This lesson walks through a complete trade on the WebTrader. Use a free trial account and follow along.

1. Open the WebTrader

From Accounts overview, press Trade on the account you want to use. The screen has four parts: the watchlist on the left, the chart in the middle, the order ticket on the right and your positions at the bottom.

2. Pick an instrument

Click EURUSD in the watchlist. The chart and ticket switch to it. The red button shows the bid (where you sell) and the green one the ask (where you buy). The small figure under them is the spread.

3. Decide before you click

Write these three numbers down first:

1. Where you get in: the current price, for a market order.
2. Where you are wrong: your stop loss. Below a recent low for a buy, above a recent high for a sell.
3. Where you take profit: at least as far from entry as your stop, preferably further.

If you cannot name all three, do not trade yet.

4. Size the position

Use the Position Calculator under Tools & Services. Enter your balance, the percentage you are willing to risk (start with 0.5%) and the distance to your stop in pips. It gives you the lot size. On a $100,000 account, risking 0.5% with a 20-pip stop on EUR/USD is 2.5 lots.

5. Place the order

Type the volume, the stop loss and the take profit into the ticket, then press Buy or Sell. The position appears at the bottom with its live result. Lines for your entry, stop and target appear on the chart.

6. Manage it

You can move the stop or target at any time by editing the values in the positions table. A common habit is to move the stop to the entry price once the trade has gone your way by the same distance you risked.

7. Close it

The trade closes on its own when it reaches your stop or target, even if your browser is closed: protection runs on our servers every second. To close earlier, press Close on the position.

8. Review it

Open Trading Journal and write one sentence on why you took the trade and one on what you learned. After twenty trades, those notes are worth more than any indicator.