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Linking & References Policy

At DayTrading.com, we maintain a strict editorial policy for sourcing and referencing information. We aim to provide clear, accurate, and up-to-date content that reflects the best available knowledge in finance, economics, and trading. To support this, we follow a structured approach to linking and referencing external sources.

Our approach prioritizes accuracy over everything else, cites the most authoritative source available, and makes verification easy for readers. Facts that move markets (fees, margin, product availability, regulatory actions, economic data) are checked against original or official materials before publication and rechecked when content is updated.

Tiered Source Framework

We classify sources into three tiers based on reliability, authority, and relevance:

When multiple sources are available, we prefer the highest-tier that directly supports the statement being made. If a point cannot be supported by Tier 1 or Tier 2, Tier 3 may be used for context, but never to contradict higher-tier material.

Tier 1: Primary Sources

These include original data, research, statements, or disclosures from the entity being discussed. Tier 1 sources are the first choice for facts, numbers, and binding policies.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

  • Company filings (e.g., Form 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, prospectus, annual report PDFs).
  • Official press releases and investor relations pages.
  • Exchange rulebooks, product specifications, symbol directories, and fee schedules.
  • Broker or platform documentation: order types, margin tables, product lists, API docs, status pages.
  • Direct interviews, official statements, or transcripts and recordings of earnings calls or capital-markets days.
  • Official datasets published by the company or exchange (CSV, API endpoints, downloadable tables).

Editorial notes on Tier 1 use:

  • Quote numbers, thresholds, dates, and definitions exactly as published; paraphrase narrative where helpful for clarity.
  • If a company republishes the same document across multiple URLs, we link the canonical or filing system location.
  • When a document is revised, we prefer the most recent version and state the effective date in text if relevant to the claim.

Tier 2: Regulatory, Governmental, and Scientific Sources

The second tier covers material from regulators, central banks, statistical agencies, and formal research bodies.

It is used for laws, rules, official guidance, methodologies, macroeconomic data, and peer-reviewed research.

Illustrative example of Tier 2 sources:

  • U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
  • Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
  • Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
  • European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
  • Central banks and government statistics agencies (e.g., Federal Reserve, ECB, ONS, BLS, BEA)
  • Peer-reviewed economic journals or working papers from recognized institutions

Editorial notes on Tier 2 use:

  • Name the jurisdiction in text when a rule applies to a specific market or region.
  • We prefer to link to rule text, technical standards, official Q&A or guidance notes over secondary summaries.
  • If regulators issue an update or amendment, we link to the version that is most relevant when considering the purpose of the reference. Examples: If we are talking about historical events, then we link to the original release, if we talk about current law, we will usually use the most current version.

Tier 3: Trusted Media and Financial News Outlets

Used for context, analysis, or supporting commentary. We only cite well-established publishers with a track record of fact-checked financial reporting. This includes news sources and trading/finance websites.

Tier 3 sources are only used when Tier 1 or 2 sources are not available. It is never used to overrule Tier 1 or Tier 2. Tier 1, 2 and 3 might be cited in opposition to each other in argumentative or opinion pieces where they are used to illustrate different contradicting viewpoints.

Examples of Tier 3 sources:

  • Bloomberg
  • Reuters
  • Financial Times
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • Investopedia
  • CNBC
  • MarketWatch

Editorial notes on Tier 3 use:

  • We will only link to Tier 3 sources when we consider the content they provide to be correct and high quality. The fact that we link to a source as a Tier 3 reference should not be seen as an indication that we consider all their content to be trustworthy. Investopedia.com and Investing.com are examples that feature some very high quality content, but that also feature lower quality content that we do not consider meeting the standard required for us to link to it.
  • Attribute analysis and opinion explicitly (“According to…”) and avoid presenting commentary as fact.
  • Where a Tier 3 article references a filing or regulator, we aim to link the underlying primary or official source instead of the Tier 3 source. We will only link to Tier 3 sources when we are unable to find a currently available version of the original filing or regulation online.
  • If a story is pay-walled we try to find another equally trustworthy source to link to instead. If no such source can be found and if the reference is central to understanding, then we still cite it. However, we strive to provide freely available references when possible.

We embed links inline within the body of the article where the claim or data point appears. This allows readers to immediately verify statements or dig deeper into the source.

We do not use footnotes, end notes, or separate reference lists on standard content pages unless required by format. (Pages using our legacy link policy can still display sources as end notes instead of directly in the text. This will be updated as pages are reviewed. You can read more about our legacy police further down on this page).

Editorial practice:

  • We place the link on the precise phrase that holds the verifiable claim (e.g., “2025 margin schedule,” “Form 10-K,” “Rule 606 report”).
  • Use descriptive anchor text instead of generic labels such as “click here” or “more info.”
  • Link once per unique claim; avoid redundant links to the same document unless clarity benefits the reader. The same claim will not be verified more than once per article unless we think that additional citations are of particular value to the user.
  • If a statement is jurisdiction-specific, we indicate that in or near the anchor (“FCA handbook—client money rules”).
  • For documents that change frequently, include “updated” or “effective” dates in the surrounding sentence when material to the reader.
  • We usually avoid affiliate parameters in citation links. Citations are informational and not monetized unless found in a review for the cited broker. All links to the reviewed broker within a review will be affiliate links.
  • We try to make sure that links are globally available, but can not verify each link from all locations, so some links might be geoblocked in certain countries.

Our editorial team regularly audits outbound links to verify their accuracy, destination, and relevance. Broken links, redirects, or outdated references are either updated or removed as part of ongoing content maintenance.

We use automated software to quickly discover broker links. This allows us to quickly replace broker links outside of our regular page maintenance.

Maintenance standards:

  • Frequency: High-traffic, review and regulatory content is reviewed more often; other pages are checked on a rolling schedule.
  • Redirects: We replace temporary or redirect chains with the current canonical URL.
  • Moved or archived content: If an official page is relocated or retired, we point to the new official location or recognized archives. If the page is no longer available on the original website, we might link to Internet Archive (web.archive.org) archived version of the page.
  • Conflicts: When two credible sources disagree, we prioritize the higher tier. If the disputed fact is of particular importance to our users then we highlight the discrepancy and link to both sources. In this case, we will clearly state which is the higher-tier/ more trusted source.
  • Removals: Links to sources that materially change or lose provenance are removed or replaced with a stable alternative unless the fact has become what can be considered generally knowledge. If it becomes general knowledge, then the reference might be removed without a replacement..

Legacy Linking Policy

Some older articles on DayTrading.com may still include references listed at the bottom of the page in a numbered or bulleted format. This reflects our previous editorial approach, where sources were compiled at the end of an article rather than integrated into the main body.

While we continue to prioritize accuracy on these pages, users should be aware that this format is no longer in use for new or updated content. Over time, legacy content will be reviewed and revised to align with our current referencing standard.

Legacy page handling:

  • Legacy lists remain visible for transparency until a page is refreshed.
  • When a legacy page is updated, inline citations are added and the bottom list is condensed or removed to meet current practice.
  • If a legacy link becomes inactive, we will replace it with an active source. This will not trigger the page to be migrated to the new policy. Heritage pages get migrated to the new policy system in accordance with our general review and update schedule. How soon this will occur depends on the nature of the article. High traffic and regulatory pages are reviewed more often than less popular and more evergreen content.