Every Quotex trade has an expiry: the moment the platform checks whether the price finished above or below where you opened. Pick a few seconds and the trade is over before you have finished reading the chart. Pick an hour and the price has time to do almost anything. This guide explains what the expiry controls, what it does not, and how to choose one while you learn.
What expiry time means
The expiry is how long your trade stays open. When it ends, the result is decided by one comparison: is the price higher or lower than your entry price? Only that final moment matters. If the price moves your way and then turns back before the expiry, the trade still loses.
In the trade panel you can usually set the expiry in two ways: as a duration, such as 1 minute or 15 minutes, or as a set clock time. The range commonly reported runs from a few seconds on some assets up to several hours, but the list you see depends on the asset and the platform version, so check the panel itself rather than relying on a fixed list.
Do not confuse expiry with the chart timeframe. The timeframe changes how much time each candle shows; the expiry changes how long the trade runs. Our Quotex market view guide covers both settings.
Short vs longer expiries
| Very short (seconds to 1 minute) | Longer (5 minutes and up) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price movement | Dominated by small, random moves | More room for a trend or level to matter |
| Trades per hour | Many | Few |
| Time to think | Almost none | Enough to check your reasons |
| Typical beginner mistake | Over-trading and chasing losses | Watching every tick instead of waiting |
What does not change: a win still pays the payout percentage and a loss still costs the whole stake. A shorter expiry does not lower the risk per trade. It only lets you take more trades, and lose faster if your approach does not work.
Why very short expiries feel like gambling
Over a few seconds, price movement is close to random. Results arrive so quickly that it becomes easy to place one trade after another to win back the last loss. That loop is the main way small accounts are emptied. If you try very short expiries at all, keep the trade size small and set a limit on the number of trades before you start.
How expiry affects the payout shown
The payout can differ between expiries on the same asset, so changing the expiry can change the percentage in the trade panel. Always read the payout after you set the expiry, not before. Our Quotex payout guide explains how the percentage sets the win rate you need to break even.
How to choose an expiry while practising on the demo
- Start on the demo balance and pick one or two assets.
- Choose one expiry and keep it fixed for at least 50 trades. Longer expiries, such as 5 to 15 minutes, are usually easier to learn on.
- Write down the reason for each trade before you click. If you cannot explain why the price should move within that time, skip the trade.
- After 50 trades, compare your win rate with the break-even rate for the payouts you traded.
- Only then try a different expiry, and change nothing else, so you can see what made the difference.
There is no expiry that makes trading profitable on its own. The goal on the demo is to find out whether your reasons for trading hold up over a fixed time, not to find a magic number. The step-by-step guide on how to trade on Quotex shows where the expiry fits in placing a trade.
Common mistakes
- Switching expiry after every loss, which makes your results impossible to judge.
- Using a chart timeframe that does not match the expiry, such as reading 1-hour candles for a 30-second trade.
- Assuming the payout is the same for every expiry without checking.
- Opening several short trades at once to recover a loss.
- Following signal groups that promise a "perfect" expiry. None can show a reliable long-term record.
Trading carries a high risk of loss, and Quotex is not regulated by a major financial authority. Practise on the Quotex demo account before risking real money.