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An Ideas series · ContextChart Research

The Maths Every Day Trader Should Know

These are ideas we investigate in building our trading systems and research terminal. Each part connects a question to an experiment, an explanation, and the evidence behind it.

Start with part 1 →

Follow the numbered route, or open the question you need now. Every part has a next link and a way back to these contents.

Reading order

  1. Part 1Could trading support the life you want?Work backwards from an income or capital goal and explore the performance, capital, time, drawdowns, and evidence that trading would need to supply.7 min
  2. Part 2What am I actually risking on this trade?Connect entry price, stop distance, position size, cash risk, and R so every trade starts with an understandable money decision.4 min
  3. Part 3Do I need to win most of my trades?Explore how win rate, average reward, losses, and costs work together—and why a high win rate alone cannot tell you whether trading pays.4 min
  4. Part 4What does this trade really cost?See spread, commission, slippage, and financing in relation to the money at risk and the movement a trade is trying to capture.4 min
  5. Part 5Why did I lose when my direction was right?Replay price paths to see why a correct forecast and a profitable trade are different outcomes—and why neither should be measured through the other alone.4 min
  6. Part 6How big is this market move, really?Compare points, percentages, and volatility units to understand a move relative to its instrument, price level, and usual activity.4 min
  7. Part 7Does the same price distance mean the same thing all day?Explore why a daily volatility measure can describe the next few hours differently across sessions, holding periods, and recent market activity.4 min
  8. Part 8Is the market moving, or just moving around?Separate volatility, displacement, path efficiency, and trading friction so a lively chart becomes easier to read.4 min
  9. Part 9Was one currency strong, or the other weak?Understand why every FX pair contains two currencies, how their moves combine, and what a strength chart can and cannot tell you.4 min
  10. Part 10Are these really separate bets?Reveal the shared currency and market exposures behind multiple positions, and see why a busy trade list can still depend on one event.4 min
  11. Part 11Should I take profit or let the winner run?Compare banking a winner, taking partial profits, and leaving a runner through their complete outcome distributions rather than one memorable missed move.4 min
  12. Part 12How can a profitable approach lose so much money?Explore how position sizing and compounding turn a trade distribution into an account path, including drawdowns that a positive average can hide.5 min
  13. Part 13What does recovering from a loss actually require?See why the percentage needed to recover grows faster than the drawdown, and why recovery time and losing streaks need their own measurements.4 min
  14. Part 14Would trading more or less improve my results?Explore the link between opportunity quality, frequency, costs, and dependence without turning an income ambition into a daily trade quota.4 min
  15. Part 15Is this trading skill, or a good run?Learn what a trading record can support by comparing results with a relevant baseline, accounting for sample size, and looking beyond selected winners.5 min
  16. Part 16What would convince us a trading idea works?Turn a plausible trading idea into a fair comparison with declared rules, available-at-the-time information, costs, and fresh evidence.5 min