Trading basics
SL Stop Loss. The price level at which the trade is closed to limit a loss. On Phantom TDI, SLs are client-side (held in the daemon, never sent to the exchange) to avoid MEXC stop-hunts. Example: LONG entry $100, SL at $98 = -2% max loss.
⚠️ Never enter a trade without an SL set first. Your SL distance defines your position size, not the other way around. Move SL only TIGHTER (towards entry as price moves in your favor), never wider to "give it room" — that's how small losses become liquidations. A 2% SL on 20× leverage = -40% of margin if hit; size accordingly.
TP / TP1 / TP2 / Moon Take Profit. Price levels at which a portion of the position is closed in profit. TP1 / TP2 / Moon = progressive levels (often 30% / 30% / 40% of the position).
⚠️ Don't open a trade without a clear target. If you can't name where you're taking profit BEFORE entering, you're not trading — you're hoping. Always plan TP1/TP2/Moon at entry; ideally each TP justified by structure (next swing high/low, FVG, key resistance), not arbitrary % steps. Take partials at TP1 — it locks in the win and removes pressure on the runner. Hoping for Moon on 100% of position = the classic "rode it back to BE" loss.
BE Break Even. The entry price — exiting at BE means no profit and no loss (excluding fees). "Move SL to BE" = lock in zero loss after price has moved in your favor.
⚠️ Don't move SL to BE too early. BE looks safe but causes the most regret trades — you get stopped out on normal noise then watch the move continue. Wait until at least TP1 hits OR price has moved 1.5× your initial SL distance in your favor. On HTF setups (12H/1D ICT) leave SL wider longer; the natural swing range is too large for tight BE plays.
PnL Profit and Loss. Net result of a trade, expressed in $ or %. Includes fees.
⚠️ Always look at NET PnL (after fees). A $1.60 round-trip fee on $800 notional eats 0.20% off any trade. Scalping for <1% moves on 20× leverage is fee-heavy — you need WR way above 50% to break even on fees alone.
WR Win Rate. % of trades closed in profit out of total trades. A 60% WR with 1:2 risk/reward beats an 85% WR with 1:0.3.
⚠️ WR alone is meaningless. Expectancy = (WR × avg win) − ((1−WR) × avg loss). A 40% WR strategy with 1:3 RR is HIGHLY profitable; an 80% WR with average wins half the size of losses is a slow bleed. Track expectancy, not WR.
RR / R:R Risk / Reward ratio. Expected gain divided by potential loss. 1:3 = if SL = $20, TP = $60. Higher RR allows lower WR to still be profitable.
⚠️ Target minimum 1:2 RR on every trade. Below 1:2 you need >55% WR just to break even with fees — hard in any market. The PRE-STRIKE alerts on Phantom TDI usually offer 1:2.5 to 1:4 (SL 1.5-2%, TP1 5%). If a setup gives you only 1:1 or worse, skip it.
LONG Long position. Bet that price goes up. Buy low, sell higher.
⚠️ LONG against a bearish macro (F&G < 30) is a counter-trend trade. Expect lower WR. The current Phantom TDI Narsil v2 rule blocks LONG on BEAR_BEARISH macro for that exact reason. Don't fight the dominant flow without an exceptional setup.
SHORT Short position. Bet that price goes down. Sell high (borrowed), buy back lower.
⚠️ SHORT in a bull market = squeeze risk. Crowded shorts get violently squeezed on positive news. Funding rate > +0.05% / 8h means too many longs are paying shorts — fine. But funding < -0.05% means shorts pay longs (= shorts crowded = squeeze setup AGAINST you).
Leverage Borrowed multiplier on position size. 20× leverage on $40 margin = $800 notional exposure. A 5% move = +/-100% on your margin.
⚠️ 20× leverage liquidates on a ~5% adverse move. With isolated margin you lose only the $40 — but you DO lose it. 50× / 100× leverage liquidates on 2% / 1% — one wick kills you. Don't chase higher leverage to "size up" — size up by increasing margin, not leverage. Phantom TDI's standard is 20× for a reason.
Notional Position size in $. margin × leverage. $40 × 20× = $800 notional. Used to compute fees and effective exposure.
⚠️ Notional is your REAL exposure on the market. A 1% move on $800 notional = $8 (= 20% of your $40 margin). Always think in notional terms when judging if a setup is worth the SL distance.
Margin Capital actually committed. On Phantom TDI all trades use $40 of margin × 20× = $800 notional. If you lose 100% of margin, you're liquidated.
⚠️ Never risk more than 1-2% of total capital per trade. On $4,000 portfolio, 1% = $40 = the standard Phantom TDI bet size. If you're tempted to "go bigger" on a high-conviction setup, ASK YOURSELF: would you take this same trade if you'd just lost the last 3? If no, the size is wrong.
Trail / Trailing stop Dynamic SL that ratchets up (LONG) or down (SHORT) as price moves in your favor, locking in progressive profit. Triggers exit only on a retracement of N% from the running peak.
