Two rows that sound alike: how much of the time a signal really has money at risk
Every MQL5 signal page carries two rows that sound like the same thing: Trading days and Trading activity. They are not the same thing, and if you are about to copy a signal, the second one tells you more.
What each row counts
Trading days counts the days on which the account made at least one trade. Trading activity counts the share of time the account had something open. A signal can trade on most days and still hold nothing for most of every day.
A worked example: our own flagship
Techno Long Term, read this morning: it traded on 569 of its 780 days, 72.95%. Its trading activity is 11.09%. It makes about 39 trades a week and holds each one for 57 minutes on average. A busy calendar and a mostly empty clock.
For someone copying it, that means the money is not at risk around the clock. It is at risk in short stretches, sometimes with several positions open at once. So the useful question is not how often a signal trades. It is how long it holds and how much is open at the same moment.
Your two-minute check
1. Read Trading days and Trading activity side by side. A large gap means short holds. A small gap means positions that stay open for days.
2. Read the average holding time next to them. It should agree with the gap. If it does not, ask the provider why.
3. Read Max deposit load. It is the most margin the account ever tied up at once. On our page it is 30.13%. Margin is not a loss, but it shows how crowded the account got.
4. Then read the drawdown rows anyway. Little time in the market is a description, not a safety rating. The same page shows a maximal balance drawdown of 742.17 EUR, 27.60%, with a stop on every trade. Short holds lose money too. They just do it quickly.
The calendar tells you when a signal is busy. The clock tells you when your money is exposed.
Techno Long Term on MQL5: https://www.mql5.com/en/signals/2307342
