Free Trading Guides
Plain-English guides to forex, futures and crypto basics, risk management, indicators, strategies and prop firms. No sign-up, no paywall.
Glossary, live tools and comparisons
- Trading glossary. 80 forex, futures and prop firm terms explained in plain English.
- Forex market hours clock. Which sessions are open right now, in your time zone.
- Economic calendar. This week's high-impact releases in your local time.
- Futures tick value calculator. Tick values and P/L for ES, NQ, CL, GC and micro contracts.
- Crypto liquidation calculator. Where a leveraged long or short would be liquidated.
- Best forex brokers for beginners. Regulated brokers with low deposits and easy platforms.
- Best prop firms for beginners. Firms with clear rules, long track records and fairer drawdowns.
Every guide below is free, written in plain English and checked for accuracy. Start with forex basics if you are new, then work through risk management before you pick a strategy. Each guide links to the calculators you need to put it into practice.
Forex basics
- Forex Trading for Beginners: How to Get Started. How currency trading works, the terms you need, a worked trade and a low-risk way to start.
- What Is a Pip in Forex? Pip Value Explained. A pip is the smallest standard price move in a currency pair.
- What Is a Lot in Forex? Standard, Mini and Micro Lots. A lot is the unit that sets how big your forex trade is.
- What Is Spread in Forex? Bid, Ask and Trading Costs. The spread is the gap between the bid and ask price and a cost you pay on every forex trade.
- Leverage and Margin Explained for Forex Traders. Leverage lets a small deposit control a large position, and margin is that deposit.
- Currency Pairs Explained: Majors, Minors and Exotics. Every forex trade is a currency pair.
- Forex Market Hours: Trading Sessions and Best Times to Trade. The forex market trades 24 hours a day, five days a week.
Other markets and platforms
- Futures Trading for Beginners: How Futures Contracts Work. Futures let you trade indexes, commodities and currencies through standardized exchange contracts.
- Crypto Trading for Beginners: How to Start and Manage Risk. Crypto markets run 24/7 and move fast.
- Trading Platforms Compared: MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView and NinjaTrader. MT4, MT5, cTrader, TradingView and NinjaTrader each suit different traders.
- Day Trading vs Swing Trading: Key Differences and How to Choose. Day traders close every position before the session ends; swing traders hold for days or weeks.
Risk, psychology and review
- Risk Management in Trading: Rules That Protect Your Account. Risk management decides whether a losing streak is a setback or the end of your account.
- Stop Loss and Take Profit: How to Set Them Properly. Stop loss and take profit orders define a trade's risk and reward before you enter.
- Trading Psychology: How to Manage Fear, Greed and Discipline. Most traders don't fail for lack of a strategy; they fail to follow one.
- Trading Journal Guide: What to Track and How to Review It. A trading journal turns your trades into data.
- How to Backtest a Trading Strategy: Step-by-Step Guide. A backtest shows how a set of trading rules would have performed on past data.
Technical analysis and indicators
- Support and Resistance: How to Draw and Trade Key Levels. Support and resistance are the price zones where buyers and sellers have repeatedly stepped in.
- Fibonacci Retracement: Levels, How to Draw It and Trade It. Fibonacci retracement marks where a pullback in a trend may pause.
- Ichimoku Cloud Explained: Settings, Lines and How to Trade It. The Ichimoku Cloud shows trend, momentum and support and resistance in one indicator.
- On-Balance Volume (OBV): Formula, Signals and Examples. On-balance volume tracks whether volume is flowing into or out of a market.
- Best Indicators for Day Trading: 7 Tools and How to Use Them. No single indicator wins on its own.
Strategies
- Opening Range Breakout Strategy: Rules, Example and Filters. The opening range breakout trades the first decisive move out of the session's early high and low.
- Pin Bar Trading Strategy: How to Spot and Trade Pin Bars. A pin bar is a candle with a long wick that shows price being rejected.
Prop firms
- What Is a Prop Firm? How Funded Trading Accounts Work. A prop firm lets you trade its capital in exchange for a share of the profits.
- How to Pass a Prop Firm Challenge: A Step-by-Step Plan. Most prop firm challenges fail on risk, not on skill.
- Trailing vs Static Drawdown: What Prop Traders Need to Know. Static drawdown stays fixed, trailing drawdown follows your highs.
Free trading calculators
- Position size calculator. Lot size from your balance, risk % and stop-loss.
- Risk/reward calculator. Reward-to-risk ratio and break-even win rate.
- Pip value calculator. What one pip is worth on any pair.
- Forex profit calculator. Profit or loss in pips and dollars.
- Margin calculator. Margin required at your leverage.
- Drawdown calculator. Gain needed to recover a loss.
- Compounding calculator. Account growth over time.
- Fibonacci calculator. Retracement and extension levels.
Go deeper
For structured lessons, take the free Trading Academy courses. For ready-made rules, browse our trading strategies and indicator guides. When you are ready to choose where to trade, compare brokers and prop firms using our published ranking methodology.
Trading involves substantial risk of loss. Our guides are educational and are not financial advice. Read the risk disclaimer.