AlphaLab-AI Academy
Trading-tech education without the hype.
Short, practical articles on risk, strategy, brokers, infrastructure and prop firms. We write for traders who want to think clearly about automation, not be sold to.
Risk fundamentals
4 articles
Risk fundamentals
9 min readRisk of ruin: the math behind blown accounts
A strategy with positive expectancy can still wipe you out. Here is the formula nobody on YouTube shows you — and how to use it to set position size.
Risk fundamentals
7 min readDrawdown vs loss: the difference that wipes accounts
A 10% loss and a 10% drawdown are not the same thing. Confusing them is one of the most expensive mistakes in retail trading.
Risk fundamentals
10 min readHow to read an honest backtest — and what to ignore
A backtest is a story the data tells about itself. Here is the checklist that separates a credible report from a curve-fit highlight reel.
Risk fundamentals
8 min readPosition sizing for retail traders: the 0.5–1% rule, explained
Most blown accounts come from oversizing, not from bad trade selection. Here is the rule professional traders use, the maths behind it, and how to apply it on every order.
Prop firms
4 articles
Prop firms
7 min readNews-event filters for prop firm accounts
A practical guide to the news rule — which events count, how to read the window, calendar feeds that actually work, and the EA plumbing that keeps you compliant.
Prop firms
11 min readWhy most EAs fail prop firm rules — and how to avoid it
The ten ways an Expert Advisor breaches a prop account, in order of frequency. Plus the EA-side fixes that quietly turn most of them off.
Prop firms
8 min readTrailing drawdown vs static drawdown: the rule that kills EAs
Two prop firms can offer "10% maximum drawdown" and apply it in ways that produce completely different outcomes. Here is how to read the rule before you pay.
Prop firms
12 min readHow prop firm challenges actually work
A field guide to the evaluation model — phases, profit targets, drawdown rules, profit splits, and how to read the fine print before you pay the fee.
Infrastructure
3 articles
Infrastructure
9 min readGMT offset, DST, and the day your EA fires at the wrong time
Daylight Saving Time shifts cost most retail EAs around four weeks of broken behaviour every year. Here is the plumbing, the gotchas, and the helper code that fixes it.
Infrastructure
8 min readVPS for MT5: latency, providers, what actually matters
A practical guide to the VPS choice — how much CPU and RAM you really need, why a $5/month VPS is not a $35/month VPS, and the data-centre decision that affects every fill.
Infrastructure
10 min readChoosing a broker for automated trading
Execution model, spreads, commissions, slippage policy, hedging mode, regulator, server location. The broker decisions that quietly decide whether an EA is profitable.