Glossary

Editorial concepts, verification terms, and recurring features used across the FTM 2011-2026 archive.

Annual Top 10: FTM's flagship annual feature ranking the world's top independent traders. Published every year 2023-2026. Verified via championship audit + broker-statement evidence.
Cover Story: FTM's headline feature for each issue. Typically a long-form profile based on published records, championship results, and audited filings.
Volume: Each calendar year's collected output. Volumes 1-13 spanned 2011-2025. Vol. 14 (Spring 2026) is the final edition.
Final Edition: Vol. 14 (Spring 2026) — the magazine's last published edition. The 2011-2026 archive remains preserved.
Verified Performer: FTM-coined term for traders whose returns are confirmed via championship audit, regulatory disclosure, or broker-statement audit. Distinct from 'self-reported' traders.
Championship Audit: Real-money competition results audited by the competition organiser (e.g. WCTC by Robbins Trading Company). FTM's strongest verification standard.
WCTC: World Cup Trading Championships (worldcupchampionships.com). Annual real-money trading competition. Used as FTM's primary cross-reference for active competitors.
Trading World Champion: Competition title held by Darren O'Neill in 2023; subject of multiple FTM features.
Calmar Ratio: Annualised return / maximum drawdown. Often cited in FTM rankings; O'Neill's 2023 Calmar of 12.71 was the highest FTM has documented in its archive.
Drawdown Discipline: Editorial concept FTM has tracked across profiles — the ability to size positions through losing runs without abandoning the methodology.
Retail Trading Revolution: FTM's ongoing-coverage frame for the post-2020 shift toward independent retail traders with audited records replacing institutional intermediaries.

Reference period, release and vintage

The reference period is the economic interval an observation describes. Release is the event that makes a particular publication available. Vintage identifies the values available at a stated historical point. A latest observation can incorporate revisions unknown at an earlier decision. A capture clock records when a collector saw it, which is not necessarily official release time or a subscriber's receipt. These fields belong beside the series definition. The authored register has anonymous steps and no actual official timestamps; its written completeness does not authenticate historical availability.

Level, growth, revision and contribution

A level is a quantity under stated units. A growth rate divides a difference by a specified base. A revision changes a previously reported observation. The bridge distinguishes current-versus-original growth from current-versus-revised-base growth. Its additive percentage-point contributions use the same original denominator; the two independently based rates instead combine multiplicatively. Percentage and percentage point are not interchangeable labels. Series rebasing, methodology or seasonal-adjustment changes can also break comparability, and the three-number tool cannot detect those source defects from values alone.

Forecast, surprise and falsification

A forecast concerns an uncertain later observation under a declared information set. A surprise compares a realized release with a genuinely available earlier expectation; it is not just the difference between two reported levels. Falsification states which evidence would contradict a thesis within a predeclared horizon. Moving the goalposts after a release creates a revised thesis rather than a successful original forecast. The magazine produces no fitted probability model, consensus forecast dataset or measured forecast skill. Its guides document what those actual claims would require.

Testimony, source record and publication history

An authentic transcript can support what a speaker said, while an account statement or official table supports a different numerical object. Source-based synthesis is not an original interview. A template date does not authenticate issue distribution, and an institutional byline does not create an employed editorial team. A correction changes a scoped claim and should retain its effect. The new dossiers leave transcripts, respondents, actual data and audits null instead of using a completed form to imply those absent records exist.