Meaning and risks of the analyses

Long, short and no trade

• Long (bullish): the structure read by the engine favours a move up. Targets sit above the entry, the stop below.
• Short (bearish): the reverse. Targets sit below the entry, the stop above.
• Neutral, no trade: the engine finds no directional edge and stands aside. The analysis publishes the reference band and the two closes that would invalidate it; this outcome also enters the record. Example: BTCUSD, 2026-10-01.
• Conditional: the analysis applies only if price first reaches a trigger, for example the entry level. Until the trigger fires, the analysis is not activated.

The bias describes how the engine reads the chart across several timeframes. It is not an instruction to open a trade.

How long an analysis lasts

Every card states the horizon of validity: the UTC date and time after which the analysis no longer applies. When the horizon ends the outcome is recorded, whatever it is. After issue the analysis is never edited: a new reading of the market is a new analysis, with its own timestamp.

• Intraday: up to 24 hours from issue. Example: ETHUSD, issued 14/10/2026 17:17 UTC, valid until 15/10/2026 17:00 UTC.
• Swing: weeks, up to 3. Example: EURUSD, issued 14/10/2026 17:20 UTC, valid until 11/11/2026 17:00 UTC.

When an analysis fails

The outcome is the first event within the horizon, under exit rule v1 of 2026-09-26, fixed before the analyses it measures. An analysis fails when:

• price reaches the stop: the outcome is −1R, before costs;
• an invalidation condition is met on a bar close before entry: the analysis lapses with no trade. If entry has already happened, the exit is counted at that close;
• the horizon ends without a target being reached: the outcome is counted at the last close, positive or negative.

If stop and target fall in the same bar, the stop prevails. A conditional analysis that is not activated within the horizon counts as 0R and stays in the record as “not activated”.

Every outcome is expressed in R, that is in multiples of the stated risk, the distance between entry and stop, net of costs. Losses enter the public record with the same prominence as gains.

What it is not

• It is not investment advice: it takes no account of the reader’s capital, experience or goals.
• It is the same for everyone: the same analysis, with the same issue time, for every reader.
• It does not state lot size or position size: position size, risk and decisions stay with the reader.
• It does not execute orders and does not trade on anyone’s behalf.
• Targets are projections by the engine, not expected results.

Risk and conflicts of interest

Trading leveraged products such as CFDs and forex carries a high risk of losing money rapidly: you can lose all the capital you deposit.

Founders’ positions. Fabio Salvan and Salvatore Contino trade on their own account, including instruments covered by the analyses. Rules in force from 18 October 2026: 1) in the 60 minutes before the time of issue of an analysis, neither of them opens, closes or changes positions in the instrument of that analysis; 2) personal positions do not influence the direction, levels and time of the analysis, which are computed by the engine and published as they are. Any exception is recorded in the corrections log. Every analysis carries the fixed line “The authors may hold exposure to this instrument, including before or after publication.”

Commercial agreements. Every analysis states whether, at its time of issue, any agreement with intermediaries or prop firms exists. No intermediary takes part in producing the analyses.

Use of artificial intelligence. Analysis generated by the Meridian Engine artificial-intelligence system and published after a human check of consistency with the run data; the outcome is computed automatically on public price series.

Further reading

Methodology: how an analysis is built and how its outcome is checked. Corrections: what happens when a page contains an error. Home.