Start here
How to use this curriculum
Most people learn trading in the wrong order. They find a strategy on the internet, place trades with it, lose money, and only then go back to learn what a lot size is or how margin gets called. This curriculum inverts that: mechanics first, then reading a chart, then risk, then the discretionary judgement that only makes sense once the first three are automatic.
The four levels below are meant to be worked through in sequence. Each lesson is a concept you should be able to explain out loud before moving on. Nothing here is a signal service and nothing here tells you what to buy the point is to make you capable of reaching your own conclusions and sizing them sensibly.
Practise as you go. Every NOVEDOX account opens with a $10,000 simulated balance on the web terminal, streaming the same live prices as a live account. Read a lesson, then go and do the thing it describes with money that cannot hurt you. Reading about a stop-loss and placing one are different skills.
What you will be able to do at the end
- Read a quote and know exactly what one pip is worth on the size you are trading.
- Calculate the correct position size for a given account balance, risk tolerance and stop distance, before you enter.
- Place market, limit and stop orders with attached stop-loss and take-profit levels, and know why each is where it is.
- Describe the structure of a chart, trend, range, support, resistance, without needing an indicator to tell you.
- Explain how much margin a position consumes and at what point an account gets closed out.
- Keep a journal that tells you which of your decisions actually make money.
Curriculum
Four levels, twenty-four lessons
Work through them in order. Each level assumes you are comfortable with the one before it.
Level one
Foundations
The vocabulary and mechanics. Skip this and every later lesson will feel arbitrary.
-
1.1 What a currency pair actually is
Base and quote currency, why EUR/USD at 1.0850 means one euro buys 1.0850 dollars, and why “buying EUR/USD” is simultaneously a bet against the dollar.
-
1.2 Pips, points and price precision
A pip is 0.0001 on most pairs but 0.01 on anything quoted against the yen. Fractional pips, and why the last digit on the quote is not a pip.
-
1.3 Lots and contract size
Standard (100,000 units), mini (10,000) and micro (1,000). How lot size converts a pip move into cash, and why sizing is the only variable fully under your control.
-
1.4 Bid, ask and the spread
You buy at the ask and sell at the bid. Why every position starts marginally negative, and how spread widens around news and at session boundaries.
-
1.5 Leverage and margin
At the NOVEDOX default of 200:1, a $100,000 position needs $500 of margin. Leverage multiplies both outcomes; margin is the deposit, not the risk.
-
1.6 Margin level, margin call and close-out
Equity divided by used margin. Why a losing position shrinks free margin twice over, and what happens when the platform closes you out automatically.
-
1.7 Long, short and going both ways
Why shorting is as natural as buying in FX, and why a currency market has no structural upward drift the way an equity index does.
Level two
Core skills
Operating the platform, and reading a chart without borrowing someone else’s opinion.
-
2.1 Order types and when each one fits
Market orders for immediacy, limit orders to buy lower or sell higher, stop orders to enter on a breakout. The trade-off is always certainty of fill versus certainty of price.
-
2.2 Stop-loss and take-profit
Attaching exits at entry so the decision is made before you are emotionally invested. Why an exit level chosen after the trade is losing is rarely the level you would have chosen.
-
2.3 Reading candlesticks
Open, high, low, close in one mark. What a long upper wick tells you about rejected prices, and why the close matters more than anything else in the candle.
-
2.4 Timeframes and what each one is for
Higher timeframes for context, lower for timing. Why looking at the same pair on five timeframes gives five different opinions unless you assign each one a job.
-
2.5 Support and resistance
Levels are zones, not lines. How to mark them from swing highs and lows, why they flip roles once broken, and why the third test is usually weaker than the first.
-
2.6 Trend analysis and market structure
Higher highs and higher lows define an uptrend; the trend is intact until that sequence breaks. Distinguishing a trend from a range and knowing which strategies suit each.
-
2.7 Moving averages as context, not signals
What a 20, 50 or 200-period average actually summarises, why crossovers lag by construction, and how to use them as a bias filter rather than an entry trigger.
Level three
Risk management
The level that decides whether you are still trading in a year. Most blown accounts fail here, not at analysis.
-
3.1 Deciding risk per trade before you decide anything else
Fixed-fractional risk, commonly 0.5% to 2% of equity per idea. Why a fixed cash risk on a growing account behaves very differently from a fixed percentage.
-
3.2 Position sizing from the stop, not from the balance
Lot size = cash risk ÷ (stop in pips × pip value). The stop distance comes from the chart; the size is then arithmetic, never a feeling. Practise it on the position size calculator.
-
3.3 Where a stop-loss belongs
Beyond the level that would invalidate your reason for being in the trade, not at a round number, and not at the distance that happens to give you the size you wanted.
