Trade Autopsy: My Trade or the Market?
Enter one past gold trade. See whether big news was due, how fast that hour was, whether price really reached your stop, how your stop compared with normal movement, and which lesson fits.
What the market did around your trade
What to read next
Honest limits
- We use hourly COMEX gold futures bars (GC=F, via Yahoo Finance). A spike that lasted seconds can be inside one bar and look smaller than it was.
- Futures prices differ from spot XAUUSD by a few dollars (the basis), and your broker's bid/ask and spread are its own. So "did price reach my stop" is an estimate: we compare the move, not the exact tick.
- Release times come from our calendar of major US releases; other news (speeches, headlines) is not included.
- We do not show what "usually" happens next or any prediction. This is a look back at one trade.
Was it my trade, or the market?
When a stop is hit and price then goes your way, it is easy to blame the broker or bad luck. The Trade Autopsy looks at the hours around your trade and answers five plain questions: was big news due, was that hour unusually fast or slow, did price really travel to your stop, was your stop tight compared with gold's normal movement, and which session was it. Then it points you to the lesson that matches.
Worked example (hypothetical)
You bought at 4,060 with a stop at 4,056 ($4 away) at 13:20 UTC. The autopsy finds a US CPI release at 13:30 UTC, that hour's range was three times its normal size, and the low of the hour went $9 below your entry, past your stop, before the close came back above it. Your stop was also smaller than gold's average range for that hour. Verdict: a tight stop into a scheduled release. The fix is not a new broker but sizing for news or waiting until after it: gold news trading.
Common answers and what they mean
- Stop smaller than the normal hourly range: ordinary noise can hit it. Use the ATR stop-loss calculator and size down.
- Release within 30 minutes: spreads widen and fills slip. Read why the spread widens on news and slippage explained.
- Stop hit by a wick only: price touched it and came back. See stop hit but price didn't touch.
- Thin hours: late New York and early Asia have wider spreads. See spread widening at rollover.
Frequently asked questions
Why was I stopped out and then price went my way?
Usually because the stop sat inside gold’s normal movement for that hour, or a release made price swing both ways. The autopsy checks both against real hourly data.
Can this prove my broker hunted my stop?
No. It uses hourly futures bars, not your broker’s prices. It can show whether the market itself moved that far, which is the first thing to check. To complain about a broker, see how to complain about a broker.
Which trades can I check?
Trades within the period covered by our hourly data (roughly the last two years), up to the latest update.
Is my trade sent anywhere?
No. Everything runs in your browser. If you press ‘Save to my journal’, the trade is stored in your browser’s local storage only.
Educational tool only. Not financial advice and not a signal. Check your own broker's contract specification, margin rules and costs. Past data does not predict future prices. See our risk disclaimer.