Glossary
The academyForex and gold glossary
Short, plain definitions of 139 terms you meet when you trade forex or gold from signals, from pip and lot to margin level, swap and prop firm rules. Where a page on this site explains a term in full, the entry links to it, and every figure uses the same conventions as our calculators and results page.
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Ask
The price you can buy at, one spread above the bid. A buy opens at the ask and a sell closes at it, so a sell’s stop and target trigger on a line your chart may not show.
Read more: Why gold’s spread jumps at nightSee also Bid, Spread
Average daily range
The average distance between each day’s high and low over a run of days, in pips or as a share of the price. The median day is the better guide to a typical day, since a few very wide days can pull the average up.
Read more: How far does gold move in a day?See also Range, Volatility, Overnight range
Backtest
Running a set of trading rules over past prices to see how they would have done. Our site backtester is simpler: it re-scores our published record at the exit level you pick, TP1, TP2 or TP3, without replaying prices.
Read more: The backtesterSee also Forward test, Replay
Balance
The account’s value from closed trades only. An open trade’s profit or loss is not in it until the trade closes.
Read more: Margin level and free marginSee also Equity, Drawdown
Base currency
The first currency in a pair: EUR in EUR/USD. Lots are counted in it, so one standard lot of EUR/USD is 100,000 euros.
Read more: How much is a pip worth on EUR/USD?See also Quote currency, Currency pair, Lot
Bid
The price you can sell at, the lower of the two prices quoted. A sell opens at the bid and a buy closes at it, and MT5 charts draw the bid by default.
Read more: Why gold’s spread jumps at nightSee also Ask, Spread, Candlestick
Breakeven
Moving the stop loss to the entry price, so the rest of the position closes at about zero if price comes back; spread, gaps and slippage can still make that a small loss. It can also close a trade on a pullback that would have gone on to the next target. On our results page a breakeven, 0 pips, appears only when we close a trade at its entry price and record it that way.
Read more: Breakeven with forex signalsSee also Stop loss, Win rate, TP1, TP2 and TP3
Breakout
A move through a support or resistance level, or out of a range. A buy stop above the level, or a sell stop below it, is the order that enters on one.
Read more: Buy and sell limits and stopsSee also Buy stop, Sell stop, Support and resistance
Broker
The company that holds your trading account and money and fills your orders, on a platform such as MT4 or MT5. Our copier connects to MT4 and MT5 accounts at any broker, and it can place and manage trades but cannot withdraw.
Read more: Brokers for copying Telegram signalsSee also Raw spread account, Symbol suffix, MetaTrader 5
Broker partnership
An arrangement in which a broker pays a signal provider for the clients it refers, for example a share of what the broker earns from their trading. Free VIP offers can be funded this way, and our Sponsored VIP route is.
Read more: What are forex signals?See also Free channel, Signal provider, Broker
Buy limit
A pending order to buy below the current price, filled if the ask falls to it: a way to buy a pullback at a better price than now.
Read more: Buy and sell limits and stopsSee also Sell limit, Buy stop, Pending order
Buy stop
A pending order to buy above the current price, filled if the ask rises to it, used to enter a breakout once price proves the move. It opens a trade; it is not a stop loss.
Read more: Buy and sell limits and stopsSee also Sell stop, Breakout, Stop loss
Candlestick
A chart bar for one period showing its open, high, low and close: the body spans the open and the close, and the wicks reach the high and the low. MT5 draws candles from the bid, so a sell’s stop can trigger on the ask while the candle stays short of it.
Read more: Why gold’s spread jumps at nightSee also Timeframe, Bid, Ask
Cent account
An account that counts the balance and lot sizes in cents, so trades are far smaller. Brokers scale them in different ways, so read the contract specification and size one small trade by hand before relying on any calculator.
Read more: Gold lot size calculatorSee also Contract size, Symbol specification
Central bank
The institution that sets interest rates for a currency: the Federal Reserve for the US dollar, the European Central Bank for the euro and the Bank of England for the pound. Its rate decisions are among the high-impact releases on an economic calendar.
Read more: Sessions and newsSee also Interest rate decision, FOMC, Hawkish
CFD
A contract for difference: an agreement with a broker that pays the change in a market’s price between your open and your close, without you owning the asset. The ESMA and FCA retail rules on leverage, the 50% close-out and negative balance protection are written for CFDs.
