broker that quotes both sides and may take the other side of your trade. Here's how it differs from ECN/STP, and the conflict.
5 minRead → ConceptsA pending order waits at a price you set and triggers when the market reaches it. Here's how buy and sell limits and stops work, and when to use them.
5 minRead → ConceptsA consistency rule caps how much of your total profit can come from one day or trade. Here's how it works, a worked example, and how it catches high-variance EAs.
5 minRead → ConceptsA requote is when a broker can't fill at your requested price and offers a new one. Here's why it happens, how it hits scalpers and EAs, and how to reduce them.
5 minRead → ConceptsA safe-haven currency is one traders buy when markets panic. Here's why money flows to the dollar, yen and franc in risk-off periods, with examples.
5 minRead → ConceptsA swap is the overnight interest you pay or receive for holding a forex position past rollover. Here's how it works, triple-swap Wednesday, and why it matters for EAs.
5 minRead → ConceptsA trading journal is a record of every trade and why you took it. Here's what to log, how it builds discipline, and why you monitor first and review later.
5 minRead → ConceptsA verified track record is read from the account, not supplied by the trader. How fakes are made, a checklist to test one, and what Karnek verifies.
10 minRead → ConceptsAn equity curve plots your account value over time, open trades included. Here's how to read it, why equity beats balance, and the patterns that warn you.
5 minRead → ConceptsThe investor password opens an MT4 or MT5 account read-only. Where to find it, how to set or change it on desktop and mobile, and what it can't do.
8 minRead → ConceptsCompounding in trading means leaving your profits in your account and trading on the growing balance — so that profits generate further profits over tim…
2 minRead → ConceptsCorrelation risk in trading is the risk that comes from holding multiple positions that tend to move in the same direction at the same time. If two trad…
2 minRead → ConceptsOver-leveraging means using too much leverage relative to your account size and risk tolerance — trading positions so large that a normal, expected mark…
2 minRead → ConceptsRisk management is the set of rules and practices you apply to protect your trading capital from excessive losses. It is the difference between traders…
3 minRead → ConceptsThe 1% rule is a risk management guideline that says you should never risk more than 1% of your total account balance on a single trade. If your account…
2 minRead → ConceptsThe Dollar Index (DXY) measures the US dollar against a basket of six major currencies. Here's what it signals and how it moves against pairs like EURUSD.
5 minRead → ConceptsTrading psychology refers to the mental and emotional factors that affect trading decisions. Fear, greed, impatience, overconfidence, and the desire to…
2 minRead → ConceptsAn expert advisor won't tell you when it has stopped trading, the VPS has died or drawdown is nearing a limit. Here's what to watch and why it matters.
5 minRead →Practical, do-this guides for monitoring and verifying strategies. View all →
A step-by-step walk-through of backtesting an EA in the MT4 or MT5 Strategy Tester — settings, data, costs, and how to read the results honestly.
5 minRead → How-toA practical checklist for choosing an EA — verified live results, drawdown, realistic returns, strategy type, vendor transparency and the red flags to avoid.
5 minRead → How-toRunning several MT4 terminals across brokers and VPSs? Here are the options for watching them all — logins, MultiTerminal, dashboards — and their trade-offs.
5 minRead → How-toSeveral terminals, brokers and VPSs and no single screen for all of it. The ways to monitor multiple MT4/MT5 accounts, what to track, and how to be alerted.
8 minRead → How-toEdited screenshots, demo shown as live, cherry-picked months, impossibly smooth curves. How to tell fake forex results from real ones, with a checklist.
5 minRead → How-toScreenshots prove nothing. How to check an EA's track record for real: read-only feeds, demo versus live, drawdown over headline return, and the tells of a fake.
8 minRead → How-toInstalling an Expert Advisor in MetaTrader is the process of copying the EA file into the correct folder so that MetaTrader can find and run it. Once in…
3 minRead →What each performance number means, and how to read it honestly. View all →
A dozen numbers on an EA's results page, and most are noise. Here are the six that matter, the order to read them in, and the traps that make each one lie.
8 minRead → MetricsMAE and MFE track the worst and best point a trade reached before it closed, revealing whether your stops and targets are well placed. With a worked example.
5 minRead → MetricsAn R-multiple states each trade as a multiple of the risk you took. The formula, a worked example, and how R normalises trades and feeds expectancy.
5 minRead → MetricsCAGR, the compound annual growth rate, is the steady yearly return that turns your starting balance into your ending one. The formula and a worked example.
5 minRead → MetricsExpectancy is the average result you can expect per trade. Here's the formula, a worked example in £ and R, and why a low win rate can still turn a profit.
