Forex guides
How the currency market works, what it costs to trade, how to manage risk, and what moved the majors this week.
Basics
How the forex market works: who trades, where prices come from, and where you fit in
There is no forex exchange and no closing bell. Here is how a decentralised market of banks, funds and brokers actually sets the price on your screen.
Currency pairs explained: base, quote, majors, minors and exotics
Every forex trade is two trades at once. Learn how to read a pair, why some cost far more to trade than others, and how cross rates are built.
Forex market hours and sessions: Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York
Forex trades 24 hours a day, but not every hour is worth trading. Here is when each session runs, where the overlaps fall, and what daylight saving does to the clock.
How to read a forex quote: bid, ask, spread and pipettes
Two prices, five decimals and a gap between them that costs you money on every trade. Here is how to read a forex quote properly.
What is a CFD? How contracts for difference work, what they cost and the risks
Most retail forex is traded as CFDs. Here is what you actually own when you open one, how going long and short works, what it costs, and why most retail accounts lose money.
Forex vs stocks vs crypto: how the three markets really differ
Currencies, shares and crypto all flash prices on a screen, but they trade at different hours, under different rules, with different costs and different things moving them. Here is how they compare.
What moves currency prices? Rates, inflation, growth, risk and flows
Exchange rates move when the balance of buyers and sellers shifts. Here are the forces behind that shift, from interest rates and inflation to risk sentiment, flows and politics, and why they work differently over a day and over a decade.
From demo account to live trading: what a demo teaches, what it hides, and how to start small
A demo account is a good place to learn the buttons and a poor place to learn about yourself. Here is what practice money can and cannot show you, how to tell when you are ready for real money, and how to make the switch without large losses.
What is a pip, and why does everyone count in them?
The smallest unit forex traders talk in — and how to turn pips into money before you place a trade.
Costs & fees
Spreads and commissions: what a trade really costs
Raw spread plus commission, or a wider spread with none — here is how to compare them with one number.
Swap and overnight financing: what it costs to hold a forex position
Hold a position past 5pm New York and your broker charges or credits a swap. Here is how it is calculated, why Wednesday costs triple, and when it matters.
Slippage explained: why your order fills at a different price
You clicked at 1.0850 and got 1.0853. Here is where those three pips went, when slippage is normal, when it is a warning sign, and how to keep it small.
Hidden broker fees: the costs that are not in the spread
Spreads get all the attention, but deposits, withdrawals, currency conversion and inactivity can quietly cost more than your trading. Here is where to look.
How to compare trading costs: one all-in number per trade and per month
Spread, commission, swap, slippage and fees are quoted in five different units. Here is how to turn them into one figure you can actually compare between accounts and brokers.
Currency conversion and your account base currency: what it costs and how to choose
Your trading account has a currency, and every trade, swap and withdrawal that is not in that currency gets converted. Here is where it happens, what it costs and how to pick the right one.
Why spreads widen: news, rollover, thin markets and how to check real spreads
The spread you see at 10am in London is not the spread you get at rollover, on a holiday or in the second after a data release. Here is why, and how to find out what you really pay.
Risk & leverage
Leverage and margin, explained without the hype
1:30 or 1:500? Leverage does not change what you can win — it changes how fast you can lose.
Position sizing in forex: worked examples for every kind of pair
The percentage-risk method, worked through on EUR/USD, USD/JPY, crosses and gold, in dollar, euro and sterling accounts. Every number shown step by step.
Where to put a stop loss: structure, volatility and common mistakes
A stop loss belongs where your trade idea is proven wrong, not where the loss feels comfortable. Here is how to find that level using market structure and volatility.
Risk-reward ratio, win rate and expectancy: the maths that matters
A high win rate can still lose money and a low one can still work. The risk-reward ratio, the break-even win rate and expectancy explain why, with every sum shown.
Margin call and stop-out: what happens when an account runs out of margin
Margin level, free margin, margin call and stop-out explained with real arithmetic, including how far price has to move before a broker starts closing your trades.
ESMA leverage limits and negative balance protection, explained
Why your EU or UK broker caps you at 30:1, closes trades at 50% margin and cannot leave you owing money — and what changes if you opt up to professional status.
Trading psychology: the habits that cost traders money
Loss aversion, revenge trading and overconfidence are not character flaws; they are predictable. Here is how they show up in an account and the routines that contain them.
Why most retail CFD traders lose money: what the data says
Every regulated broker publishes the share of its clients who lose. Here is where those numbers come from, what regulators found, and the mechanics behind them.
Currency correlation: how forex pairs move together and why it matters for risk
Three trades can be one bet. How correlation coefficients work, how to find the hidden dollar exposure in your open positions, and why correlations never stay put.
Gap risk and weekend risk: what happens when price jumps past your stop
A stop loss is a price you would like, not a price you are promised. Why markets gap, what that does to stops and margin, and how to size positions you hold over a weekend.
Drawdown and recovery: the maths of losing streaks and climbing back
A 50% loss needs a 100% gain to recover. How drawdown is measured, why recovery is always harder than the fall, and how to set drawdown rules before you need them.
Lot sizes and position sizing: the maths behind every trade
Standard, mini, micro — and the three-line calculation that tells you how many to trade.