See also Leverage, Negative balance protection
Challenge
The paid test a prop firm sets before it gives you a funded account: reach a profit target, in one or more phases, without breaking its daily or maximum loss limit.
Read more: Can you use signals or a copier on a prop firm challenge?See also Profit target, Daily loss limit, Maximum loss
Clock change week
The days when UK and US clocks are out of step, so New York is four hours behind London instead of five: 25 to 31 October 2026 and 14 to 27 March 2027. Everything New York sets, from US data to the rollover, reaches the UK an hour early.
Read more: Forex market hours in UK timeSee also New York session, Rollover, Economic calendar
Cloud copier
A copier that runs on a server and connects to your broker account directly, so nothing has to stay on at your end. Ours reads any Telegram channel you are a member of, places trades on MT4 or MT5, and lets you run a new channel in test mode first.
Read more: The Cloud CopierSee also Trade copier, Test mode, VPS
Commission
A fee per lot that some accounts, such as raw spread accounts, charge on the open and again on the close. MT5 shows it in the History tab, apart from the trade’s profit.
Read more: How to calculate profit on a forex or gold tradeSee also Raw spread account, Spread, Swap
Consistency rule
A prop firm rule that caps the share of total profit a single day can contribute. Not every firm or account type has one, and holding every trade for TP3 can break it on a big day.
Read more: Forex signals on a funded accountSee also Prop firm, Partial close
Contract size
How much one standard lot controls. The calculators on this site use 100,000 units for forex, 100 ounces for gold and 5,000 ounces for silver; brokers and account types can differ, so check yours in MT5 under the symbol’s Specification.
Read more: How much is a pip worth on gold (XAU/USD)?See also Lot, Symbol specification, Cent account
Copy trading
Copying another account’s or a signal source’s trades onto your own automatically. Prop firm rules on it differ: some allow copying between your own accounts, and some prohibit copying other traders or signal services.
Read more: Can you use signals or a copier on a prop firm challenge?See also Trade copier, Prop firm
Correlation
How closely the price changes of two markets move together: +1 means in step, minus 1 means opposite, and near 0 one tells you little about the other. Two signals on closely correlated pairs that lean the same way act like one bigger trade, and their stops can come on the same day.
Read more: Forex correlation tableSee also Losing streak, Risk-on and risk-off
CPI
The Consumer Price Index, the US measure of the average change over time in the prices urban consumers pay for a basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes it each month at 8:30 New York time, 13:30 UK for most of the year.
Read more: What gold does on NFP, CPI and Fed daysSee also NFP, FOMC, High-impact news
Cross pair
A pair without the US dollar, such as EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY or GBP/JPY. Its pip value comes out in its own quote currency, so a dollar account converts it at the day’s rate.
Read more: Pip value calculatorSee also Major pair, Quote currency
Currency pair
Two currencies quoted against each other, such as EUR/USD, where the price is how many units of the second currency buy one unit of the first.
Read more: MarketsSee also Base currency, Quote currency, Major pair
Daily break
Gold’s one-hour stop each trading day, 17:00 to 18:00 New York, which is 22:00 to 23:00 UK for most of the year. Nothing fills during it: no new trades, no closes, no stops and no targets.
Read more: Gold market hoursSee also Rollover, Market hours, Spread
Daily loss limit
The most a prop firm account may lose in one day, set as a share of the balance. Firms differ on whether open trades count and on when the day resets, so read the rule before you size a single signal.
Read more: Forex signals on a funded accountSee also Maximum loss, Equity, Risk per trade
Demo account
A practice account with virtual money on a broker’s prices. Open it on the account type you would trade live, so symbol names and spreads match, and place signals on it before you risk real money.
Read more: Forex signals for beginnersSee also Forward test, Symbol suffix
Dovish
Leaning towards lower interest rates, or keeping them low, to support growth and jobs. The opposite of hawkish.
See also Hawkish, Interest rate decision
Drawdown
A fall from a previous high in balance or equity, in money or as a percentage; the deepest one in a record is its maximum drawdown. The way back is longer than the way down: an account down 20% needs a 25% gain to recover.
Read more: Drawdown calculatorSee also Losing streak, Risk per trade, Trailing drawdown
Economic calendar
A schedule of data releases and central bank decisions, with their times and an impact rating. Set it to your own time zone and it handles the clock changes for you.
