Forex, Stock & Crypto Terms Explained

This trading glossary gathers the terms used across the IonyxHub library, from crypto wallets to forex lots to share settlement. Each entry is short on purpose: it tells you what the word means and, where helpful, points you to the lesson that goes deeper. Words that mean slightly different things in different markets are explained for each.

Terms that belong to one market are marked by context: a lot and a pip are forex ideas, a dividend belongs to shares, and a recovery phrase to crypto wallets. Some words, such as spread, margin and liquidity, turn up everywhere, and their meaning is the same in each market even when the numbers differ.

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Address

A string of characters that identifies where crypto can be sent on one particular blockchain. Addresses on different networks look different: Tron addresses start with T and Ethereum addresses with 0x. Sending to an address on the wrong network can lose the funds, so always check the network as well as the characters. See the USDT lesson.

Ask

The lowest price at which someone is currently willing to sell. When you buy immediately, you pay the ask. It is also called the offer, and it always sits a little above the bid. On a quiet market the ask can move away from the bid, which makes buying more expensive.

Base currency

The first currency in a pair. In GBP/USD, the pound is the base, and the price tells you how many US dollars one pound costs. Buying the pair means buying the base currency and paying with the second one, the quote currency. Lot sizes are counted in units of the base.

Bid

The highest price someone is currently willing to pay. When you sell immediately, you receive the bid. The gap between the bid and the ask is the spread, a cost you pay on every trade, which is why an open position usually starts slightly in the red.

Blockchain

A shared ledger of transactions, grouped into blocks that each carry a fingerprint of the one before. Copies are kept by many independent computers, so quietly altering past records is impractical. Different blockchains, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron, keep separate ledgers that do not talk to each other directly. See how crypto works.

Candlestick

A way of drawing price over a set period, such as an hour or a day. The body shows where the price opened and closed; the thin lines above and below, called wicks, show the highest and lowest prices reached. Most trading charts use candlesticks by default, including the forex charts described in the forex lesson.

Cold storage

Keeping crypto keys on devices or paper that are not connected to the internet, which protects them from online attacks. Exchanges often say they keep most customer coins this way and a small amount in online hot wallets for withdrawals. Individuals can do the same with hardware wallets.

Commission

A fee charged per trade, either as a fixed amount or as a percentage of the trade's value. Some accounts combine a very small spread with a commission; others build the whole charge into a wider spread. To compare them fairly, add both parts together for the size you usually trade.

Confirmation

Each new block added on top of the block that contains a crypto transaction. The more confirmations a transaction has, the harder it becomes to reverse, so exchanges and merchants often wait for several before crediting a deposit. Waiting times therefore differ between networks.

Contract for difference (CFD)

An agreement with a provider to exchange the difference in an asset's price between opening and closing a position. You never own the asset itself, only a contract with the provider. CFDs are usually leveraged, their retail leverage is capped in the UK and EU, and most retail CFD accounts lose money.

Custody

Holding assets on someone else's behalf. A custodial exchange controls the keys to your crypto and shows you a balance; a broker holds your shares in a nominee account. Self-custody means holding the keys yourself, which removes the middleman but makes you fully responsible for security.

Dividend

A payment a company makes to its shareholders, usually out of profits, often quarterly or twice a year. Dividends are decided by the company, are never guaranteed and can be cut or stopped when business is poor. Many growing companies pay none at all. See the stock market lesson.

ERC20

The token standard used on the Ethereum blockchain. USDT on Ethereum is an ERC20 token, its addresses begin with 0x and its network fees are paid in Ether rather than in USDT. Fees on Ethereum rise and fall with how busy the network is.

Gap

A jump in price between one trading session's close and the next session's open, with no trading in between. Gaps happen when news arrives while a market is closed, for example over a weekend. A stop-loss cannot protect you inside a gap; it fills at the first available price.

Halving

The scheduled cut in Bitcoin's block reward, roughly every four years. Rewards began at 50 BTC per block and the April 2024 halving reduced them to 3.125 BTC. The next is expected around 2028. Halvings slow the creation of new coins; they do not set the price. See the Bitcoin lesson.

Index

A single number that tracks the combined value of a group of shares, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 or Nikkei 225. Some indices weight companies by the value of their shares and some by share price. Index funds let investors own a slice of every company in the index in one purchase.

Leverage

Controlling a position larger than your deposit. At 30:1, $1,000 supports a $30,000 position. Leverage magnifies gains and losses by the same amount, which is why regulators cap it for retail clients, for example at 2:1 on crypto CFDs in the UK and EU. See the margin calculator.

Limit order

An instruction to buy or sell only at a stated price or better. A buy limit will never pay more than you set and a sell limit will never accept less, but the order may never fill if the market does not reach your price. Limit orders are useful in thinly traded markets.

