Expiry: why one minute is harder than five

What expiry is

Expiry is the moment the trade closes and the entry price is compared with the exit price. Everything in between is irrelevant: only two points matter.

Noise against signal

The shorter the horizon, the larger the share of the move that is pure randomness. Over a minute, a major currency pair moves by fractions of a basis point, and that change is driven almost entirely by order flow rather than by any pattern.

On hourly and daily horizons the share of pattern is higher — trends, levels and macroeconomics work there. This is exactly why predicting direction over a minute is fundamentally harder than over a day, and why promises of high accuracy on one-minute expiries deserve scepticism.

The spread eats the edge

There is always a difference between the buy and sell price. On a one-minute horizon the expected move is comparable to the spread, so even a correct call on direction may not pay for itself.

Why OTC is not supported

OTC quotes are generated by the broker itself and are never published outside. Any technical analysis of OTC from the outside is analysis of data you do not have: indicators are computed on one price series while the trade settles on another.

The platform works only on real currency pairs during exchange hours and honestly reports a closed market the rest of the time.