Charlie Burton

About Charlie Burton

Charlie Burton is a professional trader, FCA-authorised money manager, and trading educator with more than 28 years of market experience. He went full-time in 2001, which makes him one of the most experienced traders on Chart Academy, and he co-founded EzeeTrader in 2002 and later built his Charlie Burton Trading community.

He trades forex and CFDs as a swing trader, mostly the euro/dollar, using a top-down technical system paired with strict risk management. He is widely known for his practical, straight-talking style and was featured in the BBC documentary Traders: Millions by the Minute. He is also a five-time undefeated live trade-off champion at the London Forex Show.

From Financial Services to Full-Time Trading

Charlie did not set out to be a trader. He started his career in financial services in the late 1990s, working with firms like Scottish Provident and Old Mutual Fund Managers and advising independent financial advisors on pensions and investments. One of those advisors gave him a ticket to a trading show, where he took a four-day options course, and that was his first real taste of the markets. At first it was just a way to grow his own money on the side of a career he loved.

By 2001 he was burning the candle at both ends, working in the city while also competing for England at karate, and his life felt out of balance. After about four and a half years of part-time trading, he made the jump to full time and co-founded his trading education company, EzeeTrader, in 2002. Early on he found a simple gap-fill strategy on the Nasdaq ETF that gave him a reliable foundation, though he is honest that some of his early success came down to luck and good timing. He also lived through the classic beginner story: in his first year he grew a 40,000 account to a quarter of a million, then lost almost all of it. He says if he had not grown a real passion for trading, he would have walked away right there.

How Charlie Trades

Charlie used to day trade, but for years now he has been a pure swing trader who holds positions for weeks or even months.

• He trades forex and CFDs, with about 80 percent of his trading in the euro/dollar, plus the S&P, Nasdaq, gold, silver, and oil for context.
• He uses a top-down technical approach, starting from the quarterly chart down to the daily, then often timing entries on smaller timeframes after a big news event settles.
• His core setup is the "H pattern" confirmed with MACD divergence, with entries off 5-period EMA bands, stops set with a 2x measurement rule, and targets at the 50 and 100 moving averages.
• He adds to winning trades, a habit he calls "milking a trade for all it can give," and combines timeframes to turn a standard 1-to-3 trade into a much bigger multi-R position.
• He also reads sentiment, often taking the contrarian side when magazine headlines and the crowd are all leaning one way.

On risk, he tells most traders to keep it to around 1 percent per trade, while noting that the biggest gains come from dynamic risk, sizing up on your best setups, which only works once your mindset can handle it.

The Mindset That Keeps Him in the Game

Charlie's strongest message is that trading is mostly mental, maybe 80 to 90 percent. He credits his martial arts background for teaching him to get knocked down and get back up, which is exactly what trading demands. He talks about "desensitizing" your emotions down to a ripple instead of big peaks and troughs, because you will always feel something; you just get better at handling it.

He is open that he was naturally a greed-based trader early on, stuck in a cycle of building his account and then giving it back, until reviewing his own data showed him the pattern and helped him fix it. One of his favorite tools is simple self-talk, asking out loud questions like "if I take this trade and it fails, will I kick myself?" before he acts. He is also honest that even after 20-plus years, he still has drawdowns, including his biggest ever in 2018, and that lasting in this business comes down to patience, discipline, and a genuine passion for the game.

Learn From Charlie Burton on Chart Academy

Charlie Burton recorded a masterclass for Chart Academy called the Complete Forex Trading System, about 2.6 hours across 3 lessons. It is a full breakdown of how a professional money manager with nearly three decades of experience trades one core pattern across any market.

He starts with why market context is the missing link most traders never develop, and how to use higher timeframes to build a directional bias. From there he teaches his core setup, the H pattern confirmed with MACD divergence, the full rules for entries, stop losses, and targets using the 50 and 100 moving averages, how combining timeframes turns a daily entry into a multi-R trade, and how adding to winners compounds returns. The final lesson is refreshingly honest about the real downsides of the approach and walks through live euro/dollar examples spanning nearly a decade of the same pattern repeating.

The masterclass is now live on Chart Academy. Watch it free here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Charlie Burton?

Charlie Burton is a professional trader, FCA-authorised money manager, and trading educator with more than 28 years of market experience. He runs the Charlie Burton Trading community, is a five-time undefeated live trade-off champion at the London Forex Show, and was featured in the BBC documentary Traders: Millions by the Minute.

What markets does Charlie Burton trade?

Charlie Burton trades forex and CFDs, with most of his trading in the euro/dollar. He also follows and trades the S&P, Nasdaq, gold, silver, and oil.

What is Charlie Burton's trading strategy?

Charlie is a swing trader who uses a top-down technical approach. His core setup is the H pattern confirmed with MACD divergence, with clear rules for entries, stops, and targets using the 50 and 100 moving averages. He builds positions by adding to winners and combining timeframes, and he pairs the system with strict risk management and a strong focus on mindset.

What can I learn from Charlie Burton on Chart Academy?

On Chart Academy, Charlie Burton teaches a 3-lesson Complete Forex Trading System. You will learn how to read market context on higher timeframes, identify and confirm the H pattern with MACD divergence, apply clear entry, stop, and target rules, combine timeframes for higher risk-reward, add to winning trades, and understand the real downsides of the approach, all with live euro/dollar examples.

What is Chart Academy?

Chart Academy is a free, all-in-one trading education platform designed to help traders learn real, practical skills from world-class traders. It offers in-depth masterclasses taught by real traders across stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto, and trading psychology. In addition to educational content, Chart Academy includes personalized learning paths, downloadable resources, and access to exclusive tools and rewards, all in one place. There are no subscriptions, no paywalls, and no credit card required. The goal is to make high-quality trading education accessible, practical, and easy to follow for traders of all levels.