Liquidity

How easily something can be bought or sold without moving its price much. Liquid markets, such as major currency pairs or large shares, have narrow spreads and many orders. Illiquid ones, such as many penny stocks and small tokens, have wide spreads and can be hard to sell when you need to.

Lot

A standard unit of position size in forex. One standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency, a mini lot is 10,000 and a micro lot 1,000. For gold, a lot is commonly 100 ounces. The number of lots, multiplied by the pip size, decides what each small price move is worth.

Maker and taker

A maker places an order that waits on the order book, adding liquidity; a taker trades against orders already there, removing it. Crypto exchanges often charge makers a lower fee than takers to encourage waiting orders. See trading fees explained for worked examples.

Margin

The part of your own money a broker holds as a deposit while a leveraged position is open. It is not a fee and is released when the position closes. The margin needed equals the position's value divided by the leverage, which the margin calculator works out for you.

Margin call

A warning that account equity is falling close to the level at which the broker may close positions to limit losses. In the UK and EU, retail positions must start being closed when equity falls to 50% of the margin in use. Adding funds to avoid a close-out simply puts more money at risk.

Market capitalisation

A company's share price multiplied by the number of shares in issue. It is a quick measure of a company's size in the market, not of whether its shares are good value. A low share price can still belong to a company with a large market capitalisation if it has issued many shares.

Market order

An instruction to buy or sell straight away at the best available price. It fills quickly but the exact price is not guaranteed, and in a fast or thin market it can fill well away from the last price you saw. On quick-buy screens, market orders may also include a price margin.

Mining

The process in proof-of-work blockchains, including Bitcoin, where specialised machines compete to add the next block and earn newly created coins plus fees. It needs large amounts of computing power and electricity. See free crypto mining apps for why phones cannot do this usefully.

Negative balance protection

A rule that stops a retail client's account going below zero, so losses cannot exceed the money deposited even after a sudden price jump. It applies to retail CFD clients in the UK and EU. Offshore providers may not offer it, leaving clients liable for any shortfall.

Pip

The standard unit of movement in an exchange rate: 0.0001 for most pairs and 0.01 for pairs that include the Japanese yen. On one standard lot of a pair quoted in US dollars, a pip is worth $10. The pip calculator shows what one pip is worth for any size.

Private key

The secret number that authorises spending from a crypto address. Whoever has it controls the funds, and there is no way to reset it if it is lost. It must never be shared, typed into a website or stored in a photo or cloud note.

Proof of reserves

Evidence published by an exchange to show that it holds the customer assets it says it does. On its own it may not show what the exchange owes, or whether the assets are borrowed, so it is only a partial check of a platform's health.

Recovery phrase

A list of 12 or 24 words that can rebuild a crypto wallet's keys on any compatible device. Anyone with the phrase can take the funds, which is why no genuine support team, exchange or website will ever ask for it. Store it offline, somewhere only you can reach.

Settlement

The moment ownership and payment formally change hands after a trade. US shares settle one business day after the trade date, known as T+1. Crypto settles when the transaction is confirmed on its blockchain, while balances inside an exchange change instantly on the exchange's own books.

Slippage

The difference between the price you expected and the price you actually got. It is common in fast or thinly traded markets and around major news. Stop-loss orders are especially exposed to slippage, which is why a planned loss can turn out larger.

Spread

The gap between the bid and ask prices, and a cost on every trade even when no commission is charged. Spreads are narrowest in busy markets and widen when trading is quiet or nervous, such as around the daily forex rollover or big announcements.

Stablecoin

A crypto token designed to hold a steady value, usually one US dollar. USDT is the most widely traded example. Stablecoins can be backed by reserves, by other crypto or by algorithms, and none is a bank deposit with government protection. See what is USDT.

Stop-loss order

An instruction to close a position automatically if the price reaches a set level, limiting the loss on a trade. It is a key tool for sizing risk, but in fast markets or after a gap it may fill at a worse price than the level you chose.

Swap

The overnight financing charged, or occasionally paid, on leveraged positions held past the daily rollover at 17:00 New York time. Wednesday's swap is usually triple because it covers the weekend. Over weeks, swaps can become the largest cost of a position.

Token

A crypto asset created by a smart contract on an existing blockchain, as opposed to a coin, which is native to its own chain. Tokens can represent stablecoins, voting rights, game items or nothing much at all, and anyone can create one, including copies of well-known names.

TRC20

The token standard used on the Tron blockchain. USDT on Tron is a TRC20 token; its addresses start with T and network fees are paid in TRX, Tron's own coin. The receiving side must also support TRC20 for a transfer to arrive.

Volatility

How much and how quickly a price moves. Crypto is generally far more volatile than major currencies or large shares, which is one reason retail leverage on crypto is capped so tightly. High volatility means larger potential gains and losses in the same period.