Methodology

What Marlin covers

Gold (XAU/USD), oil (WTI and Brent), forex (the majors and the US dollar index) and the macro data that links them: interest rates, inflation, employment and Treasury yields. Around those markets Marlin reviews the tools and providers traders use — charting platforms, brokers and prop trading firms.

Fact, analysis, opinion, recommendation

Every important page keeps four things apart:

• Fact — something a source states (a release, a rule, a published figure). It carries a source and a date.
• Analysis — how those facts relate to a market, including what supports the reading and what contradicts it.
• Opinion — a judgement, labelled as such.
• Recommendation — Marlin does not make personal recommendations to buy or sell. Content is educational.

Sources and how they are used

Sources are used in this order of preference: (1) official and primary sources — central banks, statistical agencies, energy and commodity agencies, exchanges and regulators; (2) a provider's own documentation for product facts such as platforms, markets and regulation; (3) reputable secondary sources for context only, and flagged as such. Forum posts, social media claims and unverifiable statistics are not used as evidence.

Where practical, a claim follows this path: claim → data → source → analysis. For example, a statement about weekly crude inventories names the release it comes from, then explains why the figure matters for WTI, in Marlin's own words.

Market states: bullish, neutral, bearish

Where Marlin uses these labels, they describe an analytical reading of the evidence shown on the page — with supporting factors, contradicting factors and upcoming catalysts. They are not predictions, signals or advice. Marlin does not publish probabilities. The Marlin Intelligence dashboard publishes a deterministic score and confidence levels whose rules are documented in its methodology; confidence there describes the data behind a reading, not the chance of any outcome.

Market data

Live prices, charts and calendars on Marlin come from third-party widgets (such as TradingView) and are not produced by Marlin. Any figure stated in an article carries a date and a source, and can be out of date by the time you read it. Check current values with your own data provider.

Broker and prop firm reviews

Product facts — regulation, platforms, markets, costs, availability — come from the provider's official documentation and, where available, regulator registers, and are dated. Marlin does not assign numeric scores or star ratings to providers. Reviews set out strengths, limitations, who a product may suit and who may prefer an alternative. Fees, spreads, leverage and rules change often, so figures that could not be verified against a current source are left out or marked VERIFY CURRENT DATA. The steps we follow for every broker are on How we review brokers.

Affiliate relationships

Some links to providers are affiliate links. Commission is never a factor in what a page concludes or in which downsides it mentions. Each affiliate call-to-action carries a disclosure, and links are marked rel="sponsored". Details: affiliate disclosure.

Use of AI tools

AI tools may assist with research and drafting. Each article is reviewed and edited by its named author, who is accountable for it; Marlin does not publish unreviewed AI output as analysis.

Updates and corrections

Pages show a Published date and an Updated date, and market-dependent pages also show Data as of. If you find an error, tell us through the contact page; we correct it and update the page date. See the editorial policy.

Limitations

Official data is revised, sources can be delayed or change their pages, and relationships between markets (for example gold and the dollar) are not stable over time. Nothing on Marlin removes the risk of trading; read the risk disclosure.