Trading Instruments and Contract Specifications
Explore symbols in Market Watch, compare asset classes, and read contract specs like a pro — spread, swaps, contract size, margin, and trading hours.
No signup needed • Progress saved locally
- Use Market Watch to find, show/hide, and organize symbols
- Recognize key differences in Forex, Crypto CFDs, Metals, and Indices
- Read Symbol Properties: spread type, swap long/short, contract size, tick size/value, stop levels, commission, trading hours
- Calculate spread cost, swap impact, and required margin for a sample trade
Market Watch is your symbol hub: quotes, spreads, and access to contract specs.
- Show/hide symbols: Right-click Market Watch → Symbols… Expand groups (Forex, Crypto, Metals, Indices) and enable/disable symbols.
- Quick organize: Right-click Market Watch → Show All (to display all) or Hide (to keep only selected).
- Save sets: Right-click Market Watch → Sets → Save As… to store a custom list for your strategy.
- Open specification: Right-click a symbol → Specification.
- Depth of Market: Right-click symbol → Depth of Market for order book view (when available).
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Market Watch and Symbols dialog
Managing symbols and opening Specifications (placeholder).
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Depth of Market in MT5
DOM available for some symbols (placeholder).
Not all symbols are created equal. Specs differ by asset class and influence costs and risk.
- •Typical contract size: 1.00 lot = 100,000 units of base currency
- •Pricing: 5-digit quotes (0.00001) on many pairs; spread often variable
- •Swaps: triple swap day commonly Wednesday (check in specs)
- •Commission: may be per side/lot on ECN accounts
- •Contract size varies (e.g., 1 lot = 1 BTC or 10 BTC — check specs)
- •Wider spreads, potential overnight financing (swap or funding)
- •Trading hours: often 24/7 but broker may have maintenance windows
- •Typical contract size: XAUUSD 1 lot = 100 oz; tick size 0.01 → tick value = 100 × 0.01 = $1 per tick
- •Triple swap day often Friday (check in specs)
- •Contract size and tick value are broker-defined (e.g., tick size 0.5, tick value $0.5)
- •Trading sessions follow exchange hours; overnight breaks possible
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Symbol groups in MT5
Forex, Crypto, Metals, Indices groups (placeholder).
How to open: Right-click symbol in Market Watch → Specification.
Key fields (what they mean and why they matter):
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Symbol Properties window
Reading contract specs (placeholder).
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Spread and Swaps fields
Spread type, swap long/short, triple swap day (placeholder).
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Contract size and margin fields
Contract size, tick value, margin parameters (placeholder).
0.10 lot; 1 pip value ≈ $1. If spread = 1.5 pips, cost ≈ $1.5 at entry.
cost ≈ pip_value × spread_in_pips × lots (for FX); or point_value × points for broker's "point".
Contract size 100 oz; tick size 0.01 → tick value = 100 × 0.01 = $1 per tick (per 1.0 lot). For 0.1 lot → $0.10 per tick.
Volume 0.10 lot → nominal = 10,000 EUR. At price 1.1000 and leverage 1:100: Margin ≈ 10,000 × 1.1000 / 100 = $110.
Margin = (ContractSize × Volume × Price) / Leverage (convert to margin currency if needed).
If Swap long = −5.0 and Swap short = +1.0 (per lot per day), holding long overnight costs; triple day multiplies by 3.
If market closed (session break/holiday), orders won't execute; check "Trading hours" in specs.
Best practices:
- Check specs for each new symbol you trade.
- Compute margin and spread cost before placing orders.
- Start on Demo to verify swaps and execution behavior.
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Trading hours in specs
Session times and breaks (placeholder).
Your progress is saved locally — no signup required.
Micro-FAQ
Lesson 4 Quiz
Lesson 4 Quiz
Test your understanding with 5 questions. Pass with 4/5 correct.
Resources
You've learned how to explore symbols, read contract specifications, and calculate costs. In Lesson 5, we'll cover placing orders: Market, Pending, and setting Stop Loss / Take Profit.