Each candle is one period: its body runs from open to close, its wicks to the high and low.
Read top-down: direction on 1D or 4h, structure on 1h, entry on 15m or lower.
Your planned stop shows on the chart as a line, so you see the risk before you send.
What the chart shows
Price runs up the right-hand axis and time runs along the bottom. Each candle covers one period of the timeframe you picked. On a 1h chart, one candle is one hour: where price opened, how high and low it went, and where it closed.
A candle that closed above its open is a rising candle; one that closed below is a falling candle. The colours make the story readable at a glance: a run of large rising candles means buyers were in control, small mixed candles mean a quiet or undecided market.
The chart type menu lets you switch from candles to other styles, but candles carry the most information per period, so this course uses them throughout.
Timeframes: the same market at a different zoom
The quick buttons are 1m 5m 15m 1h 4h 1D. More sit in the menu: 3m, 30m, 2h, 6h, 12h, 1W and 1M. A 1h candle holds the same price action as sixty 1m candles; it just hides the detail.
The range buttons, 1D 5D 1M 3M 6M 1Y 5Y, set how much history you see. Use a long range on 1D to find the big levels, and a short range on 15m to see today’s moves clearly.
Higher timeframes are slower and cleaner. Lower ones show more noise: a move that looks dramatic on 1m is often a small wick on 1h.
A top-down read in four steps
- 1D. Is price rising, falling or moving sideways? Mark the clear highs and lows of the last few months.
- 4h. Where is price now relative to those levels: near one, or in the middle?
- 1h. What is the structure between the levels: higher lows, lower highs, or a range?
- 15m. Only now look for an entry, and for the price that would prove the idea wrong. That is your stop.
Ask the same questions every time, in the same order. A fixed routine stops one exciting candle from deciding the trade for you.
On a computer and on a phone
The MyFundedCapital Terminal runs in the browser on a computer and on a phone. On a phone the layout has four tabs: Chart, Trade, Positions and Markets. On a computer you can build layouts with up to 8 charts, for example the same symbol on 1D, 1h and 15m side by side.
Two tools help you learn. Replay lets you go back through history and practise reading candles without knowing what comes next. Chart snapshot saves the picture of a setup for your journal.
Tie the chart to your limits
A chart only becomes a trade once you know the cost. When you add a stop loss in the ticket, it appears on the chart as a line marked Ticket SL … planned. You see the stop against the candles, not just as a number.
On a $10,000 1-Step Challenge account, the daily loss limit is 5%, or $500. If the planned stop line sits so far away that one trade would use a large part of that, the setup is too wide for your size: reduce the volume or skip it.
Quiz
Check yourself
0 / 3
Lesson complete
Nice work. … of 15 lessons in Trading basics in the MyFundedCapital Terminal done.
MyFundedCapital School
Trading basics in the MyFundedCapital Terminal checklist
Rules as of 17 Oct 2026. Tick each line before your next session.
1. What is the difference between market, limit and stop orders?
- A market order buys at the ask and sells at the bid, so you pay the spread the moment you enter.
- A limit waits for a better price; a stop waits for price to prove a move. Neither is sure to fill.
- Add a stop loss before you send any order; the ticket shows what it costs against both loss limits.
2. How do you read a price chart?
- Each candle is one period: its body runs from open to close, its wicks to the high and low.
- Read top-down: direction on 1D or 4h, structure on 1h, entry on 15m or lower.
- Your planned stop shows on the chart as a line, so you see the risk before you send.
3. Which candlestick patterns should a beginner know?
- Body = open to close, wicks = the extremes. Long wicks show where price was rejected.
- A pattern counts only after its candle closes, and only at a level you marked earlier.
- Put the stop beyond the pattern’s wick and size the trade from that distance.
4. What are support and resistance levels?
- Mark levels on 1D and 4h first; they carry more weight than levels found on 1m.
- A broken resistance often turns into support on the retest, and the other way round.
- Stops go beyond the zone with a buffer; a stop on the line is where many others sit too.
5. How do you identify a trend in trading?
- Structure first: higher highs and higher lows up, lower highs and lower lows down.
- The higher timeframe sets the direction; the lower one only times the entry.
- A break of the last higher low puts an uptrend in question; it does not prove a reversal.
6. What are moving averages and how do you use them?
- The period counts candles, not days: a 50 EMA on 1h averages the last 50 hourly closes.
- Use the slope for direction and the line as a zone in pullbacks, not as a precise signal.
- Moving averages lag. Your stop still goes beyond structure, never just past the line.
7. What is the RSI indicator and how do you read it?
- RSI measures momentum, not value. “Overbought” is not a sell signal by itself.
- In an uptrend RSI tends to hold above the middle; in a downtrend below it.
- Use RSI to confirm a setup at a level in the trend direction, never alone.
8. What is the MACD indicator and how does it work?
- Above zero, the faster average is above the slower one: the trend leans up. Below zero, down.
- A shrinking histogram warns that momentum is fading before a crossover appears.
- MACD is built from moving averages, so it confirms; it does not predict.
9. How do you use the ATR indicator to set a stop loss?
- ATR measures how far price usually moves per candle. It says nothing about direction.
- A stop tighter than one normal candle is often hit by noise, not by a failed idea.
- When ATR rises, the stop widens and the volume shrinks. The dollars at risk stay the same.
10. How do you confirm a trading signal before you enter?
- A signal needs context, location and a trigger. One of the three alone is a guess.
- Use one tool per job; three oscillators agreeing are one opinion, not three.
- Expert advisors and trading bots are allowed only by agreement: write to support first.
11. What is the risk-reward ratio in trading?
- R:R = distance to the stop : distance to the take profit. Both come from the chart.
- At 1:2 about one winner in three breaks even before costs; at 1:1 you need one in two.
- Set the target at the next level. A ratio you want is not a ratio the chart offers.
12. Where should you place a stop loss?
- The chart sets the stop’s place; your risk per trade sets the size. Never the other way round.
- Every order should carry a stop; the ticket warns when the loss is not limited.
- Move a stop only in your favour, and only for a reason on the chart.
13. How do you size a position in the MyFundedCapital Terminal?
- Size from the stop and a fixed risk; the volume is the result, not the starting point.
- Risk % mode sizes from a share of equity and shows Risk at SL before you send.
- Fit to limits is a ceiling. Your own risk per trade is usually far below it.
14. What should you record in a trading journal for every trade?
- Write the reason before you enter; reasons written afterwards tend to fit the result.
- Measure results in R, so trades of different sizes and markets compare fairly.
- Review once a week on a day you are not trading, and change one thing at a time.
15. How do you place your first trade step by step?
- Rehearse in the free demo: live prices and the real rules, no sign-up, orders switched off.
- Plan on the chart first; open the ticket only when entry, stop and target are clear.
- Read Risk at SL and the daily and overall limits before and after, then send.
myfundedcapital.com/learn/
Questions
Can I use the chart on my phone?
Yes. The Terminal runs in a phone browser, with Chart, Trade, Positions and Markets tabs. No app download is needed.
Which timeframe should a beginner start with?
There is no single best one. Higher timeframes such as 1h and 4h have fewer candles and less noise, which makes them easier to read while you learn.
Related lessons
- Which candlestick patterns should a beginner know?Trading basics in the MyFundedCapital TerminalBeginner3 min
- How do you use charts and timeframes in MyFundedCapital Terminal?MyFundedCapital TerminalEssential3 min
- How do you identify a trend in trading?Trading basics in the MyFundedCapital TerminalEssential3 min
Tools and rules
Rules shown here come from the help center and the live rulebook; your program terms apply.
