Whether a signal comes from your own analysis, an indicator, or somewhere else, the question is the same: is it worth acting on once the real costs are paid? This is a short checklist for answering that honestly, in the same order the platform applies it. Run any signal through it before you let it near a live order. A signal that fails any step is a rejection, and a logged rejection is the rule working, not a missed chance.
1. State the expected edge, in numbers
Before anything else, write down the gross move the signal expects to capture. If you cannot put a number on the edge, you cannot evaluate it — "it looks strong" is not a figure you can subtract costs from. This number is the starting point, and every cost comes out of it.
2. Subtract the full cost of the trade
Deduct the exchange fee, the spread you must cross on entry and exit, an estimate for slippage on the fill, and a safety buffer for uncertainty. What remains is the net edge. If the net still clears zero with room to spare, the signal passes this step; if it does not, it fails here, and that is a complete answer on its own.
3. Check the conditions raising the bar
Costs are not fixed. Volatility widens spreads and deepens slippage, so a signal that passed in calm conditions can fail in a storm. Ask what the market is doing right now, and whether current conditions have lifted the cost bar enough to turn the previous step's pass into a fail. The same setup is not equally valid at all times.
4. Demand transparency before you trust it
Finally, ask whether the source shows its misses. A signal you can act on is one whose rejections are logged with reasons, so the failures sit on the record beside the successes. A source that only surfaces its wins cannot be evaluated at all, and an un-auditable signal should be treated as a no.
Treat a failure as a result, not a loss
If a signal fails any step, the checklist has done its job. A rejection is not a trade you were denied; it is the friction you did not pay on a setup that could not clear its cost. Fewer, cost-clearing signals beat a stream of marginal ones, and the discipline to walk away is what makes the difference.
For the rule behind step two, read the cost-beating rule for trading signals and how to read a signal cost breakdown. For step three in depth, see how volatility raises the cost bar. These signals are not financial advice, and no profit is ever promised.