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On trading, journaling, and the tools we build at Tradeways.
FundamentalsGlossaryHawkish vs. Dovish: What They Actually Mean
Two words carry most of the meaning in central-bank commentary. Hawkish leans toward tighter money; dovish leans toward easier money. The nuance, and the mistakes, come from what they are measured against.
3 min read
FundamentalsGlossaryHow to Read a Central Bank Statement
A rate decision is rarely the news. The news is what changed since the last one: the guidance, the votes, the projections, the balance sheet. This is how to read a policy statement the way desks do, by comparison.
6 min read
GlossaryMetricsR-multiple
An R-multiple expresses a trade result as profit or loss measured in units of the initial risk you put at stake when you entered.
3 min read
GlossaryMetricsRealized vs. unrealized P&L
Realized P&L is profit booked when you close a position; unrealized P&L is the open, mark-to-market gain or loss on positions still running.
3 min read
GlossaryMetricsBreakeven win rate
The minimum percentage of trades you need to win to break even at a given reward-to-risk ratio, before costs.
3 min read
GlossaryMetricsTrading expectancy
Expectancy is the average profit or loss you can expect per trade, measured across a large sample of trades rather than any single outcome.
3 min read
GlossaryMetricsProfit factor
Profit factor is your gross profit divided by your gross loss — the total dollars your winners made against the total dollars your losers cost.
3 min read
GlossaryMetricsWin rate
Win rate is the share of your closed trades that finished in profit, expressed as a percentage.
3 min read
GlossaryMetricsAverage win / average loss
The payoff ratio: your mean profit per winning trade divided by your mean loss per losing trade, measuring how much winners outsize losers.
3 min read
GlossaryMetricsSharpe ratio
The Sharpe ratio measures risk-adjusted return: your average excess return over the risk-free rate divided by the volatility of your returns.
3 min read
GlossaryPosition sizingPosition sizing
Position sizing is deciding how much to trade so each position risks a controlled, predetermined slice of your account.
3 min read
GlossaryPosition sizingKelly criterion
The Kelly criterion is the fraction of capital to bet on each trade that maximizes the long-run geometric growth rate of your account.
3 min read