top of page
.png)
We Teach What the Market Actually Does
If you’ve landed here because you want to learn how to trade forex, there’s something you should probably know before you start clicking around this blog:
We do things a little differently around here.
We don't try to predict every candle, eliminate losing trades, or turn $47 into a Lamborghini by Thursday.
We teach you how to read the behavior of the market so you can make better trading decisions inside of it.
And if that sounds like the kind of trader you want to become,
Erica Lorrai
Aug 319 min read
Recent Posts
Erica Lorrai
3 days ago7 min read
All Posts
Why Prop Firm Accounts Get Blown: Your $50K Account Is Really $2,000
This is the most common reason prop firm accounts get blown. 1% of $50K sounds safe until you realize it’s 25% of what you can actually lose. Here’s what I didn’t know, and the money system that works instead.
Erica Lorrai
3 days ago7 min read
Trading a Topstep 50K: What to Risk, Where to Stop, and What a Real Week Looks Like
I moved from EURUSD to S&P futures and had to figure out Topstep’s trailing drawdown the hard way. Here’s the risk chart I trade with now: one table, $120 a trade, no guessing.
Erica Lorrai
3 days ago7 min read
How to Set Up Bookmap for EURUSD (Plans, Data and Heatmap Settings)
Bookmap overwhelmed me so badly the first time that I avoided it for weeks. Turns out setup only takes about 30 minutes. Here’s exactly which plan to buy, the CME data feed you need for 6E, and the heatmap settings that make the big EURUSD orders actually pop.
Erica Lorrai
Oct 86 min read
Bookmap EURUSD: How I see Where the Big Orders Are Waiting
Spot EURUSD only shows you one broker’s slice of the market. Here’s how I use Bookmap and 6E futures to see where the big orders are actually sitting, in plain English with a real chart.
Erica Lorrai
Oct 811 min read
Part 2: My Exact Plan for a $10K FTMO Prop Trading Account
Picked your FTMO challenge? Here's my exact plan for a $10K account: lot sizes, step-downs, and when to take profits.
Erica Lorrai
Oct 711 min read
FTMO 1-Step vs 2-Step? What I Wish I'd Known Before My First Challenge
The FTMO 1-Step and 2-Step look the same. They're not. I blew my first 1-Step in 3 trades. Here's what I missed and how to choose.
Erica Lorrai
Oct 715 min read
Forex Candlesticks: How to Read a Single Candle the Way a Dealer Does
A candlestick is four numbers on a little colored bar. Where price opened, where it closed, the highest it got, the lowest it got. That's it, nothing fancy. But those four numbers are the only visible record of what a dealer just did, and there's a ten minute exercise with a line chart that makes the footprints impossible to miss once you've seen them. Most candlestick lessons hand you forty patterns to memorize. You need about four.
Erica Lorrai
Sep 127 min read
Average Entry Calculator: Where Your Position Actually Sits After You Add
You're long from 1.1700, price drops, you add at 1.1680, and now somebody asks where you're in from. It isn't 1.1690 unless both positions were the same size. Adding to a trade moves your entry, and it moves your risk a whole lot more than it moves your entry, and most people only ever check the first one. Here's how to work out where your position actually sits, and what to look at before you click add.
Erica Lorrai
Jul 217 min read
Forex Profit and Loss Calculator: What 30 Pips Is Actually Worth
Someone tells you they caught 30 pips and you're supposed to be impressed, except 30 pips could be three dollars or three hundred and they never say which. Pips measure distance. Money is a separate question, and the answer depends on your size, your pair, and a convers
In simple terms, it answers:
How much would I make or lose on this trade?
What Is a Forex Profit and Loss Calculator?
A Forex Profit and Loss Calculator estimates the monetary result of a price move based
Erica Lorrai
Jul 217 min read
Forex Margin Calculator: How Much Margin Do You Need to Open a Trade?
The first time I opened a trade I watched a couple hundred dollars vanish out of my available balance and thought I'd lost it. I hadn't. It was parked. Margin is the deposit your broker holds while the position is open, and it has almost nothing to do with what you're actually risking on the trade. Those two numbers can sit twenty times apart on the same position. Let's sort out which one is which, and figure out what to type in that middle box, because it isn't always the pr
Erica Lorrai
Jul 147 min read
Lot Size Converter: What Does 0.01, 0.10 or 1.00 Lot Actually Mean?
Your platform hands you a box that says 0.01 and explains absolutely nothing about it. So here's what that number is, why moving from 0.01 to 0.10 makes every pip worth ten times more, and how to work out which one you should actually be trading on a $900 account. Plus the thing nobody says out loud: your lot size isn't your risk. Your lot size and your stop loss together are your risk.
Erica Lorrai
Jul 24 min read
What Lot Size Should I Use? Using the Forex Position Size Calculator
Most of us pick a lot size by typing 0.10 and hoping it's a sensible number. It isn't a number worth guessing at, because it's the one part of the trade you control completely. Your account size, the percentage you're risking, and where the stop actually belongs on the chart give you a lot size, in that order. Do it the other way round and you're not running a risk plan, you're running a lot-size habit and finding out what it cost you afterwards.
Erica Lorrai
Jul 16 min read
Reputable Online Platforms for Forex Trading Education: What Beginners Should Look For
Looking for reputable online platforms for forex trading education? Learn what separates quality forex training from hype and how beginners can choose the right learning path.
Erica Lorrai
Jun 163 min read
Want to master every setup?
Head to the Flashcard Library to study patterns, signals and traps.
Flashcard Library
The Flashcard Library is designed to help you quickly identify price patterns, market structure, EMA setups, TDI signals, and other key concepts you'll see in real charts. Each card includes clear examples and explanations to help reinforce what you've learned in the courses and trade reviews.
The Dealer Cycle
8 Boxes to Read the Market's Pattern
.png)
The Dealer Cycle Pattern identification is designed to help you quickly know what stage the market is in. Every move on your chart follows the same eight-step shape — whether you're watching a single hour or an entire trend. Once you learn to spot it, you stop reacting to price and start expecting it. This is the pattern I use to know exactly where I am in a move, in real time, before it's obvious to anyone else watching the same chart.
Trading is better with friends-
Join a tribe of everyday people finding freedom through trading.
Join the Tribe
bottom of page