TradaZenGuides
Trader guides
Read a candle, manage your risk, keep your discipline. Short, sourced guides with examples on real charts. Never a promise of gains.
Playable cards
Candlesticks
- Bullish and bearish engulfing: the candle that covers anotherA bullish engulfing is a green candle whose body fully covers the body of the red candle before it, at the bottom of a decline., 7 min read
- The doji candlestick, the candle of indecisionA doji is a candle whose open and close are at almost the same price: a near-zero body between two wicks., 6 min read
- The hammer candlestickThe hammer is a candle with a small body at the top and a long lower wick at least twice the body, which appears after a decline: sellers pushed the price down, then buyers brought it back., 6 min read
- The harami candlestick: a small candle inside a big oneA harami is a two-candle pattern: a large candle in the direction of the trend, then a small candle of the opposite color whose body sits entirely inside the first one's body., 7 min read read
- Candlestick charts: read one candle, then the patternsA Japanese candlestick sums up one trading period in four prices: the open, the close, the high and the low., 7 min read
- Morning star and evening star: the three-candle patternThe morning star is a three-candle pattern at the bottom of a decline: a large red candle, a small candle that hesitates, then a large green candle that closes beyond the midpoint of the first., 6 min read
- The shooting star: the long upper wick at the top of a riseThe shooting star is a candle with a small body at the bottom and a long upper wick at least twice the body, appearing after a rise: buyers pushed the price up, then sellers brought it back., 7 min read
- Three white soldiers and three black crowsThree white soldiers are three large green candles in a row after a decline, each opening within the previous candle's body and closing higher, with short wicks., 7 min read
Guides
Patterns and indicators
- Bollinger Bands: how to calculate and read themBollinger Bands wrap the price in a channel: the average of the last 20 closes, plus or minus two standard deviations., 7 min read
- Double top and double bottom: the pattern and its necklineA double top is a pattern of two peaks at roughly the same height, separated by a trough, at the end of an uptrend., 7 min read
- Fibonacci retracement: draw it, then test itA Fibonacci retracement divides a clear move into levels at 38.2%, 50% and 61.8% of its height, to spot where a pullback might stop., 7 min read
- Head and shoulders pattern: the shape, the neckline, the trapsA head and shoulders is a three-peak pattern: a higher central peak, the head, between two lower peaks, the shoulders., 7 min read
- How to read a stock chart: axes, timeframe, trend, levelsTo read a stock chart, start with its two axes: price on the vertical, time on the horizontal, oldest on the left and most recent on the right., 7 min read
- The MACD indicator: how to calculate and read itThe MACD is the gap between two exponential moving averages of price, over 12 and 26 candles, followed by a signal line that smooths it over 9 candles., 7 min read
- Moving averages: how to calculate and read themA moving average is the average of the most recent closes, recalculated with each candle., 7 min read
- The RSI indicator: how to read it without getting fooledThe RSI measures, from 0 to 100, how much of the price's recent movement came from up moves., 7 min read
- Support and resistance: how to draw and read themSupport is a price zone where declines have stopped several times., 7 min read
- Trendlines: how to draw them, read them, and avoid the trapsA trendline is a straight line that connects at least two higher lows in an uptrend, or two lower highs in a downtrend., 7 min read
- Triangle patterns: ascending, descending, symmetricalA triangle is a chart pattern where price swings between two converging lines, one across the highs and one under the lows., 7 min read
Guides
Psychology and risk
- Trading tilt: 7 signs and how to stop itTilt in trading means trading on emotion after a loss., 6 min read read
- The 1% rule: how to calculate your position sizeThe 1% rule means never risking more than 1% of your account on a single trade: if your stop is hit, you lose at most 1% of your balance., 7 min read read
- The 3-5-7 rule in trading: what it says, and its limitsThe 3-5-7 rule sets three caps: no more than 3% of the account at risk on any one trade, no more than 5% across all open trades, and average wins larger than average losses., 7 min read
- Drawdown in trading: how to measure it and limit itDrawdown is how far an account has fallen from its last peak, as a percentage of that peak., 8 min read
- FOMO in trading: the fear of missing out, and how to hold it backFOMO, short for "Fear Of Missing Out," is the fear of missing a move., 6 min read
- How to learn trading on your own: an honest pathYes, you can learn the basics of trading on your own: reading a chart, understanding candlesticks, calculating your risk, practicing on past charts and keeping a journal., 8 min read
- Leverage in trading: calculation, margin and liquidationLeverage lets you open a position larger than your stake: at 10x leverage, €100 of margin gives you €1,000 of exposure., 8 min read
- Risk/reward ratio: how to calculate it and use it in tradingThe risk/reward ratio compares what you accept to lose on a trade, the distance between your entry and your stop, with what you aim for, the distance between your entry and your target., 7 min read read
- Trading plan: a simple template to copyA trading plan is a page you write before the session., 7 min read
- Stop loss: where to place itPlace a stop loss where your trade idea becomes wrong: below the last swing low for a buy, above the last swing high for a sell, with some room for wicks., 8 min read
- Why most retail traders lose moneyAccording to the study published in 2014 by the AMF, the French market regulator, 89.4% of 14,799 active retail clients trading Forex and CFDs lost money over four years., 7 min read
In the app
The app's methods
Trading exercises: read, decide, checkA good trading exercise shows you a real chart with what came next hidden.Trading journal: a simple 3-question methodA trading journal is where you record each of your trades so that, looking back, you can see when you follow your method and when you leave it.Trading simulator: practice on real chartsA trading simulator has you make decisions on real market moves with a simulated balance, so you can be wrong without losing anything.
In the app
Practice on real charts.
Scenarios taken from the real market, with what comes next hidden. You decide, then the market reveals what it did.