Forex Glossary Terms
127 individual term pages for traders and AI citation — each with definition, example, common mistake and FAQ.
Short answer
Open any term for a dedicated URL such as /glossary/pip-percentage-in-point/ or /glossary/margin/. The full dictionary remains at /guide/forex-glossary/.
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11 Balance The total amount of money in your trading account, excluding unrealized profits or losses from open positions. Bar Chart A type of price chart where each period is represented by a vertical bar showing the open, high, low, and close prices for that period. Base Currency The first currency listed in a currency pair. Bear Market A market condition characterized by falling prices and pessimistic sentiment. Bid The price at which you can sell a currency pair. Bollinger Bands A technical indicator consisting of a moving average (middle band) and two standard deviation bands above and below it. Breakout A price movement through a defined level of support or resistance, usually accompanied by increased volume and volatility. Broker A financial intermediary that provides traders with access to the forex market. Bull Market A market condition characterized by rising prices and optimistic sentiment. Buy Limit A pending order to buy at a price below the current market price. Buy Stop A pending order to buy at a price above the current market price.
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7 Cable Slang term for the GBP/USD currency pair. Candlestick A type of price chart that shows the open, high, low, and close for a specific time period. CFD (Contract for Difference) A financial derivative that allows you to speculate on price movements without owning the underlying asset. Commission A fixed fee charged by a broker per trade or per lot traded. Copy Trading A trading method where you automatically replicate the trades of an experienced signal provider. Cross Pair (Cross Rate) A currency pair that does not include the US Dollar. Currency Pair Two currencies quoted together showing the exchange rate between them.
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5 Day Trading A trading style where all positions are opened and closed within the same trading day. Demo Account A practice trading account funded with virtual money that simulates real market conditions. Divergence A situation where the price of an asset and a technical indicator (such as RSI or MACD) move in opposite directions. Drawdown The peak-to-trough decline in an account's equity during a specific period. DXY (US Dollar Index) An index that measures the value of the US Dollar against a basket of six major currencies (EUR, JPY, GBP, CAD, SEK, CHF).
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5 EA (Expert Advisor) An automated trading program that runs on the MetaTrader platform. ECN (Electronic Communication Network) A type of broker or execution model that connects traders directly to liquidity providers (banks, institutions). Equity The real-time value of your trading account, calculated as Balance + Unrealized Profit/Loss from open positions. Exotic Pair A currency pair that includes one major currency and one from a developing or smaller economy. Exposure The total amount of capital at risk in the market at any given time.
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6 Fibonacci Retracement A technical tool based on the Fibonacci sequence that identifies potential support and resistance levels. Fill The execution of an order. Flat (Square) Having no open positions in the market. Floating Profit/Loss The unrealized gain or loss on currently open positions. FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) The monetary policy-making body of the US Federal Reserve. Fundamental Analysis A method of evaluating currencies by analyzing economic, financial, and geopolitical factors.
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6 Gap A sharp jump in price where no trading occurs between two consecutive periods. GBP (British Pound Sterling) The official currency of the United Kingdom. Going Long Opening a buy position, expecting the price to rise. Going Short Opening a sell position, expecting the price to fall. Gold (XAU/USD) Gold priced in US Dollars, traded as a CFD in the forex market. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) The total monetary value of all goods and services produced within a country over a specific period.
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7 Ichimoku Cloud (Ichimoku Kinko Hyo) A comprehensive Japanese technical indicator that provides information about support/resistance, trend direction, momentum, and potential signals — all in a single chart overlay. Indicator A mathematical calculation applied to price and/or volume data that produces signals used in technical analysis. Inflation The rate at which the general price level of goods and services increases over time, reducing purchasing power. Initial Margin The minimum amount of capital required to open a leveraged position. Interbank Market The network of major banks that trade currencies directly with each other. Interest Rate The rate at which a central bank lends money to commercial banks. Islamic Account (Swap-Free Account) A trading account that complies with Islamic finance principles (Sharia law) by eliminating overnight interest charges (swaps).
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6 Leverage A mechanism that allows you to control a larger position with a smaller amount of capital. Limit Order An order to buy below or sell above the current market price. Liquidity The ease with which an asset can be bought or sold in the market without causing significant price change. Long Position A trade opened by buying a currency pair, expecting the price to rise. Lot The standardized unit of trade size in forex. Loonie Slang term for the Canadian Dollar (CAD) or USD/CAD pair.
