Learn

Short, visual lessons on the tools you test with. Each one ends with something to try.

Lessons

RSI: how fast has price moved? A 0 to 100 gauge of how strongly price has been rising or falling recently. · 3 min read Moving averages: seeing the trend through the noise An average of recent prices that smooths out the noise and shows the direction of the trend. · 3 min read MACD: is momentum building or fading? Shows whether momentum is building or fading by comparing two moving averages. · 3 min read Bollinger Bands: how wide is the range? A band around a moving average that widens when price is volatile and narrows when it is calm. · 3 min read Stochastic: where is the close in its range? Shows where the latest close sits inside its recent high to low range. · 3 min read Supertrend: a line that follows the trend A trailing line that follows price and flips when the trend changes. · 3 min read Parabolic SAR: a trailing stop-and-reverse A trailing stop-and-reverse indicator drawn as dots above or below price. · 3 min read ADX: how strong is the trend? Measures how strong a trend is, not which direction it goes. · 3 min read Backtesting basics: replaying a rule on past prices Applying a trading rule to past prices to see how it would have done. · 4 min read Reading your results: profit, win rate, drawdown What profit, win rate, drawdown and the Sharpe ratio tell you, and what they hide. · 4 min read

Glossary

backtest: Replaying a trading rule on past prices to see how it would have done.
commission: The fee paid for each trade. Many small trades add up.
crossover: When one line crosses another, for example a fast average crossing a slow one.
drawdown: The fall from a previous peak to a later low. The maximum drawdown is the worst such fall.
hypothetical result: A result calculated on past data. It did not happen with real money and does not predict the future.
indicator: A calculation on price (and sometimes volume) that summarises something, such as momentum or trend.
momentum: How fast and how strongly price is moving in its current direction.
moving average: The average of the last N prices, recalculated at every new price.
overbought: A reading showing price rose a lot recently. It can stay overbought for a long time.
overfitting: Tuning a rule so tightly to past data that it only fits that period’s noise and fails on new data.
oversold: A reading showing price fell a lot recently. It can stay oversold for a long time.
resistance: A price area where rises have often paused in the past.
sharpe ratio: Return divided by volatility. Higher means more return for the ups and downs endured.
signal line: A smoothed copy of an indicator used to time crossovers, as in MACD.
slippage: The difference between the price you expected and the price you got.
support: A price area where falls have often paused in the past.
trend: The general direction price has been moving: up, down or sideways.
volatility: How much price moves up and down. High volatility means large swings.
win rate: The share of trades that made money. It says nothing about how big the wins and losses were.

Educational content. Not investment advice. Past or simulated results do not predict future results.