5 minRead → MetricsMaximum drawdown is the largest peak-to-trough fall in your equity. How it differs from current drawdown, and why prop-firm limits hinge on it.
5 minRead → MetricsPosition sizing is choosing your lot size from a fixed risk per trade. Here's the formula, a worked example, and why size matters more than entries.
5 minRead → MetricsRisk of ruin is the probability of losing enough capital to be unable to continue. What drives it, why big bets guarantee ruin, and how to cut it.
5 minRead → MetricsTime-weighted return strips deposits and withdrawals out of a strategy's performance. Here's how it works, a worked example, and why it's the fair comparison.
5 minRead → MetricsValue at Risk estimates the loss you shouldn't exceed at a set confidence over a period. Here's the intuition, a worked example, and why it hides tail risk.
5 minRead → MetricsWin rate is winning trades divided by total trades — and the most over-rated number in trading. Why a 90% win rate can still blow up, with a worked example.
5 minRead → MetricsProfit factor is gross profit divided by gross loss. Here's how to read it, what a healthy value looks like, and the traps that make the number lie.
5 minRead → MetricsRecovery factor is net profit divided by maximum drawdown — how many times over a system earns back its worst dip. Here's how to read it and where it misleads.
5 minRead → MetricsA risk-reward ratio compares what you risk to what you aim to gain per trade. The breakeven win rate formula, a worked table, and claimed versus realised RR.
5 minRead → MetricsDrawdown is the largest peak-to-trough decline your account has experienced over a given period. If your balance grew to £1,200 and then fell to £900 be…
3 minRead → MetricsThe Calmar ratio is annualised return divided by maximum drawdown. It ties reward to the worst loss endured. Formula, worked example and how to read it.
5 minRead → MetricsThe Sharpe ratio measures return per unit of total volatility. Here's the formula, a worked example, how to read it, and where the number misleads.
5 minRead → MetricsThe Sortino ratio is like Sharpe but divides only by downside volatility, so big winning months aren't punished. Formula, worked example and limits.
5 minRead → MetricsThe System Quality Number rates a strategy's edge by its average R, the consistency of that R, and how many trades back it up. How to read Van Tharp's SQN.
5 minRead →EA behaviour, backtesting and the specialist grid world. View all →
Modelling quality is how faithfully the Strategy Tester recreates real price movement. Here's what MT4's 90% ceiling and MT5's real-tick model mean.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesLive results almost always fall short of the backtest. What causes the gap — spread, slippage, latency, over-optimisation — and how to narrow it.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesBacktest, demo forward test and small live test each reveal a different truth about an EA. What each catches, what it misses, and the right order to run them.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesIn-sample data is what you optimise on; out-of-sample data is held back to test honestly. A wide gap between them is the classic sign of curve-fitting.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesA portfolio of EAs spreads risk across strategies, pairs and timeframes — but only if they are genuinely different and you can watch every account at once.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesAlgorithmic trading means trading rules executed automatically by software. In retail forex that usually means EAs on MT4/MT5. Here's how it works.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesBreakout trading means entering as price breaks a level, range or session high. Here's how it works, true vs false breakouts, and a London example.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesCurve fitting is tuning an EA so tightly to past data that it fits noise, not a real edge. The signs, why it collapses live, and how to avoid it.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesForex arbitrage profits from the same value priced two ways — across brokers or three pairs. How it works, triangular arbitrage, and why it's hard for retail.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesHedging means opening opposing positions to offset risk. Here's direct vs correlated hedges, MT4 hedging vs MT5 netting, US FIFO rules, and the real cost.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesLatency arbitrage trades a broker's slow price feed using a faster one. Here's how it works, why brokers ban it, and why it's a fragile bet for retail.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesMomentum trading means buying strength and selling weakness on the idea that moves persist. Here's how it works, the tools it uses, and where it fails.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesMonte Carlo simulation reshuffles your trades thousands of times to show a range of equity curves and drawdowns, not one lucky path. Here's how to read it.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesPairs trading goes long one instrument and short a correlated one, betting the gap reverts. Here's how it works, with a worked example and the catch.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesQuantitative trading uses data, models and statistics to find an edge and trade it by rule. Here's how it works, and the honest version for retail traders.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesTick data records every price change. Why real ticks make a backtest realistic, how modelled ticks flatter results, and where to get them.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesTrend following means riding sustained moves, cutting losers fast and letting winners run. Here's the low win-rate profile, the tools, and the drawdowns.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesWalk-forward analysis optimises an EA on one data window, then tests it on the next it has never seen, and rolls forward. Why it beats a single backtest.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesA magic number is a unique ID an EA stamps on its orders in MT4/MT5 so it manages only its own trades. Why it matters, how it's set, and how reports use it.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesA news filter pauses an EA around high-impact releases like NFP and CPI, when spreads widen and fills go wrong. How it works, and what it costs you.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesA trade copier mirrors trades from one MetaTrader account to others. Here's how local and remote copiers work, where the latency creeps in, and common uses.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesA trade manager EA manages open trades instead of entering them — trailing stops, break-even, partial closes and risk-based lot sizing. Why traders use them.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesA trading algorithm is a fixed set of rules software runs for you — entry, exit and risk. Here's how it works and how it differs from discretionary trading.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesA trailing stop is a stop-loss that follows price in your favour to lock in profit. Here's how it works, a worked example, and the client vs server-side catch.