Read more: What gold does on NFP, CPI and Fed daysSee also High-impact news, Clock change week
Entry price
The price where a signal’s trade is meant to start. Chasing it after price has moved towards the first target makes a different trade, with the target closer and the stop further away than the signal intended.
Read more: How to read a forex signalSee also Entry zone, Market order, Maximum deviation
Entry zone
A range of entry prices, such as Entry 2410 to 2415, instead of one price. Unless the provider says which end it scores from, the zone leaves your sizing and the record open to choice. Our signals carry one entry price, and our copier rejects a message with two.
Read more: Why our signals have one entry price and the copier rejects twoSee also Entry price, Position sizing
Equity
Your balance plus the profit or loss on open trades: what the account is worth right now. Margin level is measured on it, and so are some prop firms’ loss limits.
Read more: Margin level and free marginSee also Balance, Margin level, Daily loss limit
Expectancy
The average result per trade over many trades: win rate times average win, minus loss rate times average loss, in pips or in R. It is an estimate from past trades, not a promise for next month.
Read more: How to read a signal results pageSee also Win rate, R multiple
Expert Advisor
A program written in MQL4 or MQL5 that runs on a MetaTrader chart and opens, manages and closes trades by its own coded rules. It runs only while the terminal does, which is why EA users who want it on all day rent a VPS. A copier is different: its trades come from the signal source, not from code.
Read more: Signal copier or trading robot (EA)See also VPS, Trade copier, MetaTrader 4
Expiration
A time set on a pending order after which the platform deletes it, so a forgotten order cannot fill on another day. MetaTrader reads it in your broker’s server time, not yours.
Read more: Buy and sell limits and stopsSee also Pending order, Server time
Fibonacci retracement
Levels drawn between a swing high and a swing low at fixed shares of the move; our Fibonacci calculator draws 23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8% and 78.6%. Some traders watch them for the end of a pullback.
Read more: Fibonacci calculatorSee also Support and resistance, Pivot point
FOMC
The Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy body. It schedules eight meetings a year; the statement comes at 2:00 pm New York time (19:00 UK for most of the year) and the press conference at 2:30 pm.
Read more: What gold does on NFP, CPI and Fed daysSee also Interest rate decision, Central bank, Hawkish
Forward test
Testing a strategy or a signal provider on prices as they happen rather than on past data: first in a journal, which is paper trading, then on a demo account or at a small size.
Read more: Free forex signals vs paidSee also Backtest, Demo account, Trading journal
Free channel
A signal channel you can join at no cost, paid for by something else, such as a paid tier, a broker referral or a course. Ours on Telegram posts a selection of our signals, and the plans page sets out what it includes compared with VIP.
Read more: The VIP plansSee also VIP channel, Broker partnership, Signal update
Free margin
Equity minus margin: the money left for new positions. When an order needs more than this, MT5 refuses it with the message Not enough money.
Read more: Margin level and free marginSee also Margin, Equity, Margin level
Funded account
The account a prop firm gives you after you pass its evaluation, traded under its loss limits and rules, with the firm paying you a share of the profit. Some firms state that it runs on simulated money.
Read more: Forex signals on a funded accountSee also Prop firm, Profit split, Daily loss limit
Gap
A jump from one price to the next with no trading in between, as when the Sunday open is away from Friday’s close. A stop inside the gap fills at the first price after it, not at its level.
Read more: Slippage in forexSee also Slippage, Stop loss, Market hours
Gold to silver ratio
Gold’s price divided by silver’s: how many ounces of silver one ounce of gold would buy.
Read more: The gold to silver ratio in 2026, and how silver tradesSee also XAU/USD, XAG/USD
Hawkish
Leaning towards higher interest rates, or keeping them high, to bring inflation down. Said of a central bank, a statement or a policymaker.
See also Dovish, Interest rate decision
Hedging account
An MT5 account mode in which each order is its own position, so you can hold several positions on one symbol, buys and sells together. It lets you follow three targets as three positions.
Read more: How to place a signal on MT5See also Netting account, Position
High-impact news
The scheduled releases an economic calendar marks as most likely to move prices, such as US jobs, inflation and Fed decisions. Gold’s spread widens in the minutes around them, and some prop firms restrict trading in a window either side.
Read more: What gold does on NFP, CPI and Fed daysSee also NFP, CPI, FOMC, News restriction
Interest rate decision
A central bank’s scheduled announcement of its policy rate. In the US it is the FOMC statement at 2:00 pm New York time, and the minutes of each scheduled meeting follow three weeks later.