-
3.4 Risk-reward and why win rate alone means nothing
A 40% win rate at 3R is strongly profitable; an 80% win rate at 0.25R is not. Expectancy = (win% × average win) − (loss% × average loss).
-
3.5 Drawdown, losing streaks and the maths of recovery
A 50% drawdown needs a 100% gain to recover. Why long losing runs are statistically ordinary even in a good system, and how to size so you survive them.
-
3.6 Total exposure and correlated risk
Three long EUR positions is one trade in three costumes. Capping aggregate risk per currency, not just per ticket.
-
3.7 Overnight risk, weekend gaps and swaps
Forex closes over the weekend and can reopen away from your stop. Financing costs on positions held past rollover, and when the carry works for you.
Level four
Advanced
Turning a set of techniques into a process you can run repeatedly without deciding from scratch each morning.
-
4.1 Correlation between pairs
EUR/USD and GBP/USD usually move together; USD/CHF typically moves against both. Correlation is unstable and rises sharply in stress, exactly when you need it not to.
-
4.2 Volatility and adaptive stop placement
A fixed 20-pip stop is enormous on EUR/GBP and trivial on GBP/JPY. Sizing stops in units of recent range so risk stays constant across instruments.
-
4.3 Momentum and mean reversion as opposing regimes
Why breakout strategies fail in ranges and fade strategies fail in trends, and how to identify which regime you are in before choosing a tactic.
-
4.4 Trading around scheduled events
Spreads widen and slippage rises through releases. Deciding in advance whether you trade the event, trade after it, or stand aside. See market analysis.
-
4.5 Trading psychology
Loss aversion, revenge trading, moving stops, cutting winners early. These are predictable failure modes with structural fixes, not character flaws.
-
4.6 Journaling and reviewing honestly
Log the thesis, the invalidation, the size and the emotional state, not just entry and exit. Review by setup, and cut the setups that lose over a meaningful sample.
-
4.7 Writing a trading plan you will actually follow
Which instruments, which sessions, which setups, what size, what daily and weekly loss limit. A plan that fits on one page is a plan you will read.
Worked example
Position sizing, end to end
Every concept in level three collapses into one calculation you should be able to do in under thirty seconds. Suppose you hold a $5,000 account and you are willing to risk 1% on an idea in EUR/USD. Your analysis puts the invalidation level 25 pips below your intended entry.
- Cash at risk: 1% of $5,000 = $50.
- Stop distance: 25 pips.
- Pip value: on a standard lot of EUR/USD, one pip is $10; on a mini lot, $1; on a micro lot, $0.10.
- Size: $50 ÷ (25 × $10) = 0.2 standard lots, i.e. two mini lots.
Notice the order of operations. The stop came from the chart, the risk came from your plan, and the size fell out of the arithmetic. At no point did you decide the size first and then look for a stop that justified it which is the single most common way retail accounts are destroyed.
Run this on the position size calculator until it is second nature, then place the trade on a demo account and check that the platform’s reported risk matches your arithmetic.
| Account | Risk % | Stop (pips) | Size (std lots) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | 1% | 20 | 0.05 |
| $1,000 | 1% | 50 | 0.02 |
| $5,000 | 1% | 25 | 0.20 |
| $5,000 | 2% | 25 | 0.40 |
| $10,000 | 0.5% | 30 | 0.17 |
| $10,000 | 1% | 40 | 0.25 |
| $25,000 | 1% | 60 | 0.42 |
Assumes a $10 pip value per standard lot, which holds for USD-quoted pairs such as EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD and NZD/USD. Pairs quoted against the yen and non-USD crosses require converting the pip value into your account currency first.