5 minRead → Grid & EA typesGrid trading is a strategy that places multiple buy and sell orders at regular intervals above and below the current price — creating a "grid" of positi…
2 minRead → Grid & EA typesA martingale EA is an Expert Advisor built on the martingale strategy — a position-sizing approach where the trade size is doubled (or increased by a fi…
3 minRead → Grid & EA typesMost EAs that shine on a vendor's page lose money live. The real reasons — curve-fitting, regime change, optimistic backtests and weak risk control.
5 minRead →The common strategy styles, plainly explained. View all →
Grid and martingale both add to losing positions, but one keeps size fixed and the other doubles. Here's how they differ and the risk each carries.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesDay trading means opening and closing positions within the same day, with no overnight holds. Here are the real pros, costs and trade-offs.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesHigh-frequency trading fires thousands of ultra-fast orders a second from co-located servers. What the infrastructure costs, and why retail can't do it.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesMean reversion is a trading strategy based on the idea that prices tend to return to their historical average over time. When a price moves significantl…
2 minRead → Trading StrategiesNews trading means trading high-impact releases like NFP and CPI. Why spreads widen, fills slip and prices gap, and why EAs use a news filter.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesPosition trading means holding trades for weeks or months on the big-picture trend. Here's how it compares to day and swing trading.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesRange trading means buying support and selling resistance while a market drifts sideways. The tools it uses, and how a breakout brings it to an end.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesSeasonality is a recurring calendar tendency — a month, day or hour that has leaned one way. Useful as background context, dangerous as a rule.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesA basket trade groups several pairs and manages them as one position, with a combined target and stop. Here's how it's built and where risk hides.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesA correlation hedge offsets a position with a related pair instead of closing it. Here's how it works, the maths, and why the hedge can quietly fail.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesA reversal strategy trades the turning point where a trend ends. Done well it gives strong entries; done early it is just fighting the trend.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesA session breakout trades the move when London opens and price breaks the quiet overnight Asian range. Here's how it works and where it fails.
5 minRead → Trading StrategiesHow martingale and grid strategies work in forex, why their equity curves look so smooth, what the floating loss hides, and how to spot one in a track record.
10 minRead → Trading StrategiesScalping is a short-term trading strategy that aims to capture very small price movements — typically 1–10 pips per trade — by opening and closing many…
2 minRead → Trading StrategiesSwing trading is a medium-term trading approach that aims to capture larger price moves — typically 50–500 pips — by holding positions for days to weeks…
2 minRead → Trading StrategiesThe carry trade borrows a low-yield currency to hold a high-yield one, earning the interest-rate difference as swap. How it works, and the reversal risk.
5 minRead →Charts, patterns and indicators, from candlesticks to Ichimoku. View all →
Bollinger Bands are a volatility indicator consisting of three lines plotted on a price chart: a middle line (a simple moving average, typically 20 peri…
2 minRead → Technical AnalysisFibonacci retracement marks likely pullback levels — 38.2%, 50% and 61.8% — inside a trend. Here's how to draw them, how to use them, and where they mislead.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisMACD — Moving Average Convergence Divergence — is a trend-following momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two moving averages of price.…
2 minRead → Technical AnalysisMulti-timeframe analysis uses a higher timeframe for direction and a lower one for entry. Here's a top-down example and why alignment beats a single chart.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisPrice action is reading raw price and candles without indicators. Here are the key signals, a worked example, and the honest pros and cons of the method.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisSupport and resistance are price levels where the market has historically had difficulty moving through. Support is a price floor — a level where buying…
2 minRead → Technical AnalysisVWAP is the average price weighted by volume across a session. Here's how it's used intraday — and why forex's lack of central volume makes it a proxy at best.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisForex has no central exchange, so MT4 volume is tick count, not contracts traded. Here's what tick volume is, what it isn't, and how to use it.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisA Bollinger squeeze is when the bands narrow as volatility drops, often before a sharp move. Here's how to spot one and how it fails.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisA chart pattern is a recognisable formation — triangles, head and shoulders, flags — that hints at the next move. What each implies, plus a reliability caution.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisDivergence is when price and an oscillator disagree. Here's regular versus hidden divergence, what each one signals, and a worked RSI example.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisA doji is a candle that opens and closes at nearly the same price — a picture of indecision. Here are the main variants and how to read them.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisThe double top is a two-peak reversal that confirms on a neckline break. Here's how to trade it, where to set targets, and the false signals to avoid.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisFlags and pennants are continuation patterns that follow a sharp move. Here's how to spot them, trade the break, and measure the move that follows.