Every entry follows the same structure, because the point of a reference work is that you know where to look — and every entry is measured on the same scale, because the point of this one is that you can compare them.
The Traded Scale
Each market is scored from 1 to 5 on eight axes. Every axis runs the same way: higher means more demanding or more hazardous to take part in. That single rule is what makes the shapes comparable, and it means the size of a fingerprint means something on its own.
- Exit difficulty — how hard it is to turn back into cash at a fair price.
- Volatility — how far the price moves.
- Leverage — how much borrowed exposure is normal.
- Carry cost — what it costs simply to hold.
- Fraud risk — how common fakes, scams and misrepresentation are.
- Protection gap — how little recourse you have if it goes wrong.
- Barrier to entry — how hard it is for an individual to take part at all.
- Expertise needed — how much specialist knowledge you need not to be fleeced.
The difficulty figure is the mean of the eight, rescaled to 0–100. Because nothing is maximal on every axis at once, real markets fall between roughly 5 and 75.
Markets are scored side by side against a published rubric rather than one at a time, so that a 4 for fraud means the same thing on a watch as on a cask of whisky. Closest in shape compares all eight scores at once, regardless of category — which is how it finds that bitcoin's shape sits nearer to trading cards than to foreign exchange.
The scores are editorial judgements. They measure how much a market asks of you. They say nothing about whether it will make or lose money, and a small shape is not a recommendation.
How each entry is structured
The structure
Summary — one sentence that tells you what the thing is and what is unusual about it.
Body — what it actually is, where the price comes from, and the mechanics that matter. This is where the specifics live.
How you would actually trade it — the practical route, the costs, and what to check before committing money. Where the honest answer is "you cannot, and should not try", the entry says that.
What goes wrong — the failure modes, with real examples where they exist. This section exists because most market writing omits it.
The at-a-glance data
- Unit — what one of the thing is. Surprisingly often the most useful single fact.
- Smallest realistic trade — not the theoretical minimum, but the smallest amount at which the costs do not dominate.
- Settlement — how and when ownership actually transfers. This is where several categories hide their real risk.
- Liquidity — how readily you could sell at a fair price. Rated on a five-point scale from very low to very high.
- Volatility — how far the price moves, on the same scale.
- Access — whether retail participants can genuinely take part.
- UK regulated — whether the activity falls within the FCA's perimeter. This flag says nothing about whether something is a good idea, only whether there is a regulator and a complaints process when it goes wrong.
Editorial principles
Specifics over generalities. A contract size, a tax rule or a documented failure is worth more than a paragraph of characterisation.
Failure modes are not a footnote. Where a market has a well-documented history of losing people money, that belongs in the entry, prominently, with the numbers.
No recommendations. Describing how something works is not the same as suggesting you do it.
The boring details are the point. VAT treatment, settlement mechanics, renewal fees and documentation requirements are exactly what other references leave out and exactly what determines outcomes.
Sources and limits
Entries draw on exchange contract specifications, regulator publications, and reported market events. Figures such as typical contract sizes, fee levels and historical price moves are given as of writing and will drift.
Tax treatment described is for UK residents under current rules and depends on individual circumstances. Regulation changes. Verify anything that matters before acting on it.