Platforms & tools
MetaTrader 4 vs MetaTrader 5: the real differences
MT5 is not simply a newer MT4. The two run different code, handle positions differently and are heading in different directions. Here is what matters when you choose.
cTrader and TradingView: the main alternatives to MetaTrader
cTrader is a full trading platform; TradingView is a charting network that many brokers now plug into. Here is what each does well, where they fall short and how broker integration works.
How to read candlestick charts (and what patterns can and cannot tell you)
Each candle is four prices and a story about one period of trading. Learn to read the body, the wicks and the timeframe before you trust any pattern name.
How to use an economic calendar (without getting caught out by the news)
Impact ratings, consensus, actual, previous and revisions: what every column on an economic calendar means, and how to use it to manage risk rather than chase headlines.
Expert Advisors and trading bots: how automated forex trading really works
A trading bot is a set of rules that a computer follows without getting tired or scared. That is useful, and it is also why a bad bot can lose money faster than you can. Here is how they work and what to check.
Copy trading explained: how it works, what it costs and the risks
Copy trading lets your account automatically repeat another trader's positions. It hands over decisions, not risk. Here is how the mechanics, fees and regulation actually work.
Order types: market, limit, stop — and when to use each
The five orders that cover 99% of what you will ever need, with the pitfalls of each.
Strategy
Support and resistance: how to draw levels and what they can (and cannot) tell you
Support and resistance are the most widely used ideas in technical analysis and the most widely misunderstood. Here is how levels form, how to mark them as zones, and why breakouts fail so often.
Trend following and moving averages: SMA, EMA, crossovers and their limits
How simple and exponential moving averages are calculated, what they actually show about a trend, why crossovers lag, and where trend-following approaches tend to struggle.
RSI and MACD explained: what momentum indicators measure and how they are misused
RSI and MACD are on almost every trading chart. Here is how each is calculated, what overbought, crossovers and divergence really mean, and why neither can tell you where price goes next.
Central banks and interest rates: why the Fed, ECB, BoE and BoJ move currencies
Interest rates are the single biggest long-run influence on currency prices. Here is how the major central banks set them, what forward guidance is, and why expectations matter more than decisions.
How economic data moves forex: NFP, CPI, GDP, PMIs and the surprise factor
Why a jobs report or an inflation number can move a currency 100 pips in a minute, what each major release measures, and why the market reacts to the surprise rather than the figure.
Keeping a trading journal: what to record and how to review it
Your trading history already contains the answer to most of your questions. A journal is how you read it, and it takes about two minutes per trade.
How to backtest a forex strategy without fooling yourself
A backtest can tell you a strategy is worth testing further. It cannot tell you it will work. Here is how to run one honestly, from rules to forward test.
Fibonacci retracements: how to draw them, what the levels mean and where they fall short
Fibonacci retracements are on almost every forex chart, and they are easy to draw in a way that makes them look more accurate than they are. Here is how the tool works, where the numbers come from and how to use it honestly.
Price action trading: reading structure, pin bars and inside bars without indicators
Price action trading means reading the chart itself, swings, bars and levels, instead of indicators. It strips away clutter, but it also adds a lot of judgement. Here is how it works and where it goes wrong.
Multiple timeframe analysis: higher-timeframe context, entry timeframes and common pitfalls
The same currency pair can be rising on the daily chart and falling on the 15-minute chart at the same time. Multiple timeframe analysis is a way of deciding which picture matters for your trade, and it has traps of its own.
Choosing a broker
How to choose a regulated forex broker (a checklist)
Licence, entity, cost, withdrawals, platform. Check them in that order and you will avoid most mistakes.
How forex brokers make money (and where the conflicts are)
Spreads, commissions, swaps, fees and, sometimes, your losses. Knowing exactly how a broker earns from you is the fastest way to understand what it costs to trade.
How to check a broker licence, step by step
A licence number in a website footer proves nothing until you have found it on the regulator's own register and matched the details. It takes five minutes.
ECN, STP and market maker: what broker execution models really mean
ECN, STP, NDD, market maker: the labels sound technical, but they are marketing terms. Here is what actually happens to your order, and what to check instead of the label.
Forex scam red flags: how to spot fraud before you send money
Fake brokers, pushy account managers, signal sellers and recovery scams follow the same handful of patterns. Learn them once and you will recognise them anywhere.
Broker account types explained: standard, raw, swap-free, cent and professional
Standard, raw, ECN, zero, swap-free, cent, demo, professional: account names vary by broker, but underneath they differ in a handful of ways. Here is how to tell what you are actually choosing.
Economic calendar
Forex economic calendar Q1 2027: the events that matter, January to March
Every central bank meeting, major data release and holiday that shapes the forex calendar from January to March 2027, with officially confirmed dates, timing rules and what each one tends to do to spreads.
Forex economic calendar Q2 2027: the events that matter, April to June
Central bank meetings, US jobs and inflation releases, Golden Week, bank holidays and half-year-end: the forex calendar for April to June 2027, with officially confirmed dates and what each event tends to do to spreads.
Forex economic calendar Q3 2027: July to September
Central bank meetings, US jobs and inflation dates, Jackson Hole, Labor Day and the thin August market: the third quarter of 2027 for currency traders, with the official dates we could confirm.
Forex economic calendar Q4 2027: October to December
Two clock changes a week apart, a December packed with central bank decisions, US Thanksgiving and the thin Christmas market: the last quarter of 2027 for currency traders, with the official dates we could confirm.