⚠️ Trail too tight = killed on normal noise. A 1% trail on a 5%+ move gets stopped on every breath. Phantom TDI's Kalhan runner uses structural trail (last 15m HL for LONG / LH for SHORT) instead of fixed % — it lets the trade breathe but cuts on real direction change. Never trail BEFORE TP1 hits — you'll be stopped at -1% on the typical pre-move pullback.
Fees Trading costs. MEXC taker fee = 0.10% per side = ~0.20% round-trip on notional. $800 notional → ~$1.60 in fees.
⚠️ Fees compound silently. 10 trades/day × $1.60 = $16/day = $480/month gone just to fees. If you're a scalper, use limit orders (maker fees ≈ 0% on MEXC) instead of market orders. If you're a swing trader on HTF setups, fees are negligible vs the move size.
Setup metrics
MFE Maximum Favorable Excursion. The best move in your favor since the setup/trade was created. LONG = highest price reached. SHORT = lowest. Measured as % from entry. A setup with MFE +5% means price reached at one point 5% in your direction before the move was over.
⚠️ MFE is what you COULD have captured, not what you DID. If your TP1 was 2% and MFE was 5%, you took 2% — you didn't leave 3% on the table, you just had a different plan. Use MFE to retroactively assess if your TP placement was good (= near MFE = great) or too greedy (= TP never hit, MFE was lower).
MAE Maximum Adverse Excursion. The worst move against since the setup/trade was created. LONG = lowest price. SHORT = highest. Measured as % from entry. MAE +2% = at some point the trade was 2% in the red before recovering (or being stopped).
⚠️ MAE tells you if your SL was right-sized. If MAE keeps coming within 0.2% of your SL on winners, your SL is too tight — you're surviving by luck. If MAE rarely exceeds 0.5% on a 2% SL, you can size up. Track the MAE/SL ratio across 20+ trades to tune SL distance.
Move validation Did the setup work? Reads the order of MFE vs MAE: CLEAN = MFE>1% with no MAE>1%. MOVE FIRST = MFE>1% before MAE>1% (setup validated). STOP FIRST = MAE>1% before MFE>1% (you'd have been stopped). STOP ONLY = drawdown only. NO MOVE = flat.
RSI Relative Strength Index. Momentum oscillator (0-100). >70 = overbought, <30 = oversold. We use the 14-period RSI on multiple TFs for context.
EMA Exponential Moving Average. Trend-following average with more weight on recent prices. EMA 21 / 50 / 200 are common. Death cross = 50 crossing below 200 (bearish). Golden cross = inverse (bullish).
ATR Average True Range. Volatility measure — average size of recent candles. Used to size SL/TP relative to current volatility.
OI Open Interest. Total $ value of all open futures contracts on a pair. Rising OI + rising price = real new buyers. Rising OI + falling price = real new sellers. Falling OI = positions being closed.
VP Volume Profile. A measure of how strong a candle/move is relative to the past N candles. VP ≥ 1.5 = strong; VP < 0.75 = weak. Used as a filter on signal quality.
Funding Funding rate on perpetual futures — periodic fee between longs and shorts. Positive = longs pay shorts (crowd is long). Extreme positive funding = short-squeeze risk.
⚠️ Read funding as a CROWD POSITIONING indicator, not a directional signal. +0.05%/8h funding alone means nothing; +0.05% PERSISTENT for 24h+ means longs are stubborn and a flush is loading. Phantom TDI's FUNDING_SQUEEZE bot enters SHORT only when funding extreme persists AND 15m structure breaks down — never on funding alone.
IV Implied Volatility. Options market's forecast of how much a price will move. Higher IV = more premium = traders expect movement.
Market structure
HH / HL Higher High / Higher Low. Each new swing high is higher than the previous, and each pullback bottoms higher = bullish trend structure.
LH / LL Lower High / Lower Low. Each new swing high is lower, and each pullback bottoms lower = bearish trend structure.
TRANSITION Transitional structure. Just broke a previous LL (TRANSITION_BULL) or HH (TRANSITION_BEAR) — early sign of a regime flip, before full HH/HL or LH/LL is confirmed.
UNCLEAR Structure can't be classified — range / chop / no clean swings. Most filters reject UNCLEAR.
Pivot A confirmed swing high or low point — used to read structure (HH/HL...) and anchor entries/SLs.
Structure break Price crosses and closes past the previous swing high (bull break) or low (bear break) — used as an entry trigger.
HTF Higher Time Frame. 4H / 12H / 1D / 1W candles — used for trend / regime context.
LTF Lower Time Frame. 15m / 1H — used for precise entry timing once HTF context is clear.
TF Time Frame. Candle period: 15m, 1H, 4H, 12H, 1D, 1W.
ICT methodology
ICT Inner Circle Trader. Trading methodology focused on institutional order flow: liquidity pools, fair value gaps, order blocks, killzones. The Wraith bot uses ICT zones.
