Forex Trading Terms

Terms A-C

A: Forex Trading Terms

Aggressor: A trader dealing on an existing price in the market.
Appreciation: The increase in the value of an asset.
Arbitrage: Profiting from differences in the price of a single currency pair that is traded on more than one market.
Ask: The price at which a currency pair or security is offered for sale; the quoted price at which an investor can buy a currency pair. This is also known as the 'offer', 'ask price', and 'ask rate'.
Ask Price: See 'ask'.
Ask Rate: See 'ask'.
Asset: An item having commercial or exchange value.

B: Forex trading Terms

Back Office: The office location, or department, where the processing of financial transactions takes place.
Base Currency: In terms of foreign exchange trading, currencies are quoted in terms of a currency pair. The first currency in the pair is the base currency. The base currency is the currency against which exchange rates are generally quoted in a given country. Examples: USD/JPY, the US Dollar is the base currency; EUR/USD, the EURO is the base currency.
Bear Market: An extended period of general price decline in an individual security, an asset, or a market.
Bid: The price at which an investor can place an order to buy a currency pair; the quoted price where an investor can sell a currency pair. This is also known as the 'bid price' and 'bid rate'.
Bid/Ask Spread: The point difference between the bid and offer (ask) price.
Big Figure: The first two or three digits of a foreign exchange price or rate. Examples: USD/JPY rate of 108.05/10 the big figure is 108. EUR/USD price of .8325/28 the big figure is .83
Bull Market: A market which is on a consistent upward trend.
Buy Limit Order: An order to execute a transaction at a specified price (the limit) or lower.
Buy On Margin: The process of buying a currency pair where a client pays cash for part of the overall value of the position. The word margin refers to the portion the investor puts up rather than the portion that is borrowed.

C: forex trading Tems

Cable: The British pound/US Dollar exchange rate GBP/USD.
Candlestick Chart: A chart that displays the daily trading price range (open, high, low and close).
Carry (Interest-Rate Carry): The income or cost associated with keeping a foreign exchange position overnight. This is derived when the currency pairs in the position have different interest rates for the same period of time.
Central Bank: A bank, administered by a national government, which regulates the behavior of financial institutions within its borders and carries out monetary policy.
Chartist: A person who attempts to predict prices by analyzing past price movements as recorded on a chart.
Closing a Position: The process of selling or buying a foreign exchange position resulting in the liquidation (squaring up) of the position.
Closing Market Rate: The rate at which a position can be closed based on the market price at end of the day.
Commission: The fee levied by an institution to undertake a trade on behalf of a customer.
Confirmation: Written acknowledgment of a trade, listing important details such as the date, the size of the transaction, the price, the commission, and the amount of money involved.
Counterpart: A participant in a financial transaction.
Cross-Rate: The exchange rate between 2 currencies where neither of the currencies are USD.
Currency: Money issued by a government.
Currency Pair: The two currencies that make up a foreign exchange rate. IE: USD/YEN.
Currency Risk: The possibility of an unfavorable change in exchange rates.