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisThe head and shoulders is a trend-reversal pattern built from three peaks and a neckline. Here's how it forms, how traders play the break, and why it fails.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisHeikin-Ashi averages candles to smooth a trend into a run of same-colour bars. Here's what they show, what they hide, and the lag you pay for it.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisA crossover is when a fast moving average crosses a slow one. Here's how golden and death crosses work, and why they whipsaw in ranges.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisA pin bar is a candle with a long wick that marks a rejected price. Here's how to read the tail, where the setup works, and where it fails.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisA pivot point is a support and resistance level worked out from the prior session's high, low and close. Here's the formula and how intraday traders use it.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisPrice gaps in forex mostly happen at the weekend and around news. Here are the types, whether they fill, and why they jump straight through stops.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisRenko charts print a brick only when price moves a set amount, ignoring time. Here's how they filter noise and the lag that filtering costs you.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisA trend is the direction price is travelling — up, down or sideways. Here's how higher highs and lower lows define one, and how to follow it.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisAscending, descending and symmetrical triangles are consolidation patterns. Here's what each shape leans towards and how to trade the breakout.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisA candlestick chart is the standard way of displaying price data in forex and financial trading. Each "candle" on the chart represents a specific period…
2 minRead → Technical AnalysisA moving average is an indicator that calculates the average price of an asset over a specific number of periods and plots that average as a line on the…
2 minRead → Technical AnalysisAn exponential moving average weights recent price more heavily than an SMA, so it turns faster. Here's how it's built, how to use it, and crossovers.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisA bullish or bearish engulfing candle can signal a reversal when one body swallows the last. Here's how to read it and why confirmation matters.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisThe ADX measures how strong a trend is, not which way it points. Here's what the 25 line means, how the DI lines add direction, and what it can't tell you.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisAverage true range measures volatility — how much a market typically moves. Here's how to use it to set stops and size positions, with a worked example.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisThe Commodity Channel Index measures how far price has strayed from its average. Here's how to read the ±100 lines, spot divergence, and which school you're in.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisThe Ichimoku cloud folds five lines into one chart — trend, momentum and support at a glance. Here's what each line means and how to read them together.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisThe Parabolic SAR drops a trail of dots above or below price to mark trend direction and a ready-made trailing stop. Here's how to read it and when it fails.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisThe RSI — Relative Strength Index — is a technical indicator that measures the speed and magnitude of recent price changes to determine whether an asset…
2 minRead → Technical AnalysisThe stochastic oscillator is a momentum tool showing where price sits in its recent range. Here's overbought and oversold, %K and %D, and divergence.
5 minRead → Technical AnalysisVolatility is a measure of how much and how quickly the price of an asset moves. A highly volatile currency pair moves sharply and frequently — large pr…
2 minRead →The economic releases that move currencies. View all →
Inflation data moves a currency through interest-rate expectations. A hot CPI print points to higher rates and usually a firmer currency.
5 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisPMI is the purchasing managers' index, a survey-based growth gauge. Here's how the 50 line divides expansion from contraction and why it moves FX.
5 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisPPI is the producer price index, an early read on inflation. Here's why prices at the factory gate lead CPI and how the release moves a currency.
5 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisRisk-on, risk-off describes the market's mood swing between chasing return and seeking safety. Here's how it drives safe-haven and risk currencies.
5 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisA bond yield is the return a government pays to borrow. Yield differences between countries pull money across borders and move currency pairs.
5 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisA rate decision is a central bank setting its benchmark interest rate. The currency reaction depends on the surprise and the forward guidance.
5 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisA trade balance is a country's exports minus its imports. Here's how a surplus or deficit feeds through to currency demand and why traders watch it.
5 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisFundamental analysis is the study of economic, political, and social factors that affect currency values. Instead of looking at price charts, fundamenta…
2 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisHawkish and dovish are terms that describe a central bank's attitude toward monetary policy — specifically toward interest rates and inflation. A hawkis…
2 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisMarket sentiment is the overall attitude of market participants toward a particular currency pair or asset — the collective emotional and psychological…
2 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisThe FOMC is the US Federal Reserve committee that sets interest rates. Here's why its eight meetings a year move the dollar and every pair it touches.
