Signal tools
Trade Signal Checker
Paste a signal from Telegram, Discord or a chat. We read the entry, stop and targets, check that they make sense, and show the risk, the reward and the lot size before you place anything.
- Reads gold, forex and silver signals
- Catches wrong-side stops
- Lot size from your risk
Not a recommendation: the checker tests whether a signal is complete and consistent. It cannot tell you whether the trade will win, and it does not give signals.
A typical gold signal, on a $10,000 account risking 1 percent.
Type or paste any text. The fields on the right update as you type, and you can correct them by hand.
The reading is a best guess from the words and numbers in the text. Always compare the fields with the original message. We assume the stop and targets are prices. Spread, slippage, swap and commission are not in the reward numbers.
Five real-looking signals, checked
These are the kinds of messages that show up in signal channels. The first is clean. The others each have a different problem. Click the buttons above to load some of them, or paste your own.
| Signal | Result | What the checker finds |
|---|---|---|
| Gold buy 2350, SL 2345, TP 2355 / 2360 / 2370 | Pass | Complete and consistent. TP1 pays 1R, TP2 pays 2R, TP3 pays 4R. At TP1 you need about 50 percent winners to break even. |
| GBPUSD sell zone 1.3050-1.3060, SL 1.3100, TP 1.3000 / 1.2950 | Pass | The zone is a range, so we use the lower end of a sell zone, the worse fill. The stop is 50 pips away. TP1 pays 1.0R and TP2 pays 2.0R. |
| EURUSD buy at 1.0850, TP 1.0900, no stop | Fail | No stop loss. The risk has no limit, so the lot size cannot be worked out. |
| XAUUSD buy 2350, SL 2355 | Fail | The stop is above the entry. For a buy it must be below, so this stop would trigger at once or never protect the trade. |
| XAUUSD sell 2640, SL 2650, TP1 2636 | Check | The structure is fine, but TP1 pays only 0.4R for a 1R risk. You would need to win about 71 percent of such trades just to break even. |
Break-even win rate = 1 divided by (1 + R) for a trade that pays R when it wins and loses 1R when it loses, before spread and commission.
What the checker looks for
| Check | What it tests | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | A buy or sell word is found, and only one of them | A message that says both is easy to misread when you are in a hurry |
| Entry | A price, a zone, or your current price | Every distance and ratio is measured from the entry |
| Stop side | Below the entry for a buy, above it for a sell | A stop on the wrong side is the most common typo in copied signals |
| Stop size | Very wide or very tight relative to price | A stop smaller than the spread is hit by noise |
| Take profit side and order | Targets lie on the profit side and run nearest to farthest | A target on the wrong side would close the trade at a loss |
| Reward to risk | R paid by each target and the break-even win rate | Shows how often you must win before costs |
| Pending order | Limit and stop entries sit on the right side of the current price | Your platform rejects a wrong-side pending order |
| Late entry | Price has already moved toward the target since the post | You get less reward for the same risk |
| Position size | Lot size that risks only your chosen percent at the stop | Signals rarely say how much to trade |
A passed check means the text is consistent. It says nothing about whether the idea is good.
Signal formats it understands
- Symbols. XAUUSD or gold, XAGUSD or silver, EURUSD, GBPUSD and USDJPY, with or without a slash. Others can be set as Custom.
- Direction. Buy, sell, long or short. Buy limit, sell limit, buy stop and sell stop set the order type.
- Entry. A single price, an at sign, the word entry, or a zone written as 1.3050-1.3060 or 1.3050 to 1.3060.
- Stop loss. SL, S/L, stop loss or stop followed by a price.
- Targets. TP, TP1 to TP4, target or take profit. Several prices on one line, separated by slashes or commas, are read in order.
- Not supported. Stops and targets given only in pips. We tell you when we see them, and you can type the prices in.
Size the trade on the chart, not in a spreadsheet
Lot Architect is our position-size tool for MT5 and MT4. Pick Long or Short and Market, Limit or Stop. Then drag the Entry, SL and TP lines on your chart. It shows the lot size, margin, money at risk, reward and R:R, and the order button shows the lot it will use. You can size by Risk percent, Risk in dollars or a fixed lot.
Press H to hide the lines. The panel has Main, Risk, Trade and Info tabs. It does not read prop firm rules.
Honest limits: it sizes and places the trades you choose. It does not give signals and cannot make a signal good. Test it on a demo account first.
See Lot Architect for MT5MT4 versionBefore you press the button, a short list helps: Entry Discipline Checklist Pro.
These are our own products, and we earn money if you buy them.
How the numbers are worked out
- Entry used. The typed entry. For a zone, the worse end: the lower end for a sell, the upper end for a buy. For a market order with a current price, the current price.
- R. One R is the distance from entry to stop. A target paying 2R is twice that distance from entry.
- Lot size.
risk money ÷ (stop distance × contract size), rounded down to 0.01 lot. For USDJPY the result is converted from yen using the entry price. - Break-even win rate.
100 ÷ (1 + R)percent, before spread and commission. - Equal split. The average R of all targets, as if the position were closed in equal parts. Real plans often use other splits.
- Late entry. Flagged when price has moved more than 20 percent of the stop distance past the signal entry, toward the target.
Questions about checking signals
Does a passed check mean I should take the trade?
No. It means the signal is complete and its numbers agree with each other. Whether the idea has an edge is a separate question that this page cannot answer.
Why does the checker pick the worse end of a zone?
A zone like 1.3050-1.3060 gives you a range of fills. Planning with the worse end shows the smallest reward you could get, so you are not surprised.
What if the signal gives the stop in pips?
Some channels write SL 30 pips. We cannot place that without knowing the entry, so we flag it and ask you to type the price. Entry minus or plus the pips gives the price.
Why is a stop on the wrong side so common?
Signals are typed by hand and copied around. A sell with the stop below the entry, or a buy with the stop above it, is a typo that is easy to miss on a phone.
How is the lot size worked out?
We take your risk percent of equity, divide by the money lost per lot at the stop, and round down to 0.01. If the result is below 0.01 lot, we warn you instead of rounding up.
Why do the results differ from my broker?
Contract sizes and tick values differ between brokers and symbols. Check the contract size for your account and enter it in the field. Spread, slippage and commission are not in the reward numbers.
Is anything sent to a server?
No. The text you paste is read in your browser and is not stored or sent anywhere.
Can I use it for a signal I wrote myself?
Yes. It is a quick sanity check for your own plan too. Type the entry, stop and targets into the fields, or write them as text.
Related calculators
This checker is for education and is not financial advice or a trade recommendation. Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of loss. Read our risk disclaimer and methodology. More of our MetaTrader tools are on our MQL5 seller page, and we earn money if you buy them.