A plain-English course in what you are actually trading, what it really costs, how risk decides everything, and how automated systems are built, tested and judged. Ninety-five pages, in order, each with a worked example and a note on what it means once an Expert Advisor is doing the trading. No jargon left unexplained.
Search the whole library, or filter by part. Foundations covers what you are trading and the tools; Risk, the numbers that keep an account alive; Systems, how EAs are built and tested; Portfolio, judging a record like a professional; In practice, the brokers, platforms, regulators and prop firms you deal with in the real world. Beyond the course, Otto in depth explains each of Otto's features in plain terms, and the essays are longer reads on how trading actually works. Looking up a term? Try the glossary.
The building blocks: what you are actually trading, what it costs, and the machinery an EA runs on. 22 articles.
Forex is the market for exchanging one currency for another. This page explains how a currency pair is quoted, what the
Read → 02Most retail trading in indices, gold and currencies on MetaTrader 5 is done through CFDs. This page explains what a cont
Read → 03A pip is the standard unit of price movement in a currency pair. This page explains how pips work, how to value one, why
Read → 04Position size in forex and CFDs is measured in lots. This page explains standard, mini and micro lots, what they mean ac
Read → 05Leverage lets a trader control a large position with a small deposit, and margin is the deposit the broker holds against
Read → 06The spread is the difference between the buying and selling price, and it is the first cost of every trade. This page ex
Read → 07Commission is the second cost of a trade after the spread. This page explains how it is charged, how to compare account
Read → 08Holding a position overnight incurs a swap, a small daily credit or charge based on interest rates. This page explains h
Read → 09Every trade opens at one price and is valued at another. This page explains which price fills each type of order, why a
Read → 10MetaTrader 5 offers market orders and several kinds of pending order. This page explains what each does, how they are fi
Read → 11A stop loss is the order that closes a losing trade at a level chosen in advance. This page explains where stops are pla
Read → 12A take profit closes a winning trade at a chosen level, but it is only one way to exit. This page explains fixed targets
Read → 13Stock indices such as the US 500, the FTSE 100 and the DAX can be traded as CFDs from a MetaTrader 5 account. This page
Read → 14Gold is the most traded commodity among retail traders and behaves differently from currencies. This page explains how g
Read → 15A candlestick summarises price over a set period, and the timeframe sets that period. This page explains how to read a c
Read → 16A chart is the main tool for understanding what the market did and what an EA did about it. This page covers the basics
Read → 17MetaTrader 5 is the platform most retail brokers offer and the one Expert Advisors run on. This page explains what it is
Read → 18A demo account simulates trading with virtual money. This page explains how demo differs from live, what a demo can and
Read → 19An Expert Advisor is a program that trades a MetaTrader account automatically according to fixed rules. This page explai
Read → 20A VPS is a remote computer that runs MetaTrader 5 continuously. This page explains what it is, what it costs, how to set
Read → 21The broker holds your money and fills your trades. This page explains what UK regulation provides, how brokers differ, a
Read → 22A MetaTrader 5 account is either netting or hedging, and the choice affects how positions are held. This page explains t
Read →The numbers that decide whether a system survives: sizing, drawdown, expectancy, and how to read a record. 20 articles.