FVG Fair Value Gap. A 3-candle pattern where there's a price gap (high of candle 1 below low of candle 3, or vice-versa) — institutional displacement. Price often returns to "fill" the FVG before continuing.
⚠️ Not every FVG fills. Untested FVGs in strong trends often stay open for days. Use FVG as a HIGH-PROBABILITY zone, not a certainty. Anchor your SL OUTSIDE the FVG body (= candle high for SHORT, low for LONG) — if price closes through the FVG body, the institutional bias has flipped.
OB Order Block. The last opposing candle before a strong move — where institutions stacked orders. Used as an entry zone on retest.
Liquidity Stops/orders clustered at obvious levels (above swing highs = buy-side liquidity, below lows = sell-side). Price often sweeps these before reversing.
Displacement A strong impulsive move that breaks structure and leaves an FVG — sign of real institutional intent.
PD Array Premium / Discount Array. Above 50% of a swing = premium (look to short). Below 50% = discount (look to long).
Killzone ICT-defined high-probability trading windows: Asia 19:00-22:00 NY, London Open 02:00-05:00 NY, NY Open 07:00-10:00 NY. Most institutional moves happen here.
⚠️ Killzones = high volatility = high slippage. Market orders during NY Open can fill 0.3-0.8% off the displayed price. Prefer LIMIT orders during killzones. Also: the BIGGEST losses often come from chasing post-killzone breakouts that were the killzone's stop-hunt fakeout.
SMC Smart Money Concepts. Umbrella term for the structure / FVG / OB / liquidity reading approach (ICT + variants).
Macro & sessions
F&G Fear & Greed Index (alternative.me). 0-100 sentiment. <25 = extreme fear (often a bottom signal). >75 = extreme greed (often a top signal). Currently we're around 22 = a real fear market.
BTC.D / BTC Dominance BTC's share of the total crypto market cap. Rising = capital rotating into BTC (bad for alts). Falling = altseason setup.
Liqs / Liquidations Forced position closures when leverage runs out of margin. Big liquidation events accelerate moves and create stops cascade.
⚠️ Don't fade fresh liquidation cascades — chase them. A $100M+ long liquidation pulse usually overshoots by 2-3% in the squeeze direction before mean-reverting. Entering against that pulse early = max regret. Wait for the cascade to exhaust (= liq volume drops 50%+ in 5min) before counter-trading.
L/S Ratio Long/Short ratio. Top trader L/S vs retail L/S — divergence (retail long, pros short) flags potential squeezes.
CME Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Where institutions trade BTC/ETH futures. Open Mon-Fri 23:00-22:00 UTC (closed weekends). CME "gaps" (price differences from Friday close to Sunday open) often get filled.
NYO New York Open. 09:30 ET = 14:30 UTC = 21:30 BKK. Often the most volatile period of the day.
LO London Open. 03:00 ET = 08:00 UTC = 15:00 BKK. Sets the European session tone.
Asia session ~19:00-04:00 NY = 07:00-16:00 BKK. Typically lower volatility — accumulation / range.
Max pain Options expiry price where the most contracts expire worthless — strong magnet for spot price near expiry.
DXY US Dollar Index. USD strength vs basket of major currencies. Rising DXY usually bearish for risk assets (BTC, equities).
BKK Bangkok time (UTC+7). All Phantom TDI timestamps display in BKK by default.
UTC Coordinated Universal Time. Global reference time. BKK = UTC + 7.
Tokens & exchanges
MEXC The primary exchange Phantom TDI trades on. Centralized, supports perpetual futures. Stop orders are NEVER sent here (MMs hunt them) — all exits client-side.
WEEX Secondary exchange (bridge in progress). Covers pairs MEXC doesn't list.
BTC Bitcoin — reference crypto. Most pairs correlate to BTC moves.
ETH Ethereum — second-largest crypto, smart-contract platform.
USDT Tether — most-used stablecoin (USD-pegged). All futures pairs quoted in USDT.
USDC USD Coin — Circle's regulated stablecoin. Used in DCA Vault / yield strategies.
APY Annual Percentage Yield. Yearly return including compounding. 5% APY = $1,000 → $1,050 after 1 year.
DCA Dollar Cost Averaging. Buy a fixed $ amount on schedule regardless of price — smooths volatility, avoids timing risk.
MM Market Maker. Entity that provides liquidity. On MEXC, MMs are known to hunt stops resting on the orderbook — hence client-side stops only.
⚠️ Never put SL/TP orders directly on MEXC. Resting orders are visible to MMs who push price to sweep them, especially at obvious round numbers and prior swing highs/lows. Phantom TDI's entire exit pipeline (trade_manager, position_fast_tracker, Kalhan) holds stops CLIENT-SIDE and only sends a market close when triggered.
Perp / Perpetual Futures contract without an expiry. Trades around spot via the funding mechanism.
Spot Direct ownership of the underlying token (vs derivatives like perp futures).
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