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Trading concepts

Indicators and techniques, one per page. Each covers how it works, settings for crypto, and where traders go wrong.

In this section

Futures mechanics

  1. How perpetual futures work in cryptoCheck you understand a contract's mechanics well enough to order it, and which costs apply.
  2. What is leverage in crypto tradingChoose how much margin a sized position locks, and how far away liquidation sits.
  3. What is liquidation price in crypto futuresCheck that the gap between your stop and the exchange's forced exit leaves real room.
  4. What is the funding rate in crypto futuresWork out what holding a perpetual costs or earns, and whether to size down.
  5. Crypto futures trading costs: fees, slippage and fundingCheck whether a trade still pays after costs, and how much room the stop needs.

Risk and sizing

  1. Where to place a stop lossTie the exit to the level your trade rests on, not the loss you can stand.
  2. How to calculate position size in cryptoTurn the distance to your stop into a number of units for a fixed planned loss.
  3. What volatility is in crypto and how it sets your stop and sizeCompare coins by candle size as a share of price before sizing any stop.
  4. What is the risk to reward ratioCompare what the stop risks with what the target pays before you enter.
  5. Correlated crypto positions and total portfolio riskDecide whether a new position is a separate bet or more of one you hold.

Charts and structure

  1. What support and resistance are and how to mark themPlace a trigger, stop and target using zones where price has turned before.
  2. How to draw trendlines and channels on a crypto chartDecide if a hand-drawn line is firm enough to plan on, and what counts as broken.
  3. What a breakout and retest isFix a rule for what counts as through a level before price gets there.
  4. What multi-timeframe analysis is and how to use itCheck a plan has room against the larger chart, then wait, shrink the risk or pass.
  5. What crypto market cycles are and how they change your setupsDecide which setups fit current conditions, and whether to pass, using a phase label.
  6. How to read volume in crypto, and what it cannot confirmCheck whether a move traded more than usual and whether a coin is active enough.

Indicators and tools

  1. How to use trading indicators in cryptoMatch each indicator to the question it answers and what it cannot tell you.
  2. Moving average settings for cryptoPick a reference line and check whether price sits above or below it.
  3. ATR indicator settings for cryptoMeasure how big a coin's candles run, so a stop gets room that fits it.
  4. RSI divergence and settings explainedCheck whether momentum agrees with a swing, as a reason to wait, never a trigger.
  5. MACD settings for cryptoCompare a fast and slow average to see whether a move's momentum is growing or fading.
  6. Fibonacci retracement and extension levels explainedPick candidate areas to check for a reaction in a pullback, or skip the lines.
  7. Elliott Wave rules and counts explainedLabel swings as numbered and lettered waves, and find the price where the label stops fitting.

Entries and exits

  1. Limit vs market vs stop ordersTrade certainty of filling against certainty of price for the entry, stop and target.
  2. What is laddering entries in crypto tradingDecide whether to split one entry across prices and how many units each rung gets.
  3. How to take profit in crypto tradingWrite the exit for each part of a position before the entry order goes in.
  4. Chandelier Exit settings for cryptoCheck if price has moved against a held trade by a set multiple of recent range.
  5. Supertrend indicator settings explainedPlace a trailing stop from recent midpoints and see whether a close has flipped it.
  6. How to ride a trend with the Chandelier ExitDecide before entry whether to hold past a fixed target, and where the stop moves.

Process and review

  1. How to make a repeatable trading decisionLeave one checkable output at every step, from a note per coin to the final review.
  2. How to keep a trading journalRecord every decision, passes included, to check you followed the plan and later judge the setup.
  3. What is trading expectancy and drawdownJudge whether a setup has earned more trades and whether your risk survives a bad run.
  4. How to test a trading setup before risking moneyDecide whether a setup moves to small real trades, stays on paper or goes back.

This manual is for education only. It is not financial advice, and nothing here tells you what to buy, sell or hold. Crypto trading with leverage can lose more than you put in. Only risk money you can afford to lose. Read the full disclaimer.