Forex · Stocks · Crypto, drawn out
FX Trading Platform Made Simple
An FX trading platform is the screen between you and the currency market: it shows prices, sends your orders and keeps score of your margin. Wyvexx takes that screen apart with diagrams and checked arithmetic, then does the same for stocks and crypto.
Fig. 1 · Anatomy of a quote (illustrative)
- EUR is the base currency, the thing you buy or sell.
- USD is the quote currency, the money the price is counted in.
- Pip is the fourth decimal place; the small fifth digit is a fraction of a pip.
- On one standard lot of 100,000 euros, 1.2 pips is $12 paid to cross the spread.
Fig. 2
Platform, broker, market: three separate layers
The word "platform" gets used for all three, which is where most confusion starts. Separate them and a lot of marketing becomes easier to read.
- YouPick a pair, a direction, a size and an exit.
- The platformSoftware: shows quotes, sends orders, tracks margin.
- The brokerThe regulated firm that fills or routes your order and holds your money.
- The marketBanks and dealers whose prices the broker draws on, or the broker itself as counterparty.
Method, not a league table
How to compare an FX trading platform without anyone's ranking
We never rank or recommend named firms. Rankings age quickly and are often paid for. Six checks, applied in the same order to every candidate, tell you far more.
Authorisation
Find the firm on your regulator's public register and confirm the website address listed there matches the one you are on.
Who fills the order
Read the order execution policy: does the firm pass orders to outside prices, or take the other side itself?
All-in cost
Add spread, commission and overnight financing for a trade you would really place, not the best headline figure.
Leverage and protection
Check the leverage offered against local retail limits, and whether negative balance protection applies to you.
Getting money out
Read the withdrawal terms before the deposit terms. Conditions attached to bonuses are a classic trap.
The software itself
Stop-loss orders, clear margin display, two-factor login, and an app obtained only from the firm's own site or an official store.
The full worksheet, with the warning signs for each check, is in 10 things to check before opening a trading account.
Fig. 3 · Worked example
The headline spread is not the price you pay
Three made-up pricing models, one identical trade: buying and later selling one standard lot of EUR/USD, where a pip is worth $10.
- Model A: 1.2-pip spread, no commission. 1.2 × $10 = $12.
- Model B: 0.2-pip spread plus $7 commission for the round trip. $2 + $7 = $9.
- Model C: advertised as "zero spread", really 0.1 pips plus $10 commission. $1 + $10 = $11.
The cheapest-looking label came second. Hold the trade overnight and a financing charge is added on top, which can outweigh all three. Our guide to hidden trading costs draws every line of the bill.
Illustrative pricing, not any real provider. Overnight financing excluded.
Fig. 4 · The account panel
Five numbers every FX trading platform shows
Whatever the software looks like, the account panel reports the same five figures. They are the dashboard of a leveraged account, and one of them decides when positions are closed for you.
| Field | What it measures | Illustrative value |
|---|---|---|
| Balance | Cash in the account, ignoring open trades | $5,000.00 |
| Equity | Balance plus or minus open profit and loss | $4,600.00 (after a $400 open loss) |
| Margin | Collateral locked by open positions | $3,616.67 (1 lot EUR/USD at 1.0850, 30:1) |
| Free margin | Equity minus margin, the cushion left | $983.33 |
| Margin level | Equity ÷ margin × 100 | 127.2% |
For UK and EU retail clients, the provider must start closing positions when the margin level reaches 50%. In this example that would happen if equity fell to $1,808.33, which is a further loss of about $2,790, or roughly 279 pips on one lot. Reading these five numbers before and during every trade is the most practical skill any platform can teach.
Which markets are open right now
Your local time: –
Worked out in your browser from each venue's regular session times. Public holidays and early closes are not included, so treat it as a guide.
Fig. 5 · UK and EU retail limits
Leverage caps, drawn to scale
Regulators in the UK and EU cap the leverage a retail client can use on CFDs, and the cap falls as the asset gets more volatile. The margin you must post is simply one divided by the leverage.
Percentages are the minimum margin as a share of the position. In the UK, crypto derivatives cannot be sold to retail clients at all.
Try the numbers yourself in the calculator, or read how margin is calculated.
Margin calculator
How it worksFour calculators, formulas on show
Each one runs in your browser and prints its formula, so you can check the working instead of trusting a black box.
Three markets, one way of looking
Wyvexx gives forex, shares and crypto equal space. The questions are the same every time: what do you own, who holds it, what does it cost and what can go wrong?
Forex
A 24-hour weekday market with no central exchange. Moves are small, so position size and leverage do the damage.
Stocks
Part-ownership of companies, traded on regulated exchanges in fixed sessions from Tokyo to New York.
Crypto
Open every hour of every day, spread across many venues, and settled on public ledgers you can inspect.
A five-stop route for first-timers
Read in this order and each page builds on the one before.
- Markets explained
Three market structures drawn side by side.
- Forex guide
Pairs, pips, lots and sessions.
- Trading fees
Every cost line on one chart.
- Margin calculator
What leverage does to collateral.
- Choosing a broker
Ten checks before trusting any firm.
More diagrams and explainers
- USDT explainedNetworks, the dollar peg and why the sending network must match.
- What is Bitcoin?Blocks, halvings and the 21 million limit, charted.
- How to read the stock marketIndex points, percentages and what a quote screen shows.
- Trading robotsWhat automated strategies can and cannot do.
- No-deposit bonusesThe maths behind "free" trading credit.
- Spotting scamsThe usual sequence of an investment fraud, step by step.
- Markets side by sideStructure, hours and custody across three markets.
- GlossaryTerms from ask price to yield, in plain words.
- Common questionsShort answers for beginners.
About Wyvexx
Wyvexx is an independent publisher of educational material. We do not run an FX trading platform, a stock brokerage or a crypto exchange, and nobody from Wyvexx will ever contact you offering to manage money, sell signals or recover losses. If someone does, it is not us.
Read who we are, how we check our numbers and our disclaimer.