Editorial policy

What gets published

Five kinds of page: analysis that argues a position and reaches a verdict, explainers that answer one question, glossary entries that define one term, courses that teach a subject lesson by lesson, and calculators. Each page is planned around something readers search for, and it has to answer that completely for someone arriving cold.

Sourcing

Formulas follow their standard definitions. Rules are attributed to the body that sets them, such as the IRS, the SEC, FINRA, the Options Clearing Corporation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics or the Federal Reserve, and stated only as far as that body states them. Where practice varies between brokers or prop firms, the page says so and tells you where to check. Worked examples use hypothetical accounts and companies with round numbers and every step shown. No page quotes market statistics or study findings, and no page attaches figures to a real company, broker or firm.

Independence

No company pays for coverage. Pages name no broker, prop firm, data vendor or platform, and nothing is ranked. There are no affiliate links. If that ever changes, pages carrying them will say so at the top.

Review and AI assistance

Pages are drafted with AI assistance and reviewed before publication; the reviewer is credited at the top of each one. How we use AI sets out what the tools do and what the review covers.

Corrections

Errors of fact or arithmetic are corrected on the page as soon as they are confirmed, and the updated date changes. Report one to [email protected].

House rules

These are the rules every page is written to. The ones marked "checked automatically" are enforced by a script that fails a draft that breaks them; the others are checked in review.

1. Answer first, then show the working. The opening paragraph of a page says the thing the reader came for; the rest earns its place by explaining it. Checked in review.
2. Address the reader as "you" and write about their account, their order, their tax form. Examples use hypothetical accounts and companies with round figures; real tickers are never paired with numbers. Checked in review.
3. No first person and no biography. Nothing is presented as lived experience: no spouse, colleagues, or "the year this went wrong". Checked automatically.
4. No "we" in articles, and no page describes the publication. The pages talk about markets, rules and the reader. Checked automatically.
5. Rules are stated with the body that sets them: the IRS, the SEC, FINRA, the Options Clearing Corporation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Where a rule depends on a broker or a prop firm, the page says so and says where to check. Checked in review.
6. No statistics, studies, success rates, pass rates or market levels. A number is a formula, a published rule, or arithmetic on a hypothetical with every step shown. Checked in review.
7. Analysis pieces reach a verdict and say where it stops applying. Some push hard and concede in a sentence; others weigh both sides and end on a condition. Checked in review.
8. One hedge per claim at most. Where nobody knows, say so plainly and move on. Checked in review.
9. Vary sentence length hard: plenty of short sentences, a real share of long ones that carry a chain of reasoning past thirty words, and few in the comfortable middle. Checked automatically.
10. No em dashes. A comma, a colon, a full stop, or a rewrite. Checked automatically.
11. Define things by what they are. Two contrast constructions a page at most, counting "not X but Y", "rather than", "instead of" and the two-sentence version. Checked automatically.
12. One short aphoristic closing line per article at most. Sections end when the point is made. Checked automatically.
13. No broker, prop firm, data vendor or platform names. Describe the feature or the rule and where to find it. US spelling, US tax and market conventions. Checked in review.
14. Vary the opening: the answer itself, a sum, a rule, an order ticket, a date on a calendar, a situation the reader is in. Neighboring pages never open the same way. Checked in review.

For who publishes the site, see about.