Pivex Guides
Guides and explainers for funded traders:
challenges, risk, payouts, and market literacy.
ICT Kill Zones: The Four Windows, What Price Does in Each, and How to Trade Them
Short answer: ICT kill zones are four short windows in the forex day when institutional order flow is heaviest and price makes its cleanest directional moves. On a New York clock, the Asian window…
Inducement Trading: How the Market Baits Early Entries and How to Wait It Out
Short answer: inducement trading is the practice of spotting the minor level that the market breaks first, before it reaches the level that actually matters. Inducement is a small pool of…
Inverted Cup and Handle: How to Read and Trade the Bearish Version
Short answer: the inverted cup and handle is a bearish continuation pattern. Price climbs into a rounded dome, rolls over, and slides back to where the dome began. A brief upward bounce then forms…
The London Trading Session: Hours, Pairs, and How to Trade It
Short answer: the London trading session runs roughly 08:00 to 16:00 London time, when European banks and funds are at their desks. It is the busiest of the major sessions, so spreads are tight,…
Major Currency Pairs: What They Are and How to Trade Them
Short answer: major currency pairs are the seven most traded pairs in forex trading, and every one of them has the US dollar on one side. The list runs EUR/USD and GBP/USD in Europe, USD/JPY in…
On Balance Volume (OBV): What It Measures and How to Use It
Short answer: on balance volume is a running total of volume. It rises when price closes higher and falls when price closes lower. The OBV line ignores how far price moved and only records which…
Optimal Trade Entry: How to Find the OTE Zone and Trade It Well
Short answer: optimal trade entry, usually shortened to OTE, is a Fibonacci-based entry method from the ICT school of price action. You measure one impulsive swing from its low to its high. Then…
Profit Factor in Trading: What the Number Means and How to Use It
Short answer: profit factor in trading is gross profit divided by gross loss across a set of closed trades. Add up every winning trade, add up every losing trade as a positive figure, and divide…
What Is Relative Volume and How to Use It in Trading
Short answer: relative volume (RVOL) is the ratio of the volume trading right now to the average volume that usually trades in the same window. A reading of 1.0 means an ordinary session. A…
Rising Wedge Pattern: How to Identify It and Trade the Breakdown
Short answer: a rising wedge pattern forms when price keeps printing higher highs and higher lows, but the two boundary lines tilt upward and squeeze toward each other. Each push up covers less…
Sharpe Ratio: What It Measures and How Traders Should Use It
Short answer: the Sharpe ratio is your average return above a risk-free rate, divided by the standard deviation of those returns. It measures how much reward you collected per unit of risk and…
What Is SMT Divergence and How Can It Shape Your Trading Strategy?
Short answer: smt divergence, short for Smart Money Technique divergence, is a mismatch between two correlated instruments at a swing point. One instrument prints a fresh high or low while its…