5 minRead → Fundamental AnalysisNFP — Non-Farm Payrolls — is a monthly US economic report that measures the number of jobs added to the American economy in the previous month, excludin…
2 minRead →The starting vocabulary every trader needs. View all →
In any forex pair the base is the first currency and the quote is the second. Here's what the price means and how to read it, with an example.
4 minRead → The Basics of TradingEvery pair has two prices: the bid you sell at and the ask you buy at. The gap between them is the spread, your first trading cost.
4 minRead → The Basics of TradingBalance counts only closed trades; equity includes open ones. Here's why equity is the honest figure, a worked example, and how it ties to drawdown.
4 minRead → The Basics of TradingFree margin is equity minus used margin — what's left to open trades and absorb losses. Here's what it lets you do, with a worked £ example.
4 minRead → The Basics of TradingMargin level is equity divided by used margin, as a percent. Here's how it falls, how it triggers a margin call and stop-out, with a worked example.
5 minRead → The Basics of TradingMargin is the deposit your broker locks to hold a leveraged position. Here's the formula, how it differs from leverage, and a worked £ example.
4 minRead → The Basics of TradingPip value is what one pip is worth in money for your lot size and pair. Here's the formula, a worked £ example, and how it drives position sizing.
5 minRead → The Basics of TradingA currency pair prices one currency against another. Here's how majors, minors and exotics differ, and how to read a quote like GBP/USD.
5 minRead → The Basics of TradingA take-profit is a preset order that closes a trade once it reaches a target in profit. Here's how it pairs with a stop-loss and sets risk-reward.
5 minRead → The Basics of TradingA chart timeframe sets how much time each candle covers, from M1 to MN. Here's how it shapes a strategy and why traders read several at once.
5 minRead → The Basics of TradingA bull market is one where prices are generally rising over a sustained period. A bear market is one where prices are generally falling. The terms come…
2 minRead → The Basics of TradingA lot is the standardised unit of measurement for the amount of currency you're buying or selling in a forex trade. When you place a trade, you're not j…
2 minRead → The Basics of TradingA margin call is a notification from your broker that your account has fallen below the minimum margin required to keep your open positions running. It…
2 minRead → The Basics of TradingA pip is the smallest standard unit of price movement in forex trading. When EUR/USD moves from 1.10000 to 1.10010, it has moved one pip. The word stand…
3 minRead → The Basics of TradingThe spread is the difference between the price you pay to buy a currency pair (the ask) and the price you receive when you sell it (the bid). It's the p…
2 minRead → The Basics of TradingA stop loss is an instruction to automatically close a trade if the price moves against you by a specified amount. It is your safety net — the maximum l…
2 minRead → The Basics of TradingTrading is the act of buying and selling financial assets with the aim of making a profit. You buy something, wait for its value to change, then sell it…
3 minRead → The Basics of TradingLeverage lets you control a position larger than the money you actually have in your account. A broker offers you leverage so that a £1,000 deposit can…
3 minRead → The Basics of TradingLiquidity refers to how easily an asset can be bought or sold without affecting its price. A highly liquid market has many buyers and sellers at any giv…
2 minRead → The Basics of TradingForex — short for foreign exchange — is the global market where currencies are bought and sold against each other. It is the largest and most liquid fin…
2 minRead →Broker models, spreads, slippage and account types. View all →
When you place a forex trade, something has to be on the other side of it. How your broker handles that — and who ultimately takes the other side — dete…
2 minRead → Brokers & AccountsInstant and market execution are the two ways MT4 and MT5 fill your orders. Here's what each means for requotes, slippage and getting filled.
4 minRead → Brokers & AccountsNegative balance protection is a broker guarantee that you can't lose more than you deposit. Here's how it works, when it applies, and its limits.
5 minRead → Brokers & AccountsOrder execution is everything between clicking buy and the fill. Here's how orders are routed, why slippage happens, and what good execution looks like.
5 minRead → Brokers & AccountsSlippage tolerance, or maximum deviation, caps how far a fill can drift from your price. Here's the trade-off between rejected orders and bad fills.
4 minRead → Brokers & AccountsA B-book broker takes the other side of your trade instead of passing it to the market. Here's how A-book and B-book differ, and where the conflict sits.
5 minRead → Brokers & AccountsA cent account is a live account sized in cents. The cheapest honest way to test an EA against real spread, slippage and swap before scaling up.
4 minRead → Brokers & AccountsCommission is a flat fee separate from the spread. How raw-spread accounts price, the round-turn cost, and which account works out cheaper.
4 minRead → Brokers & AccountsA demo trades on simulated fills; a live account trades real money. Here's why results differ and how to bridge the gap before you fund one.
