Directional vs Non-directional

Directional vs Non-directional - A classification of strategies by market exposure. Directional strategies assume the market will trend and bet on a net move up or down (e.g. trend following, breakout). Non-directional strategies (often called market-neutral) aim to profit regardless of market direction, typically by hedging longs and shorts. For example, statistical arbitrage is market-neutral: it “involves opening both a long position and short position simultaneously”. That Investopedia note highlights that stat-arb ignores the general market drift by matching offsetting trades. In Forex, non-directional could include pairs trading and delta-neutral grid systems. This glossary entry explains the framework: systematic bots may be designed to be directional (betting on a currency’s rise or fall) or intentionally neutral (capturing relative moves). It helps users classify whether a robot’s performance depends on overall trend or just cross-asset moves.