Trading Glossary

Bid is the price the market will buy from you (your sell price). Ask is the price the market will sell to you (your buy price).

A public, distributed ledger that records every transaction. Stored simultaneously on thousands of computers, allowing trust without a central authority.

Shares of large, stable, well-known companies — Apple, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson. Typically lower volatility, regular dividends.

A bull market is a sustained price rise (20%+ from the recent low). A bear market is a sustained drop (20%+ from the recent peak).

A chart bar showing four values: open, high, low, close. The body spans open-to-close; the wicks show the full range.

Software or hardware that stores the keys controlling your crypto. Hot wallets are online; cold wallets are offline and far more secure.

Financial services — loans, exchanges, insurance — running on smart contracts instead of banks. Mostly on Ethereum and Solana.

A share of company profits paid to shareholders — usually quarterly. A steady dividend is a hallmark of a mature, successful business.

Net company profit divided by shares outstanding. One of the core metrics in fundamental analysis.

A fund that trades like a single stock but holds many assets inside. Buying an S&P 500 ETF = instant ownership of all 500 companies. Low fees, easy diversification.

The transaction fee on a blockchain (especially Ethereum). Price varies with network demand — sometimes a few cents, sometimes tens of dollars.

In Bitcoin, the mining reward halves every ~4 years. This cuts the supply of new coins — historically tied to major price cycles.

A private company's first public offering — when its stock first becomes available to retail investors on an exchange.

Borrowed capital from your broker that scales your position size. 1:100 leverage means $100 controls $10,000. Amplifies both gains and losses.

How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving the price much. High liquidity means tight spreads and fast fills.

The standard trade unit in Forex. A standard lot = 100,000 units of base currency. Mini (10,000), micro (1,000), nano (100) lots also exist.

A trend + momentum indicator built from the difference of two exponential moving averages. Commonly traded on signal-line crossovers.

The portion of your capital your broker locks up to support a leveraged position. If losses eat into it, you'll get a margin call.

A broker alert that your margin no longer covers open losses. You must deposit more or close positions — otherwise the broker liquidates for you.

A company's total market value = share price × shares outstanding. Often grouped as Large-cap (>$10B), Mid-cap, Small-cap.

The process of creating new blocks and validating transactions on a blockchain. Miners are rewarded with new coins + fees (gas).

A line plotting the average price over the last N periods. Smooths out noise, reveals the trend. Common types: SMA (simple) and EMA (exponential).

A unique digital asset on a blockchain — one isn't interchangeable with another. Used in art, collectibles, games, and proof of ownership.

Stock price divided by EPS. Shows how many years of current earnings it would take to 'pay back' the share price. Low P/E may signal a cheap stock.

The smallest standard price move in Forex — usually the 4th decimal (0.0001). JPY pairs use the 2nd decimal (0.01). 1.1050 → 1.1051 = 1 pip.

How many units you trade. Correct sizing comes from account size, risk %, and stop distance — never from emotion.

A digital key that proves you own a specific crypto address. Whoever holds the key owns the funds. Lose it = lose the money.

Expected reward divided by expected risk. A 1:2 RR means you risk $1 to make $2. Consistent 1:2 or higher is what makes a strategy long-term profitable.

An oscillator between 0–100 showing overbought/oversold conditions. >70 typically means overbought, <30 means oversold.

A trading strategy based on quick entries and exits — often for just a few pips of profit. Demands high focus and very tight spreads.

12 or 24 English words that recover your entire wallet. Write it on paper — never store as photo, in the cloud, or share it. Anyone with the phrase owns your funds.

Selling borrowed shares hoping to buy them back cheaper, pocketing the difference. Lets you profit from price drops — but the risk is theoretically unlimited.

Code that lives on a blockchain and executes automatically when its conditions are met. The foundation of DeFi, NFTs, and DAOs.

The difference between the ask (buy) and bid (sell) prices. The broker's primary fee in Forex. Tight spreads mean cheaper trading.

A cryptocurrency pegged to another asset — usually the US dollar. USDT, USDC, and DAI are the most popular. Used to avoid volatility.

Locking up crypto to help secure a network — in return you earn interest. Proof-of-Stake chains (Ethereum, Solana) use this as an energy-efficient alternative to mining.

A share in a company. Owning stock makes you a partial owner — entitled to profits (via dividends) and a vote at shareholder meetings.

A pre-set price at which your broker auto-closes a losing position to cap the loss. The single most important risk-management tool.

Price levels where the market has historically reversed multiple times. Support is where buyers step in; resistance is where sellers do.

An overnight fee charged on positions held past market close. Based on the interest rate differential between the two currencies — can be positive or negative.

A pre-set price at which a position auto-closes with profit. Keeps your discipline — prevents greed from overriding the original plan.

How much an asset's price swings over a given period. High volatility means bigger moves — more opportunity, more risk.