Trading Basics.

Thousands of new traders will place their first order this year, and Jarvis is the perfect tool to help you get started.

As a new trader, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. If you feel like you’re drowning as you start out, you’re probably going deeper than you need to. Instead, make it your goal to build a simple strategy on a basic core of knowledge.

Here are some essential concepts to help prepare you for your first trade.

See a term you need help with? Here’s the Jarvis Glossary for trade-speak.

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104.1 Accepting Risk

Trading real capital always carries risk, and most traders lose money. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trade, but be aware and realistic about risk in trading.

New traders should always:

• Research your trading format
• Get comfortable navigating your brokerage (where your trades happen)
• Practice with paper trading (simulated capital)
• Test strategies with single or small sizing
• Trade with only money you can afford to lose

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104.2 Types Of Trading

Deciding which type of trading to focus on means choosing an asset type and a timing model. Instead of testing several at once, focus on building capability by trading consistently in the lane that fits your goals and risk tolerance.

Asset Types

These asset classes are included in the Jarvis algo:

• Common Stocks (Investing): Shares of a company usually bought and held for months, years, or decades.
• Options: Stock contracts with a designated direction and expiration date that influence the yield. (We trade these on JarvisLIVE stream.)
• Crypto: Digital assets that trade around the clock and tend to move fast.
• FOREX: Stands for “foreign exchange”. National currencies traded in pairs.

Traders looking to profit from falling prices (shorting) can do so by trading derivative contracts like put options.

Timing Models

Different trade strategies specify the expected timeframe of holding the asset/contract:

• Scalping: Entering and exiting a trade within a few seconds. (Not best suited for Jarvis.)
• Day Trading: Opening and closing a position in the same day.
• Swing Trading: Holding a position for days or weeks.
• Investing: Holding for months or years.

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104.3 How Candlesticks Work

Your trading chart uses candlesticks instead of a single line. Each candlestick records price movement within a given time interval (1-minute, 15-minute, 1-day, etc.)

Here’s what you’re looking at when you see a candlestick on Jarvis:

• Body: The “wax” of the candle that shows where price opened and closed.
• Wick: Thin lines above and below that show pricing highs and lows.
• Fill: Hollow body = price went up. Full body = price went down.

Movement within a candle represents the volume of underlying assets traded, along with the proportion of buying versus selling.

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104.5 Market Behaviors

Markets are dynamic and unpredictable, but traders will see many recurring patterns across charts.

Resistance/Support Lines - Resistance lines mark price levels an asset has repeatedly approached but not broken through. Once broken, they typically become a new support line reinforced by buy pressure.

Jarvis identifies daily resistance/support lines on your chart, and many traders hand-draw lines to optimize their trading range or avoid entering low-ceiling positions.

Liquidity Checks - Institutions exert market influence by buying/selling shares in immense volume to suddenly affect prices and shake retail traders out of positions. These market moves can make it especially tempting to exit a profitable trade run.

What happens on the chart: A steady upward chart might suddenly drop in a single candlestick, causing retail traders to exit, thinking momentum has shifted. Instead, the trade instantly recovers and continues the run (without those traders).

News Events - Markets can be suddenly influenced by financial news releases, including Fed meetings, earnings reports, and presidential tweets about businesses. Traders should avoid holding positions during known news events because price action can move unpredictably and with immense volume, causing major repercussions.

Now that you’ve got a broad view of the market, let’s learn how traders place orders.

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[105: Order Mechanics >]

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