There are two buttons on the screen: the price will go higher or lower. It looks as if you could figure out binary options in a minute. And with the buttons, you really can. But the outcome also depends on time, the opening price and the payout terms. Let’s walk through these mechanics with simple numbers, then place a practice trade on intrade.bar so that once it closes you can explain every figure in your history.
What you are forecasting in a binary option
In the “higher / lower” format you choose where the asset’s price will be at a set moment relative to the price at which the trade opened. You are not buying the currency or the cryptocurrency itself. In this article, digital options means exactly this kind of contract on the direction of the price.
Say you opened a “higher” trade on a currency pair at 1.10000, and the term ends at 14:05. If the settlement price at that moment is 1.10030, the condition is met. At 1.09990 the result is a loss. Even if the price was much higher at 14:04, that is no longer the deciding moment for the finished contract: the forecast is tied to 14:05.
On intrade.bar, if the opening and closing prices are exactly equal, the trade amount is returned. The reference point is the price recorded when the trade is executed. It may differ from the one you saw just before clicking: the market does not pause while your cursor travels to the button.
Expiry and timeframe: two settings with different jobs
The timeframe sets the size of a candle on the chart. On the one-minute interval a single candle combines a minute of movement, on the five-minute interval five minutes. The expiry sets when a specific trade ends. Switching the chart does not move its end.
On intrade.bar this difference is easy to see with the two modes. In Sprint you set the duration of the trade; in Classic the end is tied to the close of the five-minute candle. So the phrase “I trade on five minutes” explains nothing yet: it could mean the chart, the duration or the exact settlement time.
Before opening, check the end time in the trade form. If your practice scenario is built for a few minutes and only seconds are left until the chosen expiry, the conditions are already different. Skipping such an entry is more useful than explaining the result later with “well, I actually meant later.” The platform has no early closing: the term has to be chosen before you confirm.
How much you get and how much you can lose
Take a notional amount of 100 units and an 85% payout. Here the percentage is the profit on a successful outcome relative to the trade amount, not the probability that the forecast is right. You earn 85 units; together with the original 100, 185 returns to your balance.
| Trade outcome | Returned to balance | Net result |
|---|---|---|
| Condition met | 185 | Profit 85 |
| Condition not met | 0 | Loss 100 |
| Amount returned when prices are equal | 100 | 0 |
This is a practice example. For your own trade, use the percentage intrade.bar shows before opening: 85% is not a fixed rate for every asset and time. Nor should the return of your own amount be counted as extra profit.
Why 50% correct forecasts is not enough
Suppose all one hundred trades have the same amount of 100 units and an 85% payout. Fifty winners bring 4,250 units of profit, fifty losers 5,000 units of loss. The total is minus 750, even though right and wrong forecasts are split evenly.
The break-even share of winning trades in this example is 100 / 185, or about 54.05%. To end up positive, it has to be higher. The calculation assumes equal amounts, a constant 85%, and no extra costs or refunds. At a different percentage the threshold changes: the general formula is 1 / (1 + r), where r is the profit as a fraction of the trade amount.
That is why in your intrade.bar statistics you should look at more than the WinRate. Compare it with the trade amounts and payout percentages, and use the history and CSV export when reviewing a series. A good hit rate will not fix a situation where the winning trades were small and the losing ones large.
How a digital option differs from Forex
In common retail Forex and CFD trades, the result depends on the position size and how far the price moved between opening and closing, minus costs. Here, if the condition is met, the profit of a given option is fixed in advance. A rise of a few pips and a much stronger rise can give the same result if both moves satisfy the condition at expiry.
For you, this means a clear limit on each individual decision: before entering you can see the amount at risk, the end time and the possible profit. But the limit for the account is yours to set. Ten losing trades in a row do not disappear just because the risk of each was known in advance. So alongside the mechanics of a trade, study position sizing and a rule for stopping a session.
First practice on intrade.bar: checking the mechanics
Open the guest demo mode, available without registration for 24 hours, and make sure you are using the virtual balance. Pick one available asset. For your first exercise you don’t need ten tabs or a hunt for the “fastest” pair: what you need is to follow one trade from start to finish.
Look at the completed candles and state a practice expectation, for example: “by the chosen time the price will be higher than my entry price.” This describes what you are testing, not a ready-made trading strategy. Set the term and a small notional amount. Before clicking, work out the possible profit from the percentage the form is showing right now, and note down the parameters separately.
After opening, find the recorded price, and after the trade closes, the settlement price and the result in your history. Compare them with the direction and time of your forecast. If you expected a profit of 85 units but the percentage before entry was different, the mistake was in the calculation. If you picked the right direction but the price got there after expiry, the mistake was in the forecast’s timing.
Repeat the exercise in the opposite direction, keeping the same notional amount. If a result is unclear, review the previous record first. A new trade does not help you decode an old one, and raising the amount after a loss does not make the next forecast more accurate.
How to decide in advance where your trading day ends
On intrade.bar risk management is voluntary: you can choose No limits or set your own daily loss and profit limits. If you switch the limits on, they become technical support for your decision to stop. Once the set limit is reached on closed trades, no new trades can be opened until the end of the day.
The limits are calculated from your balance at the moment you set them and can only be changed from the next day, Moscow time. So it is best to set them calmly, before a series of trades. This is a separate setting from the amount of each trade: the daily limit does not choose your entry size for you. To begin with, it is enough to learn to tell these two levels of risk apart and to understand exactly what you are handing over to the platform.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to name the exact future price?
No. In the “higher / lower” format, what is checked is where the settlement price stands relative to the recorded opening price at the set time. But the direction and timing of the forecast must be decided in advance.
Can I cancel a trade after opening it?
intrade.bar does not offer early closing. That is why you check the asset, direction, amount and end time before confirming.
Is a day of demo enough to evaluate a strategy?
A day is handy for getting to know the interface and the calculations. A reliable assessment of an approach requires far broader observation; a lucky short streak is no substitute for it.
Start with one practice trade on intrade.bar and a full review of its result. Once you can explain the entry price, the expiry and the payout in your own words, your further learning has a solid foundation.
Place your first practice trade
A demo account opens right after registration
