Trading Dictionary

A broker model that routes your orders directly to liquidity providers instead of taking the other side of your trade.

A network that matches buy and sell orders between market participants directly, typically with raw spreads plus a commission.

Orders are passed straight to liquidity providers without manual dealer intervention.

A broker that takes the opposite side of client trades and sets its own bid/ask prices. Also called a dealing desk broker.

A broker's internal desk that processes client orders and may hold them rather than passing to the market.

A bank or financial institution that supplies buy/sell prices to brokers, enabling order execution.

The difference between the price you requested and the price your order was actually filled at, common in fast markets.

How quickly a broker fills your order after you submit it, usually measured in milliseconds.

The difference between the buy (ask) and sell (bid) price of an instrument — the basic cost of a trade.

The smallest standard price move in forex, usually 0.0001 for most currency pairs. Spreads are quoted in pips.

The unmarked spread received from liquidity providers, often near 0.0 pips; the broker charges a separate commission instead.

A fixed fee charged per trade (often per lot), typically on ECN/raw-spread accounts.

Interest paid or earned for holding a position overnight, based on the interest-rate difference between the two currencies.

The smallest amount of money required to open a live trading account with a broker.

Trading with borrowed capital, e.g. 1:500 means controlling $500 for every $1 of your own money. It amplifies both profits and losses.

The collateral you must set aside to open a leveraged position.

A broker's warning that your account equity has fallen too low to support open positions; positions may be closed automatically.

A standardized trade size. In forex a standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency.

An account with spread-only pricing (no separate commission), suited to most retail traders.

A premium account tier with tighter spreads, lower fees, or extra services, usually requiring a larger deposit.

A practice account with virtual money that mirrors live market conditions.

The tradable products a broker offers — currency pairs, stocks, indices, commodities, crypto, etc.

A derivative that lets you speculate on price movements without owning the underlying asset.

Financial Conduct Authority — the United Kingdom's financial regulator, considered Tier-1.

Australian Securities & Investments Commission — Australia's financial regulator, considered Tier-1.

Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission — a major EU regulator for retail brokers.

Central Bank of Ireland — Ireland's financial regulator.

Financial Sector Conduct Authority — South Africa's market conduct regulator.

Financial Services Authority of Seychelles — an offshore regulator with lighter requirements.

Oversight by the strictest regulators (FCA, ASIC, etc.), offering the strongest client protections.

Client money held in separate bank accounts from the broker's own funds, protecting it if the broker fails.

A guarantee that you cannot lose more than the money in your account.

A fund that reimburses clients (up to a limit) if a regulated broker becomes insolvent.

The most widely used retail forex platform, known for its charting and automated trading (Expert Advisors).

MetaTrader 4's successor with more timeframes, more order types, and support for stocks and futures.

A trading platform popular with ECN brokers, known for depth-of-market and fast execution.

A browser-based charting platform; many brokers offer integration for trading directly from its charts.

An automated trading program that runs on MetaTrader platforms.

A remote server that keeps automated strategies running 24/7 with low latency to the broker.

Automatically replicating the trades of another (usually more experienced) trader in your own account.

A company that gives traders access to the firm's capital in exchange for a share of profits.

A trading account financed by a prop firm after the trader passes an evaluation.

A test phase where a trader must hit a profit target within risk limits to earn a funded account.

The maximum amount a funded account may lose in a single day before breaching the rules.

The total loss limit for a funded account; exceeding it ends the agreement.

How profits are divided between the trader and the prop firm, e.g. 80/20.

Simulated markets generated by algorithms, tradable 24/7 and independent of real-world events.

Trading around scheduled economic announcements; some prop firms restrict it due to volatility.

MyTradingReviews' overall rating out of 10, combining regulation, costs, platform quality, and user feedback.

A company that has claimed and verified its profile on MyTradingReviews.

MTR's AI-powered search that ranks brokers by how well they fit your described trading style.

An embeddable widget showing a company's real-time MTR score and recent reviews on their own site.

A partner who refers clients to a broker in exchange for a commission on their trading activity.