Reading an order book
An order book lists everyone currently waiting to trade. Bids (green) are people offering to buy, highest price first. Asks (red) are people offering to sell, lowest price first. A trade happens when a buyer and seller agree on a price.
The bars behind each row show how much money sits at that price. A long bar is a large order, which can slow the price down as it approaches. On the trading desk, select any row to copy its price into a limit order.
Market vs limit orders
A market order fills right away at the best price available. You're choosing speed over price.
A limit order sets the worst price you'll accept. A limit buy below the current price waits until the market falls to it. It may never fill, but when it does you know the exact price you paid.
Spread and slippage
The spread is the gap between the best ask and the best bid. Buy at market and immediately sell, and you lose roughly the spread. Busy markets like BTC/USDT have tiny spreads; smaller coins often have wider ones.
Slippage is the difference between the price you expected and the price you got. It grows when your order is larger than the orders waiting at the top of the book. Limit orders prevent slippage; market orders accept it.
Reading candlesticks
Each candle covers one time period, such as 15 minutes. The thick body runs from the opening price to the closing price. Green means it closed higher than it opened; red means lower. The thin wicks show the highest and lowest prices reached during that period.
Hover over any candle on the desk to see its exact open, high, low and close. The bars along the bottom show how much was traded in each period.
How fees add up
The desk charges a simulated 0.1% fee on every fill, similar to many spot exchanges. On a 1,000 USDT trade that's 1 USDT. It sounds small, but a round trip (buy then sell) costs 0.2%, and ten round trips a day cost 2% of your balance before any price move.
Sizing a position
Most losses come from trading too large, not from picking the wrong coin. A common starting rule is to risk no more than 1–2% of your balance on a single idea.
- Decide in advance the price at which you'll accept you were wrong.
- Work out how much you'd lose if the price reaches it.
- Size the trade so that loss stays within your limit.
Practise this on paper first. If you find it hard to follow your own rules with simulated money, it will be harder with real money.