Read more: What gold does on NFP, CPI and Fed daysSee also FOMC, Central bank, Hawkish, Dovish
Investor password
A read-only MetaTrader login: it shows the account but cannot place trades. A copier needs the trading password; ours uses it once to make the connection and does not store it.
Read more: How to copy Telegram signals to MT4 or MT5 automaticallySee also Trade copier, Cloud copier
Leverage
The ratio between a position’s size and the margin your broker sets aside for it: at 1:30, a $30,000 position needs $1,000 of margin. For UK and EU retail clients it is capped at 1:30 on pairs of any two of the US dollar, euro, yen, pound, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc, and at 1:20 on other pairs, AUD/USD and NZD/USD included, and on gold. It changes the margin a trade needs, not what a pip is worth or what a stop costs.
Read more: Leverage in forexSee also Margin, CFD, Margin level
Liquidity
How much is being bought and sold at a given moment, and so how easily an order fills without moving the price. When liquidity is thin, as around the daily rollover or at the Sunday open, spreads widen and slippage is worse.
Read more: Slippage in forexSee also Spread, Slippage, Rollover
London and New York overlap
The hours when both are open, 13:00 to 17:00 UK for most of the year, with the main US data at 13:30. In the weeks the clocks are out of step it runs from 12:00 to 17:00 UK.
Read more: Forex market hoursSee also London session, New York session
London session
London business hours, 08:00 to 17:00 UK all year. Our signals go out in the London and New York hours.
Read more: Forex market hoursSee also New York session, London and New York overlap, Overnight range
Long and short
A long position is a buy, which gains when price rises; a short is a sell, which gains when price falls. The stop sits below the entry on a long and above it on a short, and the targets the other way round.
Read more: How to read a forex signalSee also Stop loss, Market order
Losing streak
A run of trades that hit their stops one after another. Stops on correlated pairs can come together, so size for the run rather than the single trade: at 1% risk, five stops in a row cost about 4.9% of the account.
Read more: Losing streaks with signalsSee also Risk per trade, Drawdown, Correlation
Lot
The unit a trade’s size is counted in. One standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency on forex and 100 ounces on gold in our calculators; your account’s contract size and smallest lot are in the symbol’s Specification.
Read more: What is 0.01 lot worth in forex and gold?See also Standard lot, Mini lot, Micro lot, Contract size
Major pair
One of the pairs that set the US dollar against another leading currency: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, USD/CAD, AUD/USD and NZD/USD. The UK and EU retail leverage rules use a narrower list: AUD/USD and NZD/USD are capped at 1:20 there, not 1:30.
Read more: MarketsSee also Cross pair, Currency pair, Leverage
Margin
The part of your money a broker sets aside to keep a position open: lots times contract size times price, divided by the leverage. It is your own money held while the trade is open, not a fee.
Read more: Margin calculatorSee also Free margin, Margin level, Leverage
Margin call
Your broker’s warning level for margin level. Nothing closes at a margin call; the stop out, further down, is where the platform starts closing positions. Both levels are in your broker’s account terms.
Read more: Margin level and free marginSee also Stop out, Margin level
Margin level
Equity divided by margin, times 100%. Your broker’s margin call and stop out are both set on this number, and on UK and EU retail accounts the regulators require a close-out when it falls to 50%.
Read more: Margin level and free marginSee also Margin call, Stop out, Equity
Market hours
Forex trades from 17:00 New York on Sunday to 17:00 on Friday, which is 22:00 UK Sunday to 22:00 UK Friday for most of the year, with no daily close. Gold opens an hour later, at 23:00 UK on Sunday, and stops for an hour each day.
Read more: Forex market hours in UK timeSee also Daily break, Gap, Rollover
Market order
An order to buy or sell now, at the best price available when it reaches the broker. A buy fills at the ask and a sell at the bid, and in a fast market the fill can slip from the price on your screen.
Read more: Buy and sell limits and stopsSee also Pending order, Slippage, Ask
Maximum deviation
The furthest from the requested price you will accept a fill. Our copier has two guards: it skips a signal when price is already more than 10 pips from the entry, and it passes a 100 point (10 pip) slippage tolerance to the broker, both by default.
