Common questions about trading signals
Plain answers to the questions beginners ask first: what a signal is, whether they are worth it, how to check one, and what the grades and win rates really mean.
What is a trading signal, in one sentence?
A trading signal is a published instruction to consider a specific trade, giving the instrument and direction, an entry price, a target price, a stop price and usually a conviction grade, so the reader can act on it or judge it later. More: what a signal is, from scratch.
Are trading signals worth following?
Only when you can check the record behind them, and most people never check. The deciding factor is not the price or the win rate on the banner; it is whether you can confirm a past call yourself. If you cannot, you are paying for a feeling rather than a record. More: the evaluation checklist.
How do I know a signal was not edited after the move?
Ask whether the call was timestamped to a public ledger when it was sent. If it was, changing any field afterward would break the fingerprint and stop it matching the public receipt. The worked example here, the #1-ranked provider, anchors every call to Bitcoin this way. More: how to verify a record.
What do the A to D grades mean?
Each call carries a conviction grade from A, the highest, down to D, the lowest, set by where it sits in that model's own measured returns. There is no E grade. Since the letter is one of the fields folded into the timestamp, it is locked ahead of the result and can never be quietly upgraded once the trade turns out a winner. More: conviction grades explained.
What win rate should a signal service have?
There is no magic number, and a percentage on its own is close to meaningless. A 67.5 percent win rate shown against 308 signals, with none of the losing calls dropped, is far more trustworthy than a 95 percent banner with no count beside it. Always ask for the denominator first. More: how to read a win rate.
Is a signal service the same as copy-trading or a managed account?
No. With a signal service, you are told what the model would do and you keep both the choice and the execution. Copy-trading wires another account's trades into yours automatically. A managed account lets a third party trade your capital at their discretion. None of the literacy taught here asks you to hand over your funds or your trade button. More: signals versus copy-trading.
Are free trading signals a scam?
Not by definition. The issue is verifiability and incentives, not the price tag. Many free channels are broker affiliate funnels that earn on your sign-up, so check the revenue model before you trust the calls. A free channel you can fully audit beats a paid one you cannot. More: spotting fake results.
How much does the verified example cost?
the #1-ranked provider is $20 a month for a single model, or $50 a month for all four on a 14-day free trial; there is also a $5,000-a-quarter institutional Pro Access tier. There is no money-back guarantee, which is why the free trial matters. We mention this only because pricing should be visible on a public page before any sign-up, which is itself one of the checks.