What you will learn
- Instrument specifications
- Chart and account time
- Demo versus live
- Data freshness
Instrument specifications
Confirm the account identity before interacting with orders. Demo and funded accounts can look similar. Record the server, account label and connection status; a familiar layout is not evidence that the intended account is selected.
Chart and account time
Inspect the instrument specification for quantity units, minimum increment, trading hours and quote currency. A symbol suffix may indicate a different contract. Do not reuse a size merely because two symbols both contain the word gold.
Demo versus live
Display bid, ask and timestamps where available. A candle may represent only one price stream and may be delayed. Before practising execution, distinguish the visible chart price from the price relevant to the proposed order direction.
Data freshness
Save a simple layout with orders, positions and history visible. Analysis panels should not obscure order state. Practise finding each field while no position is open so that a later error is easier to diagnose.
Worked example
A learner switches servers and sees the same chart template. The account label now identifies a different account. The correct action is to verify identity before any order; the saved template says nothing about which account will receive it.
Try it yourself
Create a pre-order checklist containing account, instrument, quantity units, connection and quote timestamp. Explain why checking only the chart is insufficient.
Show the worked solution
The chart can remain visually identical across accounts or stale connections. The checklist ties a proposed order to the intended account and instrument, then checks whether current information and connectivity are adequate.
Apply this to your course project
Record market, limit and stop-order exercises with cancelled and rejected examples.
Keep the calculation inputs, assumptions and decisions with your work. Practical exercises are self-reviewed; the scored knowledge checks assess the questions shown, not an independent certification of practical competence.