How does online trading work? A beginner's guide

What is online trading?

Online trading means making forecasts on the price movements of financial assets — currency pairs, cryptocurrencies, stocks, commodities and indices — through an internet platform instead of a phone call to a broker. Everything happens in a trading terminal: you see live quotes, open a trade with a couple of clicks and follow the result in real time.

Alliance Trade is an online trading platform that brings together 144 currency pairs, crypto, commodities, stocks and indices in one terminal that works in the browser, on a phone and as a Telegram mini-app.

How a trade works

On Alliance Trade every trade has a fixed amount, a fixed duration and a fixed payout that you see before you confirm. You only decide whether the price will be higher or lower when the trade closes.

• Choose an asset, for example EUR/USD or BTC/USD.
• Set the trade amount and the duration — trades start from 5 seconds.
• Choose a direction: Buy if you expect the price to rise, Sell if you expect it to fall.
• If your forecast is right, you receive the amount back plus the payout — up to 92%. A $100 trade with a 92% payout returns $192.
• If your forecast is wrong, you lose the amount of that trade — never more.

Which markets you can trade

• Currency pairs: majors such as EUR/USD and GBP/USD as well as crosses and exotic pairs — 144 pairs in total.
• Cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum and other popular coins quoted against the US dollar.
• Stocks of well-known companies and stock indices.
• Commodities such as gold and oil.

Some assets are only available during their market hours. Outside those hours the terminal shows OTC quotes or marks the asset as closed.

Reading a price chart

The chart is the main tool of any trader. Candlesticks show the opening, closing, highest and lowest price for each period, and you can switch timeframes from 5 seconds to 1 day to see both short moves and the bigger trend.

Indicators and drawing tools help you spot trends, support and resistance levels. AI Mode adds a signal score for every asset — use it as a second opinion, never as a promise of profit.

Your first steps

• Create a free account with an email and a password.
• Practise on the $50,000 demo account: it uses the same terminal and the same quotes as live trading.
• Write down simple rules: which assets you trade, what amount per trade and when you stop.
• Move to live trading only when your demo results are consistent, and start with small amounts.

Risks and how to manage them

Trading involves substantial risk: short trades can be lost as quickly as they are won, and past results do not guarantee future ones.

• Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.
• Risk only a small share of your balance on a single trade.
• Do not try to win back losses with bigger trades.
• Take breaks and stop trading when you feel tired or emotional.

Frequently asked questions

Is online trading suitable for beginners?

Yes, if you start with learning rather than with real money. A free demo account lets you understand how trades, payouts and charts work before you risk anything.

How much money do I need to start online trading?

You can start with no money at all on the $50,000 demo account. For live trading the minimum deposit is low, so you can begin with a small amount.

Can I trade online from my phone?

Yes. The Alliance Trade terminal is optimised for mobile browsers and is also available as a Telegram mini-app.

How do I learn to trade without risk?

Practise on the demo account, keep a simple trading journal and read the guides and the blog. Switch to a live account only when you understand the risks.