5 minRead → Brokers & AccountsA deposit bonus is broker credit with volume strings attached. Here's how the requirements work, what they cost, and why 'free money' rarely is.
5 minRead → Brokers & AccountsA liquidity provider supplies the prices behind your broker. How the liquidity chain works and why it sets your spread, slippage and fills.
4 minRead → Brokers & AccountsA raw spread account passes the market spread through and charges a separate commission. Here's how that compares with a marked-up spread, and which costs less.
4 minRead → Brokers & AccountsClient money kept apart from the broker's own funds. What segregation protects, what it doesn't, and how to tell a real one from a claim.
4 minRead → Brokers & AccountsA spread markup is what your broker adds to the raw interbank spread before you see it. Here's how it works, what it costs, and how to spot it.
5 minRead → Brokers & AccountsThe stop out level is the margin level at which your broker starts force-closing positions. Here's how it works, with a worked £ example.
4 minRead → Brokers & AccountsA stop-out is when your broker force-closes your positions to protect its margin. Here's how it works, and how it differs from a margin call.
5 minRead → Brokers & AccountsSwap-free (Islamic) accounts remove overnight interest. How they work, how brokers recover the cost, and when swap-free is not actually cheaper.
4 minRead → Brokers & AccountsA forex broker is a company that provides you with access to the currency markets. Without a broker, you cannot trade forex — you need a regulated inter…
2 minRead → Brokers & AccountsSlippage is the difference between the price you expected to trade at and the price you actually traded at. It occurs when market conditions change in t…
2 minRead →Challenges, drawdown rules and funded-account trading. View all →
There is no single best prop firm for EAs. Here's how to compare rules, execution and payouts against your own system, instead of trusting a ranked list.
5 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsYes — most prop firms allow automated trading with Expert Advisors. However, the rules around EA use vary significantly between firms, and some types of…
2 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsProp firms — in the retail trading context — are companies that evaluate traders through a challenge process, then provide them with funded accounts to…
2 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsWith dozens of prop firms now operating in the retail trading space, comparing them can feel overwhelming. The key is knowing which metrics actually mat…
2 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsInstant funding skips the evaluation and hands you a funded account for a higher fee. Here's how it compares with challenges, and the trade-offs.
5 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsA daily drawdown limit caps how much you can lose in one trading day. Here's how firms calculate it, and why it's the rule most traders breach.
5 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsA funded account lets you trade a prop firm's capital and keep a share of the profit. Here's how the profit split works and what the rules cost.
5 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsA minimum trading days rule makes you trade on a set number of separate days before you can pass or get paid. Here's how it works and why firms use it.
5 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsA reset restarts a failed challenge from day one for a fee. Here's how resets work, what they cost, and when starting fresh is the better call.
5 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsA scaling plan is how a prop firm grows your funded capital as you stay profitable and inside the rules. Here's how the ladder works and what it costs.
5 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsA weekend holding rule limits or bans holding trades over the weekend or through big news. Here's what the rule covers and why gap risk drives it.
5 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsDrawdown limits are the risk rules that define how much you can lose before a prop firm challenge is failed. They are the most important — and most freq…
2 minRead → Prop Firms & Funded AccountsA prop firm — short for proprietary trading firm — is a company that provides traders with simulated capital to trade with, in exchange for a share of a…
3 minRead →Verifying results and reading a track record. View all →
Before you pay for an expert advisor, check the seller. A due-diligence checklist for EA vendors — live results, verification, drawdown and history.
5 minRead → Trade Tracking & VerificationHow to read a Myfxbook page before you trust it: verification, real or demo, Gain vs Abs. Gain, how drawdown is measured, start dates and history length.
4 minRead → Trade Tracking & VerificationThe managed trading space — particularly automated forex trading — has a significant problem with fraudulent and misleading operators. Understanding the…
2 minRead → Trade Tracking & VerificationThe automated EA industry has a well-documented history of exaggerated performance claims, fabricated results, and misleading marketing. Knowing the spe…
2 minRead → Trade Tracking & VerificationWhat is FX Blue (FXBlue)? Its free Live statements, publisher EA, trade copiers and Account Monitor, and what its verification can and cannot prove.
5 minRead → Trade Tracking & VerificationWhat is Myfxbook? How it connects to MT4 and MT5, how often it updates, what its two verification checks prove, and how Gain differs from Abs. Gain.
5 minRead → Trade Tracking & VerificationA drawdown disclosure is a vendor stating the worst loss a strategy took. Why the honest drawdown figure matters more than the headline return.
5 minRead → Trade Tracking & VerificationA MyFxbook widget is an embeddable performance badge. What it proves, what it doesn't, and how to check the account behind it before you trust it.