Position sizing turns a stop loss and a risk amount into a lot size. This page gives the arithmetic for currencies, gold
Read → 24How much to risk on each trade is the setting that decides whether a losing run is survivable. This page shows the arith
Read → 25Risk to reward compares what a trade can lose with what it can win. This page explains R multiples, the link between rew
Read → 26A high win rate is the most persuasive and least meaningful number in trading. This page explains why, how losing streak
Read → 27Expectancy is the average result per trade, and it is the number that decides whether a strategy makes money. This page
Read → 28Drawdown is the fall from an account's peak to its subsequent low. This page explains how it is measured, why the equity
Read → 29The maximum drawdown is one number from one bad period. This page explains why the typical drawdown, and the range of dr
Read → 30Balance and equity are different numbers and the gap between them is where risk hides. This page explains what each mean
Read → 31A margin call is a warning and a stop out is the broker closing your positions. This page explains the thresholds, what
Read → 32Markets move together to varying degrees. This page explains correlation, gives the common relationships in currencies,
Read → 33Diversification reduces drawdown without reducing return, but only if the parts are actually different. This page explai
Read → 34Volatility is how much a market moves, and average true range is the standard way to measure it. This page explains both
Read → 35Markets alternate between trending and ranging, and most strategies work in one and not the other. This page explains th
Read → 36Economic releases move markets in seconds and widen spreads for minutes. This page explains which events matter, what ha
Read → 37Slippage is the difference between the price you asked for and the price you got. This page explains why it happens, how
Read → 38An EA removes discretion from trading but not from its owner. This page sets out what a written plan for running an auto
Read → 39A trade history is the raw evidence of what a strategy did. This page explains what to extract from one, how to do it in
Read → 40Third-party verification proves that trades happened. It does not prove they will happen again. This page explains what
Read → 41Proprietary trading firms sell evaluations that lead to a funded account. This page explains how a challenge works, the
Read → 42Trading profits are taxable and the records you keep decide how painful that is. This page gives the general position fo
Read →How automated systems are built, tested and chosen, and the trap waiting in every step. 16 articles.
An EA is a program that reacts to price and sends orders. This page explains, in plain terms, what happens inside one fr
Read → 44Every EA exposes settings that the owner can change. This page explains which settings are meant to be changed, which ar
Read → 45A backtest runs a strategy over historical data to see what it would have done. This page explains how MetaTrader 5's st
Read → 46A backtest is a description of the past under assumptions. This page lists what it leaves out, why live results are almo
Read → 47A forward test runs a strategy on live prices from a fixed start date, before the results are known. This page explains
Read → 48Overfitting is tuning a strategy to the past until it fits the noise. This page explains how it happens, why it is the d
Read → 49Walk-forward testing checks whether a strategy's parameters would have been chosen in advance. This page gives the gener
Read → 50Monte Carlo analysis reshuffles a strategy's trades to show the range of drawdowns it could produce. This page explains
Read → 51Latency is the delay between sending an order and its execution. This page explains what it is, which strategies it affe
Read → 52Two accounts running the same EA rarely show the same trades. This page lists the reasons, from symbol names to server t
Read → 53A multi-strategy EA runs several independent strategies in one program. This page explains why they exist, what separate
Read → 54Running the same EA on more than one account is common and mostly simple. This page covers licensing, identical trades,
Read → 55Choosing an Expert Advisor is an exercise in evidence. This page sets out the order of questions to ask, what a satisfac
Read → 56EA marketing follows patterns, and the patterns that signal trouble are consistent. This page lists them, with the reaso
Read → 57Grid and martingale are the two methods behind most smooth-looking EA records and most account blow-ups. This page expla
Read → 58MQL5 signals are the most common form of published EA record. This page explains what the page shows, which figures matt
Read →Combining strategies and judging a track record the way a professional would. 14 articles.
Three ratios summarise return against risk. This page explains what each measures, what values mean for a retail strateg
Read → 60A strategy's average result is an estimate, and its reliability depends on how many trades it rests on. This page gives
Read → 61The strategies, signals and EAs you can see are the ones that survived. This page explains how survivorship bias inflate
Read → 62Most strategies work in some market conditions and not others, and most records cover only one. This page explains what
Read → 63Risk parity sizes each part of a portfolio so that each contributes equal risk. This page explains the idea at trade lev
Read → 64Volatility targeting adjusts position size so that a strategy's risk stays constant as market volatility changes. This p
Read → 65The Kelly criterion gives the position size that maximises long-run growth. This page shows the calculation, why full Ke
Read → 66Markets produce extreme moves far more often than a normal distribution predicts. This page explains fat tails, why stop
Read → 67When wins follow wins and losses follow losses more than chance would produce, drawdowns are deeper than the reshuffled
Read → 68Controlling drawdown at the level of the whole account, not the individual trade, is what keeps a strategy survivable. T
Read → 69A drawdown distribution replaces one maximum with a range of outcomes and their likelihood. This page explains how to re
Read → 70A track record is read in a fixed order, and most of what it says is in the parts that are not the return. This page set
Read → 71Third-party verification is only as good as the service doing it. This page explains what a verification service must do
Read → 72The difference between a strategy's backtest and its live results is the most useful figure in trading. This page explai
Read →Brokers, platforms, regulation, prop firms and the practical realities of running or buying an EA. 23 articles.
