Broker platforms leave much to be desired in regard to analyzing your trading performance. Most traders don't know basic performance statistics about their trading, such as average trade return, Sharpe ratio, and maximum drawdown, and it's rare that a trader even knows what their equity curve looks like. It's hard to improve if you don't know where you stand.

The Trade Explorer is Forex Factory's answer to this problem. It's an online interface that connects with your MT4-based brokerage account to put hundreds of metrics and over 60 graphs at your fingertips. Explorer not only helps you evaluate your historic trading performance, but it automatically synchronizes with your brokerage account to give you real-time analytical capabilities. Create a Trade Explorer or read operational details in the user guide.





We didn't invent the concept of a performance analyzer, but we have taken it into new territory. Here are a few features that set Explorer apart:

1. Auto sync
   Automatically synchronizes with your brokerage account, even with the platform closed, allowing you to monitor your performance from anywhere with an Internet connection.
   
2. Equity|Balance toggle
   Allows you to display performance metrics based on either equity or balance.
   
3. Time zone control
   Can be set to reflect any time zone, allowing you to match your broker's time zone or adjust when the day begins.
   
4. Gap
   Pending orders display a metric we call 'Gap,' which shows how many pips away the order is from the market.
   
5. Open leverage
   Displays leverage of open positions in the familiar "XX:1" format, helping you easily identify how far from a margin call you are. Look for the 'Lev' column on the 'Open Trades' table.
   
6. Help icons
   There are help icons () for every metric to tell you precisely how the calculation is made. Hover on the icon to expand the help caption, or click it to hold the caption open.
   
7. Interactive graph
   Flexible design allows you to set the X and Y axis to your preference, giving you a high degree of control. Over 60 combinations available.
   
8. Industry stats
   Reports statistics in the same industry standard format used by CTAs and hedge funds.
   
9. No fake results
   Direct connection to brokerage accounts makes it impossible to fake trading performance. No need for a verification system – all Explorers are connected to a legitimate brokerage account and the live/demo distinction cannot be faked.

Currently Explorer is only compatible with MetaTrader4-based brokerage accounts. We plan to incorporate other platforms in the future. We're still in early stages of development so your feedback is really important at this time. Let us know what you think via the contact form.

For more details on Explorer, please read the user guide.

PS, a huge "Thank You" to the beta-testers who helped us with this project!

Almost four years ago we developed the Sessions product located in the top-left of the homepage. With the introduction of Market we decided to revamp Sessions with a new layout and a first-of-its-kind liquidity gauge. Please read the user guide to learn more about Sessions.



The new layout increases pre-click information and shows the local time of each city, and the liquidity gauge is a unique indicator powered by our Market Data System (MDS). MDS was built from the ground up to supply data to the Market page, but it also collects valuable information about spreads and tick volume across seventeen brokers (and counting). Since spread size and tick volume can individually estimate liquidity, we built the liquidity gauge to combine both metrics. The calculations are listed in the user guide.

Fyi, the old version of Sessions will still run on the homepage until the new version is tested enough to replace it.

Forex Factory is a proud sponsor of the FXCM Expo at the Rio in Las Vegas, May 3-4, 2010!

This free two-day event includes educational courses for all trading levels taught by FXCM's course instructors as well as the DailyFX research analysts. There will be over 60 classes and workshops covering a wide range of topics important to today's Forex trader. Many FF members will be pleased to know there'll be a course track designed specifically for the MetaTrader community! See the full workshop schedule.

You can register for the Expo, for free, at fxcmexpo.com, or contact an FXCM representative for more information at 1.888.503.6739 or [email protected].

Please note FXCM has secured a limited number of discount rooms at the Rio for Expo guests. By staying at the Rio, not only are you an elevator ride from all the action, but every room is a luxurious suite! In order to get the exclusive Expo discount, you need to reserve your room online before they're all gone!

See you in Vegas!

Today we're proud to introduce Market – a flexible, customizable, quick view of the forex market.



See Market in action or read the user guide to learn how it works.

Our goal was to develop an interface that allows forex traders to quickly and easily see what the market is doing. The quotes block displays ten currency pairs, the pip and percentage change for each, as well as the period high/low - all of which is customizable and remembered on your next visit. Beside every currency pair is a chart icon which sends the currency to the interactive chart. There you can get a proper visual by adjusting the interval, chart type, and cursor. And if you fret doing time zone conversions you'll be happy to see that the chart adheres to your time settings.

While the interface was designed specifically for the modern forex trader, what makes Market really unique is that it's powered by Forex Factory's Market Data System (MDS) - a custom-built infrastructure which aggregates quotes from multiple forex brokers. All data you see on Market is collected and averaged by MDS, providing you the truest view of the forex market.

Market is still in beta form so you'll likely see some errors and downtime. We need your help ironing out the bugs, so if you run into one, or just have general feedback, please drop us a line!

We hope you enjoy the new tab!

A big change is being made to the News section today! All stories will now be provided by members of the Factory News Network (FNN), a team of familiar faces we've organized to bring you the most timely, insightful, and interesting Forex news in the world.

FNN members will provide a blend of stories from around the web and personally authored stories - all catered to Forex traders. The founding members of FNN include:

caseystubbs | Representing Winners Edge Trading

James Chen | Representing FX Solutions

ForexDatasource | ForexDatasource.com

Learning Markets | Learning Markets

Mohammed Isah | Representing FXTechstrategy

TheLFB.com | TheLFB

Trout | Representing Trading University

Yohay | Representing Forex Crunch

The introduction of FNN marks the end of Forex Factory's wide-open story submission format. After a long wrestle with the model we don't feel it can produce the level of quality and value that we expect from our products. As a coordinated team of analysts and traders, FNN has the skills to deliver the consistent and reliable news that's been lacking in the open format.

As always, we welcome your feedback!