5 minRead → Trade Tracking & VerificationA performance fee is a share of your profits paid to the manager. Here's how high-water marks work, and the maths that decides what you actually pay.
5 minRead → Trade Tracking & VerificationRead-only access lets someone see every trade, balance and drawdown without trading rights. How it works, and why it's the safe way to monitor an account.
4 minRead →Following, copying and signal services - and the risks. View all →
Verifying a copy trader means proving their record is real, live and theirs before you follow. Here's the checklist and the red flags to run first.
5 minRead → Copy trading & signalsMQL5 Signals is MetaTrader's built-in copy-trading marketplace. Here's how copying works, what the records show, and what they quietly leave out.
5 minRead → Copy trading & signalsSocial trading lets you follow and copy other traders on a network. Here's how it works, with the honest pros and cons before you commit capital.
5 minRead → Copy trading & signalsA copy ratio sets how big your trades are next to the trader you copy. The common methods, a worked example, and how the wrong ratio blows accounts.
5 minRead → Copy trading & signalsA signal service sells you trade ideas for a monthly fee. Here's how they're delivered, and why proving the results are real is the hard part.
5 minRead → Copy trading & signalsA strategy provider is the account other traders copy. What they are, where you find them, how they get paid, and how to vet one before you follow.
5 minRead → Copy trading & signalsCopy trading is a feature offered by certain trading platforms that lets you automatically replicate the trades of another trader — the "signal provider…
2 minRead →Regulators, KYC and what protection actually means. View all →
A broker can print any regulator's logo on its site. Here's how to verify a licence yourself on the regulator's own register, in about five minutes.
5 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceYes — forex trading is legal in the United Kingdom. It is a legal, regulated activity with a defined regulatory framework overseen by the Financial Cond…
2 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceIf you make a profit from forex or CFD trading in the UK, that profit is potentially subject to UK tax. The specific tax treatment depends on how HMRC c…
2 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceASIC is Australia's financial regulator. Here's what its licence means for a forex broker, the rules it enforces, and how to check a claim yourself.
5 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceCySEC is the Cyprus financial regulator. What its licence covers, the investor compensation it provides, its limits, and how to verify a broker's licence.
5 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceESMA is the EU's securities regulator. What it is, the retail leverage caps it set for CFDs, and what those rules mean for forex and EA traders.
5 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceKYC stands for Know Your Customer. It is the process by which regulated financial companies verify the identity and circumstances of their clients befor…
2 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceMiFID II — the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II — is a comprehensive EU regulatory framework for financial markets that came into force in…
2 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceA scam broker is built to keep your deposit. Here are the warning signs — before you deposit and when you try to withdraw — and what to do about them.
5 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceA regulated broker is one that is licensed and supervised by a recognised financial regulatory authority. In the UK, that authority is the Financial Con…
2 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceOffshore brokers offer high leverage and light rules from lightly-regulated jurisdictions. Here's the trade-off between that leverage and your protection.
5 minRead → Regulation & ComplianceThe FCA perimeter is the boundary that defines which financial activities require FCA authorisation and which do not. Activities inside the perimeter ar…
2 minRead →MetaTrader, cTrader, TradingView and the tooling around them. View all →
Installing and attaching a custom indicator in MT4 and MT5, step by step — where the file goes, how to refresh the Navigator, and what hides it.
5 minRead → Trading PlatformsMT5 accounts run in hedging or netting mode. What each does to your positions, why it matters for EAs, and how to tell which one your account uses.
5 minRead → Trading PlatformsMetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) are two versions of the same trading platform, both made by MetaQuotes. MT4 was released in 2005 and became th…
3 minRead → Trading PlatformsMQL4 — MetaQuotes Language 4 — is the programming language used to write Expert Advisors, indicators, and scripts for MetaTrader 4. If you have ever use…
2 minRead → Trading PlatformsMQL5 — MetaQuotes Language 5 — is the programming language used to write Expert Advisors, indicators, and scripts for MetaTrader 5. It is more powerful…
2 minRead → Trading PlatformsMetaTrader is a trading platform — software that connects to your broker and lets you place trades, monitor your account, analyse charts, and run automa…
3 minRead → Trading PlatformsTradingView is a web-based charting and social trading platform used by millions of traders worldwide. It is primarily a charting tool — known for its c…
2 minRead → Trading PlatformsMetaTrader MultiTerminal lets a money manager trade up to 128 accounts from one window. Here's what it does, and the one thing it can't.
5 minRead → Trading PlatformsA chart template saves your indicators, colours and layout so one click restores a setup on any chart. What MT4 and MT5 templates store, and what they don't.
