Price is an agreement
The last traded price is where a buyer and seller most recently agreed. It is not a guarantee that your next order fills there.
THE TEZIQUEST LEARNING LIBRARY
Learn trading basics.
Build your market understanding.
Read 36 short lessons across six learning paths. Every lesson includes a concept, a fictional example and a question to consider. Return to the game to check your answer and save mastery with a verified player account.
Play the 251-stage chart adventure →Market Basecamp
Start with the rules of the market.
The bid–ask bridge
The bid is a buying quote; the ask is a selling quote. The spread is a trading friction even when an explicit commission is zero.
Market versus limit
A market order prioritises execution at available prices. A limit order constrains price, but it may not fill.
Timeframes tell different stories
One candle summarises one interval. A one-minute move can be a small part of a daily trend. Compare context before mixing signals.
Liquidity and slippage
Liquidity is the ability to trade size without moving price much. Slippage is the difference between an expected and actual execution price.
Virtual profit versus skill
A profitable outcome can follow a poor decision. Judge a process over many documented examples and account for frictions.
Candle Workshop
Read the story inside every candle.
Anatomy of a candle
Open and close form the body. High and low define the full range; wicks show excursions beyond the body.
Doji: pause, not prophecy
A doji has a small body relative to its range. It can show balance or indecision, but context matters more than the name.
Hammer at a floor
A hammer has a small upper body and a long lower wick. After a decline near support, it can motivate a reversal hypothesis.
Shooting star context
An upper wick after a rally may show rejection of higher prices. It is a hypothesis that needs context and confirmation.
Engulfing bodies
A bullish body-engulfing pattern has a second real body that covers the previous real body after a decline. Full wick coverage is a different criterion.
Inside bar patience
An inside bar has a high below the preceding high and a low above the preceding low. Compression does not determine breakout direction.
Momentum Mines
Use indicators without treating them as promises.
Moving averages lag
A moving average smooths past prices. It can help organise trend context but reacts after prices move.
RSI is not a sell button
RSI summarises relative recent gains and losses. A high reading can persist during a strong trend.
MACD crossover limits
MACD compares fast and slow exponential averages. Its signal-line cross is a lagging momentum clue, not an independent forecast.
Golden cross context
A golden cross commonly refers to a 50-period average crossing above a 200-period average. Its meaning depends on timeframe and prior movement.
Volume asks a question
Volume measures traded activity. A breakout accompanied by greater activity may deserve attention, but it can still fail.
VWAP has a horizon
VWAP is the volume-weighted average transaction price over a defined period, often a session. A reset changes the context.
Pattern Detective
Find structure. Define what would prove it wrong.
Support is a zone
Support is an area where demand previously absorbed selling. Zones can break; repeated reactions are evidence, not protection.
Resistance and acceptance
A trade above resistance may be a brief excursion. A close and sustained acceptance above it provide different evidence.
Double bottom confirmation
Two troughs can suggest a floor. The intervening peak is commonly used as a neckline; its break is part of confirmation analysis.
Head and shoulders
A central peak above two smaller peaks is only potential geometry. The neckline and subsequent response matter.
Triangle compression
Converging boundaries describe shrinking range. A symmetrical triangle by itself does not fix breakout direction.
Liquidity sweep versus signal
Price can move through a visible high or low and then return into the range. That is observable; who caused it is usually uncertain.
Risk Shield
Protect the downside before imagining the upside.
The risk budget
A learning risk budget is a chosen loss allowance, not a guarantee. Position size links that budget to the distance to an invalidation price.
Size before you enter
For a simplified cash long, quantity is floor(risk budget ÷ entry-to-stop distance), also constrained by cash available.
Reward relative to risk
A 2R target means potential gain twice the planned entry-to-stop loss. It does not say how likely the target is.
Expectancy is a distribution
In a simplified model, expectancy equals win probability × average win minus loss probability × average loss. Include costs in real evaluation.
A stop is not insurance
A stop may trigger a market order, depending on its type and venue. Gaps and poor liquidity can produce a worse fill.
Drawdown recovery
Percentage losses and gains use different starting bases. Recovering a drawdown requires a larger percentage gain.
Trader Mindset
Practise patience, context and decision quality.
Wait is a valid decision
A clear process includes reasons to avoid a trade. No position can be preferable to forcing a weak setup.
Separate process and outcome
Evaluate whether a decision followed a sound plan before judging its outcome. A planned loss and an impulsive win teach different lessons.
Revenge-trade checkpoint
An urge to immediately recover a loss can drive unplanned risk. A pause and a written checklist interrupt that response.
Earnings versus expectations
Markets react to results, expectations, guidance and valuation together. An earnings increase alone does not determine a price reaction.
Rates transmit through context
Policy-rate changes can affect financing costs, discount rates and demand. Sector exposure and what was expected matter.
Your review journal
A useful review records the setup, evidence, invalidation, risk, decision and outcome. It should also record uncertainty and emotions.