The forex day is three overlapping sessions with different volume, spreads and behaviour. This page explains them in UK
Read → 74Liquidity is the amount that can be traded at a price without moving it. This page explains what it is, when it disappea
Read → 75Copying another trader's positions and running your own automated system look similar and are not. This page explains ho
Read → 76Handing an account to a manager is a regulated activity in the UK and a common route to losing money. This page explains
Read → 77How long a strategy holds a trade decides what it needs from a broker and how sensitive it is to costs. This page define
Read → 78Percentage-based sizing compounds gains, withdrawals interrupt it, and the way returns are measured decides whether a re
Read → 79The most common cause of an EA losing money is its owner. This page names the patterns of interference, what each one co
Read → 80An EA reads price and nothing else. This page explains the forces that move markets outside the chart, central banks, in
Read → 81Trading your own account with software is not regulated; trading someone else's is. This page sets out the UK position,
Read → 82Every regulated broker verifies who you are before you can trade or withdraw. This page explains what is asked, why, and
Read → 83MetaTrader 4 and 5 look alike and are not compatible. This page explains the differences that matter for automated tradi
Read → 84Automated trading exists on platforms other than MetaTrader. This page explains what cTrader, TradingView and others off
Read → 85Myfxbook and FX Blue are the two most common third-party services for publishing a trading record. This page explains wh
Read → 86Prop firms differ in what they allow, how they measure loss and how they pay. This page sets out the rules that matter f
Read → 87The MQL5 Market is the built-in store where most EAs are sold. This page explains how buying, renting and activating wor
Read → 88Classical chart patterns are the oldest form of technical analysis and among the hardest to test. This page explains the
Read → 89Which regulator a broker answers to decides how your money is protected. This page compares the main ones, explains the
Read → 90A handful of MetaTrader 5 features come up whenever an EA is installed or maintained. This page covers indicators and cu
Read → 91MetaTrader 5 runs on macOS, with limits that matter for automation. This page sets out the options for a Mac user and wh
Read → 92Cent accounts let a strategy be tested live with very little money. Deposit bonuses are banned for UK retail clients and
Read → 93Not every Expert Advisor is a trading strategy. This page describes the utility EAs, trade managers, money-management to
Read → 94Arbitrage EAs promise risk-free profit from price differences. This page explains what they actually do, why the profit
Read → 95Backtests and records come with a table of statistics. This page explains what each one measures, what a good value look
Read →How Otto sizes positions, protects an account and verifies its record, each feature explained in plain terms. 8 articles.
Otto has three risk settings, Low, Medium and High, and a separate Prop mode.
Read →Otto never asks for a lot size.
Read →A stop loss limits the loss on one trade.
Read →Funded accounts have rules that ordinary accounts do not: a maximum daily loss, a maximum overall loss, and usually rest
Read →Otto does not use grid, martingale or averaging methods, and never adds to a losing position.
Read →Otto's results are published on Karnek, an account-monitoring service built by the same company.
Read →Most EA records you will see are backtests uploaded by the vendor: a Strategy Tester report, exported and displayed as e
Read →A backtest is a forecast with a range.
Read →Longer reads on how trading actually works, written for a trader, with no reference to Otto's own results. 6 articles.
Nearly every trading strategy is one of two things.
Read →Diversification is the one improvement available to a trader that costs nothing and asks nothing of the market.
Read →Two figures tell you more about whether you can live with a strategy than any return figure does.
Read →The most popular category of EA is the scalper: many trades a day, a few pips each, a win rate in the nineties, and a ba
Read →A curve-fit EA is one whose parameters were adjusted until its backtest looked good, capturing the accidents of the peri
Read →A backtest runs a strategy over historical prices as if they were arriving live, records the trades it would have taken,
Read →The concepts on these pages are what Otto is built on. Watch it trade them live, on real accounts.