5 minRead → Trading PlatformsA trading terminal is the software you run to reach your broker — quotes, charts, orders and EAs. Here's what a MetaTrader terminal actually does.
5 minRead → Trading PlatformsThe MT4/MT5 account statement is the report of your closed trades and balance. How to save one, read each figure, and spot where the summary flatters.
5 minRead → Trading PlatformsA set file (short for settings file) is a small text file that stores all of the configuration settings for an Expert Advisor. Instead of manually enter…
2 minRead → Trading PlatformscTrader is a trading platform developed by Spotware Systems as an alternative to MetaTrader. It is particularly popular with ECN brokers because it was…
1 minRead → Trading PlatformsThe Market Watch is MetaTrader's list of symbols and live prices. How to show hidden pairs, read the bid, ask and spread, and open a chart from it.
5 minRead →How EAs work, backtesting and running them safely. View all →
A careful walk through the MT4 Strategy Tester optimiser, the metric to rank by, and the over-fitting trap that makes backtests lie.
6 minRead → Expert AdvisorsMT4 and MT5 are Windows software. Here are the real ways to run an EA on macOS — VPS, virtualisation, wrappers — and which one suits live money.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsSwapping in a new EA version without losing your settings or open trades. What to back up, how to keep trade continuity, and the order to do it in.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsThe MetaTrader Strategy Tester is a built-in tool that lets you run an Expert Advisor against historical price data to simulate how it would have perfor…
2 minRead → Expert AdvisorsParameter optimisation tunes an EA's inputs in the tester to maximise a metric. How it works, and where it tips into over-optimising and curve fitting.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsSlippage is the gap between the price your EA asked for and the price it got. Here's where it hits automated trades, a worked cost, and how to limit it.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsA breakout EA trades when price leaves a range. False breaks and news spikes are the two risks that turn the strategy against you.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsA DLL lets an MT4 EA call external code for things MQL4 cannot do. That capability is useful and a real security risk. Here's both sides.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsA drawdown controller caps loss by closing or pausing trades at a limit you set. Here's how it works, a worked example, and its blind spots.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsA lot multiplier grows position size after a loss to recover it. Here's the recovery maths, why the curve looks safe, and how it blows up.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsA money management EA sets lot size from risk, not habit. Here's the sizing formula, a worked example, and what it can't fix.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsA news EA trades the seconds around an economic release. Here's how it works, why execution falls apart on the print, and what to check first.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsA scalping EA chases a few pips per trade. That thin edge is fragile to spread, slippage and execution, and often dies on a live account.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsAn EA's input set is the parameters and .set file you feed it. The settings decide the risk, so the set can matter as much as the EA itself.
5 minRead → Expert AdvisorsAn Expert Advisor — usually called an EA — is a piece of software that runs inside MetaTrader and places trades automatically, based on a fixed set of p…
3 minRead → Expert AdvisorsBacktesting is the process of running a trading strategy on historical price data to see how it would have performed in the past. Instead of risking rea…
2 minRead →Hosting, latency and keeping terminals running. View all →
Picking a forex VPS comes down to location, latency, uptime and specs — in that order. Here's what each means and the mistakes that cost you fills.
5 minRead → VPS & InfrastructureA latency test measures the round-trip time from your terminal to the broker's server, in milliseconds. Here's how to run one and why it matters.
4 minRead → VPS & InfrastructureA VPS — virtual private server — is a computer in a professional data centre that runs continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Unlike your laptop o…
3 minRead → VPS & InfrastructureServer latency is the time it takes for data to travel from your server to your broker's server and back. In trading, it is measured in milliseconds. Wh…
2 minRead →When the market moves, and why timing matters. View all →
The forex market operates 24 hours a day, five days a week — but it doesn't trade the same way all day. It is divided into four main trading sessions, e…
3 minRead → Market Sessions & TimingRollover is 17:00 New York, when the trading day rolls over and swap is charged on open positions — with triple swap once a week on Wednesday.
5 minRead → Market Sessions & TimingThe Asian session opens the forex day around Tokyo. Here are its hours, the pairs that move, its quiet range-bound character, and what it means for EAs.
5 minRead → Market Sessions & TimingThe London session is the busiest window in forex. Here's when it runs, why spreads tighten, and why most of the day's movement happens here.
5 minRead → Market Sessions & TimingThe London-New York overlap is the four-hour window each trading day when both the London and New York sessions are simultaneously open — from 13:00 to…
2 minRead → Market Sessions & TimingThe New York session runs the American trading day and shares three hours with London. Here's when it runs and why that overlap matters.
5 minRead → Market Sessions & TimingThere is no single "best time to trade forex" that applies to every trader and every strategy. The best time depends on which currency pairs you trade,…
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