CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Excess volatility increases risk further. Be cautious. Past performance is not an indication of future results.
Open an Exness account
Money notes

Money in, money out — and what stays on record — Ethiopia

On the day it happens, a money movement needs no explaining. The awkward part comes weeks later, when a question about it turns up and the only honest answer is «probably».

Money moved into a trading account is a deposit; money asked back out is a withdrawal. Before either is confirmed the screen states the options, the cost and the expected time — then it closes.

One movement, two records

Every movement lands in two places at once. The account registers it unasked — this much, this direction, this date — and says nothing about the person deciding. The rest survives only in a line written by hand: skippable, unreliable, and the only place holding what stood on the screen, what was chosen, and why.

Part of the movement Kept without writing it Only in a written line
Direction, amount, date The account carries it Nothing to duplicate
The options on the screen before the confirm Shown once, then closed The one picked, and the rest
The cost and time named there Shown once, then closed Both figures, copied as they stood
Why that amount Nowhere at all One sentence, dated the same day

Where in the movement each line belongs

A movement is not one moment but four, and each puts something different in front of you. Written up at the end it becomes a summary; written as it goes, a record.

Point in the movement What the screen holds there The line that fits there
Choosing between the options Each option with its own cost and expected time Which one was picked, and what the others would have cost
The confirm The figures for the chosen option, one last time Both copied as they stand, not rounded
The wait Nothing new The date the wait began, so its length is measurable later
The balance changes The new figure, permanently How long it actually took, beside the time that was named

The last row is the one that pays: expected and actual time sit together only if somebody writes them there.

The lines written once and never again

Some things around money happen exactly once, which is why nobody can date them afterwards. On the Standard account there is no minimum deposit; other account options usually carry a region-based minimum, shown once during sign-up.

The identity check has the same shape. Before money leaves, the broker must be sure it is going to the right person, so new clients verify who they are by uploading a document — normally once. One dated line covers it; the account opening guide has the sequence. A demo account asks for none of it.

The reason behind the first figure belongs here too. If the amount was settled by the question on the risk basics page — would daily life stay the same without this money — write down the answer, not the figure alone.

When a line stops earning its place

Notes about money go stale in a particular way: the first movements produce a line each, then the same line repeats word for word. A column identical four times running is copied, not read.

Holding the account adds no entries: opening is free, the demo is free, and there is no monthly charge. Costs begin with a trade and belong in that trade’s note — see the trading words glossary and the FAQ.

The line worth re-reading is usually the one that turned out wrong. Leave it standing: a tidied note reads as though the decision was always sensible.

This site is an independent guide, not a broker: it opens no accounts, holds no money and takes no documents.

Questions from people already keeping notes

The screen named a cost and an expected time. Are both worth copying, or just the cost?

Both, in one line. The cost explains the figure that reaches the account; the expected time is what a later wait gets measured against.

Before confirming, or afterwards — when does the line get written?

Before, for anything the screen shows and then takes away. Afterwards, for one thing only: what actually followed.

The money took longer to arrive than the screen said. What does that add to the line?

One dated sentence: what was named, what it took, which option was used. Times vary with the method, so one slow movement means little and several mean something.

The document step happened long before any money moved. Which line does it belong to?

Beside the first movement it affects — money leaves only once the broker knows who it is going to. It normally happens once, so nothing later fixes the date, and «sometime in the spring» is what turns up months on.

Two movements in one week, same amount, same option. One line or two?

Two, both short. The account holds two entries whatever is written by hand; one merged note loses the fact that the decision came twice.

The reason for the amount already sits in the risk notes. Repeat it here?

Repeat the answer, not the reasoning: one sentence naming what the amount was measured against. A money line has to stand up read alone.

Which figure belongs in the line — the amount sent, or the amount that arrived?

Both, whenever they differ, with the cost from the screen between them. One figure leaves the gap unexplained, and that gap becomes a suspicion weeks later.

Keep going

What a broker does

Whose record holds what, and what no company record carries.

Read it through

Your first trade

The first entry becomes the yardstick for every later one.

See how it reads

Demo account

Where a written line costs nothing and teaches the same lesson.

Start there

Nothing has to move today.

A demo account builds the same routine with virtual money. The button below goes through a partner link to the official exness.com website.

Open a free demo at Exness