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10 MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence) A trend-following momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two exponential moving averages (typically 12 and 26 periods). Margin The amount of money required in your account to maintain open leveraged positions. Margin Call A warning from your broker that your equity has fallen below the required margin maintenance level. Market Maker A broker or institution that provides liquidity by continuously quoting both buy and sell prices. Market Order An order to buy or sell immediately at the best available current price. MetaTrader 4 (MT4) The most widely used retail forex trading platform, developed by MetaQuotes. MetaTrader 5 (MT5) The successor to MT4, offering additional features including more timeframes (21 vs 9), more order types, an integrated economic calendar, and depth of market (DOM) display. Micro Lot A trade size of 1,000 units of the base currency (0. Mini Lot A trade size of 10,000 units of the base currency (0. Moving Average (MA) A technical indicator that smooths price data by calculating the average price over a specific number of periods.
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6 Offer Another term for the Ask price — the price at which you can buy a currency pair. Open Position A trade that has been executed but not yet closed. Order An instruction to your broker to execute a trade. Overnight Position A trade that remains open past the daily rollover time (typically 5:00 PM EST / 10:00 PM GMT). Overbought A market condition indicated by technical indicators (typically RSI above 70) suggesting that a currency has been bought too aggressively and may be due for a pullback or reversal. Oversold A market condition indicated by technical indicators (typically RSI below 30) suggesting that a currency has been sold too aggressively and may be due for a bounce or reversal.
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9 Pair See **Currency Pair**. Pending Order An order to open a trade at a specific price level that has not yet been reached. Pip (Percentage in Point) The smallest standard price movement in a forex quote. Pipette One-tenth of a pip, or the fifth decimal place in most currency pairs (0. Platform The software application used to execute and manage trades. Position An open trade in the market. Position Sizing Determining the number of lots or units to trade based on your account size, risk tolerance, and stop loss distance. Price Action A trading methodology that analyzes raw price movements (candlestick patterns, support/resistance, trend structure) without relying on lagging indicators. Profit The positive financial gain from a closed trade.
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7 Rally A sustained upward movement in price. Range A price area between a defined support level and resistance level where the market moves sideways without establishing a clear trend. Resistance A price level where selling pressure historically prevents the price from rising further. Risk/Reward Ratio (R:R) The ratio of potential loss to potential profit on a trade. Risk Management The overall framework of rules and practices used to protect trading capital. Rollover The process of extending the settlement date of an open position to the next trading day. RSI (Relative Strength Index) A momentum oscillator ranging from 0 to 100 that measures the speed and magnitude of recent price changes.
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13 Scalping An ultra-short-term trading strategy where positions are held for seconds to minutes, targeting very small price movements (1–10 pips). Sell Limit A pending order to sell at a price above the current market price. Sell Stop A pending order to sell at a price below the current market price. Short Position A trade opened by selling a currency pair, expecting the price to fall. Signal A trading recommendation or alert generated by analysis (technical, fundamental, or algorithmic) suggesting a potential trade opportunity, including entry, stop loss, and take profit levels. Slippage The difference between the expected fill price of an order and the actual price at which it is executed. Spread The difference between the bid and ask price of a currency pair. Standard Lot A trade size of 100,000 units of the base currency. Stop Loss (SL) An order placed to automatically close a losing trade at a predetermined price level, limiting the maximum loss. Stop Out The level at which a broker automatically closes your positions because your margin level has fallen too low (typically 20–50% margin level). Support A price level where buying pressure historically prevents the price from falling further. Swap (Rollover Fee) The interest charged or credited for holding a position overnight, based on the interest rate differential between the two currencies in the pair. Swing Trading A medium-term trading style where positions are held for days to weeks, aiming to capture significant price swings within a broader trend.
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6 Take Profit (TP) An order placed to automatically close a profitable trade at a predetermined price level, securing the gain. Technical Analysis A method of forecasting price movements by studying historical chart patterns, indicators, support/resistance levels, and volume. Tick The minimum possible price change in a market. Trailing Stop A dynamic stop loss that automatically moves in your favor as the price moves in the direction of your trade. Trend The general direction of price movement over time. Trendline A diagonal line drawn on a chart connecting two or more price points (swing lows in an uptrend, swing highs in a downtrend).
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2 Glossary hub FAQ
Long-tail queries such as “what is pip” and LLM citations need a stable single-term page with a short answer, not only a multi-thousand-word A–Z article.
No. The hub is an index. Full narrative definitions live on each term page and in the original A–Z dictionary guide.
Slugs stay English for stable hreflang pairs (for example /ar/glossary/margin/). Term names and definitions are in Modern Standard Arabic on the Arabic locale.
When the master dictionary markdown is revised, term pages reload automatically from the same source so definitions do not drift.