Reference
Trading glossary
The terms you will meet in the first month, defined plainly.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Ask | The price at which you can buy. Always the higher of the two quoted prices. |
| Base currency | The first currency in a pair. In EUR/USD the base is the euro, and the quote tells you how many dollars one euro buys. |
| Bid | The price at which you can sell. Always the lower of the two quoted prices. |
| Carry / swap | The financing credit or debit applied to a position held past the daily rollover, driven by the interest rate differential between the two currencies. |
| CFD | Contract for difference, an agreement to exchange the change in an instrument’s price, without owning the underlying asset. |
| Contract size | The number of units in one lot. One standard forex lot is 100,000 units of the base currency. |
| Correlation | The degree to which two instruments move together. Strongly correlated positions multiply your effective risk rather than diversifying it. |
| Drawdown | The decline from an equity peak to a subsequent trough, usually expressed as a percentage. |
| Equity | Account balance plus or minus the floating profit and loss on open positions. |
| Expectancy | The average result per trade over a sample: (win rate × average win) − (loss rate × average loss). |
| Free margin | Equity minus the margin already committed to open positions. The capital available to open new ones. |
| Leverage | The ratio between position size and the margin required to hold it. At 200:1, $500 of margin supports a $100,000 position. |
| Limit order | An instruction to buy below or sell above the current price. Guarantees price, not execution. |
| Liquidity | How readily an instrument can be traded in size without moving its price. Higher liquidity generally means tighter spreads. |
| Long | A position that profits when the price rises, buying the base currency of a pair. |
| Lot | The standard unit of trade size. Standard = 100,000 units, mini = 10,000, micro = 1,000. |
| Margin | The deposit set aside to open and hold a leveraged position. It is collateral, not a cost, and not a limit on your loss. |
| Margin call | A warning issued when equity falls to a set proportion of used margin, indicating that positions may be closed if the account deteriorates further. |
| Market order | An instruction to trade immediately at the best price available. Guarantees execution, not price. |
| Pip | The standard smallest price increment: 0.0001 on most pairs, 0.01 on pairs quoted against the Japanese yen. |
| Pip value | The cash change in a position’s value per pip of movement, determined by lot size, the pair and your account currency. |
| Quote currency | The second currency in a pair. The one the price is expressed in, and the one profit and loss accrues in before conversion. |
| Risk-reward ratio | Potential profit divided by the amount risked. A trade risking 30 pips to make 90 is 3R. |
| Short | A position that profits when the price falls, selling the base currency of a pair. |
| Slippage | The difference between the expected fill price and the actual one, most common around news and in thin liquidity. |
| Spread | The difference between bid and ask. The immediate cost of opening a position. |
| Stop-loss | A resting order that closes a position once the price reaches a predefined adverse level, capping the loss on that idea. |
| Stop order | An instruction to buy above or sell below the current price, typically used to enter on a breakout. |
| Support / resistance | Price zones where buying or selling has previously been sufficient to halt or reverse a move. |
| Take-profit | A resting order that closes a position once a predefined favourable level is reached. |
| Volatility | The magnitude of price movement over a period. Higher volatility means wider stops are needed for the same probability of survival. |
Keep going
Where to go after the curriculum
Choose your instruments
Majors, crosses, exotics and crypto compared on liquidity, spread and typical character.
Pairs to tradeChoose your hours
Session hours in UTC, where volatility clusters, and how to fit trading around your own schedule.
Best times to tradeBuild an analysis routine
Fundamental, technical and sentiment methods, plus the economic indicators that move currencies.
Market analysisUse the calculators
Position size and pip value calculators, plus the tools already built into the terminal.
Trading toolsCommon questions
Before you start
How long does it take to learn to trade?
The mechanics, levels one and two here, take most people a few weeks of consistent study. The risk discipline in level three is quick to understand and slow to apply reliably under pressure. Anyone telling you there is a fixed number of weeks after which you become profitable is selling something.
A more useful framing: spend as long on demo as it takes to produce a written trading plan and follow it for a meaningful number of trades without deviating. That is the skill that transfers.
Do I need to know maths to trade?
You need arithmetic, not mathematics. Position sizing is one division. Risk-reward is one ratio. Expectancy is two multiplications and a subtraction. If you can do those three reliably, the quantitative side is covered, and the calculators will do them for you anyway.
Should I start on demo or live?
Demo, without exception, until the platform mechanics are automatic, placing orders, attaching stops, reading margin. Every NOVEDOX account is credited with $10,000 in simulated funds at registration, with no deposit and no time limit.
Be aware that demo trading does not reproduce the psychological pressure of risking real money. When you do go live, start far smaller than your demo size. See the demo account guide.
What leverage should a beginner use?
The NOVEDOX default is 200:1, but available leverage and used leverage are different things. Leverage sets the maximum position your margin can support; your position sizing decides what you actually take. A disciplined trader on a 200:1 account routinely runs effective leverage in the low single digits.
Set your size from your stop distance and your risk percentage, and the leverage question largely answers itself.
Which instruments should I learn on?
One or two liquid majors, EUR/USD is the conventional starting point because it is the most liquid pair in the world, has the tightest spreads and moves in a relatively orderly way. Add instruments only once you have a documented process on the first one.
Avoid exotics and highly volatile crypto pairs while learning; the wider spreads and larger ranges punish sizing errors disproportionately. Full breakdown on pairs to trade.
Does NOVEDOX give trading signals or advice?
No. Everything in this section is general educational material. We do not publish signals, we do not make recommendations, and nothing here is tailored to your circumstances, objectives or risk tolerance. If you need personalised advice, consult an appropriately licensed professional.
Learn it on a demo before it costs you anything.
Every NOVEDOX account opens with $10,000 in simulated funds on the live web terminal, no deposit, no payment details, no time limit.
Trading involves risk. 74.3% of retail accounts lose money.