Leverage
Determines how much exposure can be supported by available margin.
A–Z reference
Trading glossary
Use clear definitions for common Forex, CFD, MetaTrader, pricing, margin and order terms.
Plain-language definitions Platform terms Risk concepts
Trading leveraged products involves significant risk.
Key terms
Understand the language used in the portal and MT5
Definitions are educational summaries. The client agreement and live contract specification govern the service.
Ask
The price at which a client can buy a symbol at that moment.
Balance
Account cash after closed trades, posted charges, deposits and withdrawals.
Base currency
The first currency in a Forex pair, such as EUR in EUR/USD.
Bid
The price at which a client can sell a symbol at that moment.
CFD
A contract for difference: a derivative that settles the price change without ownership of the underlying asset.
Commission
A separate transaction fee, commonly linked to account type and volume.
Contract size
The quantity represented by one lot of a symbol.
Drawdown
A decline from an account or strategy equity peak to a later trough.
Equity
Balance plus unrealised profit or loss on open positions.
Expert Advisor
A program for MetaTrader that can analyse or trade according to coded rules.
Free margin
Equity not currently reserved as used margin.
Gap
A movement between available prices where no executable quote exists at intermediate levels.
Hedging
Holding positions intended to offset some exposure; it does not necessarily remove risk or cost.
Leverage
The ratio between market exposure and required margin.
Limit order
An instruction seeking execution at a specified price or better.
Liquidity
The availability of buyers, sellers and executable volume at prices in the market.
Long
A position intended to benefit from a price increase.
Lot
A standardised volume unit whose contract size varies by symbol.
Margin
Collateral reserved to support leveraged positions.
Margin call
An account condition reached when margin level falls to a defined threshold.
Market order
An instruction to trade at the best available price, not a guaranteed displayed price.
NDD
No Dealing Desk, a description of an execution approach; exact order routing is governed by the execution policy.
PAMM
A managed allocation structure in which results are distributed proportionally among participating accounts.
Pending order
An instruction that becomes active when a specified price condition is reached.
Pip
A common Forex price increment, usually 0.0001 or 0.01 for many JPY pairs.
Quote currency
The second currency in a Forex pair, such as USD in EUR/USD.
Short
A position intended to benefit from a price decrease.
Slippage
The difference between a requested or triggered price and the execution price.
Spread
The difference between the bid and ask.
Stop-loss
An order intended to close a position after a loss threshold is reached; the execution price is not guaranteed.
Stop out
Automatic position closure that can begin when account margin reaches the defined threshold.
Swap
An overnight financing adjustment that may be paid or received, depending on the symbol and direction.
Take-profit
An order intended to close a position at a target price or better where available.
Volatility
The magnitude and speed of price change.
Four terms every beginner should connect
Exposure, margin and execution work together
Understanding one term in isolation is not enough.
Free margin
Shows the remaining equity buffer after used margin.
Spread
Creates an immediate cost between buy and sell prices.
Slippage
Explains why the fill can differ from a visible or triggered price.
Turn definitions into platform practice.
Open a demo MT5 account and locate each term in Market Watch, the order ticket and the account toolbox.