Read this before you deposit.
Twenty-three guides on how trading actually works — what each market is, what a trade costs in money rather than in pips, and how people lose accounts. They are written to be useful whether or not you ever open one with us, which is why several of them argue against trading more.
Start here
If you are new, these in this order. What the market is, what a CFD actually is, which instrument suits your timeframe, how to tell a real broker from a bad one, and the mistake that ends most first accounts.
13 minute read
What is Forex Trading? A Complete Beginner’s Guide
How the currency market works: reading a quote, what a trade costs in money, leverage and margin calls, two worked examples, and who forex is not for.
12 minute read
What is CFD Trading? Ownership, Leverage, Costs and Risk
What a CFD is, what you own (nothing), how leverage and margin really work, what a trade costs, and how CFDs differ from shares, futures and spot forex.
5 minute read
CFDs vs Shares, Futures and Options: Which Does What
Four ways to take the same view, compared on what you own, what it costs to hold and what can go wrong — so the instrument matches your timeframe.
6 minute read
How to Choose a Regulated Forex Broker: A 7-Point Checklist
Regulation, fund segregation, execution quality, real trading costs — the seven things to verify before you trust any forex broker with your money.
5 minute read
What Is a Margin Call? (And How Never to Get One)
Margin, free margin, margin level, stop-out — how leveraged trading accounts really work, why margin calls happen, and the habits that prevent them.
What each market is
One guide per market: what is actually being traded, what moves the price, and what it costs to hold a position.
6 minute read
What is Stocks Trading? From First Share to Real Strategy
How the stock market works: shares, exchanges, dividends, analysis styles and CFD trading — a practical guide for first-time stock traders.
4 minute read
What is Indices Trading? S&P 500 and NASDAQ CFDs
How stock index trading works — S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, DAX, FTSE — what moves index prices, cash vs futures CFDs, and strategies for trading indices.
5 minute read
What is Metals Trading? Gold, Silver and Copper
How gold and silver trading works, what moves precious metal prices, spot vs futures vs CFDs, popular strategies, and how to start trading metals.
5 minute read
What is Energy Trading?
Crude oil, natural gas, electricity and renewables: how energy markets work, what drives prices, and how to trade them.
5 minute read
What is Agricultural Trading?
Grains, softs and livestock: how agricultural commodities markets work, what moves prices, and how to trade them with proper risk management.
6 minute read
What is Bond Trading? Understanding Fixed-Income Securities
Learn how bonds work, the main bond types, pricing and yields, trading strategies, risks, and how to start trading bonds with Ultimo.
What it costs
The part beginners skip and professionals obsess over — worked through in money rather than in pips, including where a broker’s revenue actually comes from.
5 minute read
Forex Spreads Explained: What You Actually Pay to Trade
Bid, ask, and the spread between them — how forex pricing really works, what widens spreads, and how to keep your trading costs low.
5 minute read
Forex Swap Fees: The Overnight Cost of Holding a Trade
What swap (rollover) fees are, how they’re calculated from interest-rate differentials, when they turn positive, and how to manage them in your trading.
5 minute read
How Does a Forex Broker Actually Make Money?
Spread, commission, financing and order flow: where a broker’s revenue really comes from, where the conflict of interest sits, and what to ask.
5 minute read
Swap-Free Accounts: What They Actually Cost
How Islamic swap-free accounts really work: what replaces the overnight interest, the fees to look for, and how to compare one against a standard account.
The platform
MetaTrader 5 is where the trade actually gets placed. Which MetaTrader to use, and what each order type promises — including the one that stops working when you close the terminal.
6 minute read
MT4 vs MT5: Which MetaTrader Should You Use?
What really differs between MetaTrader 4 and 5 — hedging versus netting, MQL4 versus MQL5, backtesting — and why MetaQuotes stopped licensing MT4.
6 minute read
MT5 Order Types: What Each One Promises, and What It Does Not
Market, limit, stop, stop loss and trailing stop in MetaTrader 5: what each guarantees, what it cannot, and the one that stops when you close the terminal.
How not to lose it
The unglamorous half. Position sizing, stops, what a losing run does to your decisions, and the rules that survive contact with a bad week.
4 minute read
Forex Risk Management: Position Sizing and Stops
Position sizing, the 1% rule, stop-loss placement, risk-reward ratios, leverage control and drawdown math — the complete risk management guide for traders.
8 minute read
After a Losing Run: Drawdown, Revenge Trading and When to Stop
Why a 50% drawdown needs a 100% gain back, what a losing streak does to your decisions, the signs of revenge trading, and the rules that work anyway.
5 minute read
10 Forex Trading Rules Every Trader Should Live By
The ten non-negotiable rules of forex trading: risk limits, stop-losses, leverage discipline, journaling and the psychology habits that keep accounts alive.
4 minute read
How to Build a Forex Trading Plan That Actually Works
Building a forex trading plan: goals, risk rules, strategy, journaling — and the habits that hold up on the days you least feel like applying them.
5 minute read
Best Time to Trade Forex: Sessions and Overlaps
Forex trading sessions explained — Sydney, Tokyo, London, New York — the London–New York overlap, the best hours for each pair, and times to avoid.
6 minute read
How to Read an Economic Calendar: CPI, Payrolls and Rate Decisions
Which releases move currencies and gold, why a strong number can be followed by a fall, and what happens to spreads in the seconds around one.
Stuck on a word?
Sixty-odd terms in plain language — and where a word is commonly used to make something sound better than it is, the entry says so.
Try it without money on it
Reading about a spread and watching one widen at a data release are different things. A demo account costs nothing and never expires.