Read more: Copier parametersSee also Slippage, Entry price, Point
Maximum loss
The furthest a prop firm account may fall in total before it is closed. Some firms measure it from the starting balance, which is static, and others from the highest balance or equity reached, which is trailing.
Read more: Forex signals on a funded accountSee also Trailing drawdown, Daily loss limit, Drawdown
MetaTrader 4
The trading platform MetaQuotes released in 2005, the older of the two MetaTrader versions. On MT4 outside the US, an opposite order opens a second trade rather than closing the first, so close a trade with its own stop loss, target or close button.
Read more: How to copy Telegram signals to MT4 or MT5 automaticallySee also MetaTrader 5, Expert Advisor
MetaTrader 5
MetaQuotes’ newer platform, released in 2010. Its accounts run in hedging mode, where each order is its own position, or netting mode, where positions on one symbol merge, and it adds stop limit orders to the four pending order types.
Read more: How to place a signal on MT5See also Hedging account, Netting account, Stop limit order
Micro lot
0.01 lots: 1,000 units of currency, or 1 ounce of gold, and the step our calculators round down to. One pip on it is worth $0.10 on EUR/USD and on gold, so a 500 pip gold stop ($50 of price) still costs $50.
Read more: What is 0.01 lot worth in forex and gold?See also Standard lot, Mini lot, Position sizing
Mini lot
0.10 lots: 10,000 units of currency, or 10 ounces of gold. One pip on it is worth $1 on EUR/USD and on gold.
Read more: What is 0.01 lot worth in forex and gold?See also Standard lot, Micro lot
Negative balance protection
A rule for UK and EU retail clients: you cannot lose more than the money in your account. An account outside those rules has only the protection its own terms give.
Read more: Margin level and free marginSee also Stop out, Leverage, Gap
Net pips
The result in pips of every closed trade added up, with the stops taken off. It measures distance, not money: what an account made depends on each trade’s lot size and costs, so a pip total is not an account return.
Read more: The results pageSee also R multiple, Results page, Pip
Netting account
An MT5 account mode with one position per symbol: orders on the same symbol merge into it. To follow three targets on netting, open the full size with the stop and TP3, then close part of it by hand at TP1 and TP2.
Read more: How to place a signal on MT5See also Hedging account, Partial close
New York session
New York business hours, 08:00 to 17:00 local: 13:00 to 22:00 UK for most of the year, and an hour earlier in the weeks when the UK and US clocks are out of step. US data at 8:30 New York lands at 13:30 UK.
Read more: Forex market hoursSee also London and New York overlap, Clock change week, NFP
News restriction
A rule at some prop firms that bars opening or closing trades in a window around high-impact releases, or removes the profit made in it. The window, and the accounts it covers, differ from firm to firm.
Read more: Which prop firms let you follow signalsSee also High-impact news, Prop firm
NFP
Non-farm payrolls: the change in US payroll employment outside farming, published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in its Employment Situation report at 8:30 New York time, 13:30 UK for most of the year.
Read more: What gold does on NFP, CPI and Fed daysSee also CPI, FOMC, High-impact news
Overnight range
The high to low range from the start of the trading day, 17:00 New York (22:00 UK for most of the year), to 08:00 UK, before London opens. Our market data sets it against the range London goes on to make the same day.
Read more: Does London break gold’s overnight range?See also London session, Average daily range, Tokyo session
Partial close
Closing part of an open position and leaving the rest to run. Our copier’s default ladder closes 70% at TP1, 20% at TP2 and the last 10% at TP3.
Read more: How to use take profit with signalsSee also TP1, TP2 and TP3, Breakeven, Take profit
Pending order
An order that waits for price to reach a level you set before it opens a trade: a buy limit, sell limit, buy stop or sell stop. It does not read the channel, so if a setup is called off, delete it yourself or it can still fill.
Read more: Buy and sell limits and stopsSee also Buy limit, Buy stop, Expiration
Pip
The unit price moves are counted in: 0.0001 on EUR/USD and the other pairs not quoted in yen, and 0.01 on yen pairs. On gold we count a pip as $0.10 of price, so a $10 move is 100 pips; on silver a pip is $0.01.
Read more: Pip value calculatorSee also Pipette, Point, Pip value
Pip value
What a one pip move is worth at your lot size: pip size times contract size times lots, converted into your account currency. For a dollar account it is $10 per standard lot on pairs quoted in dollars, and on gold at $0.10 a pip; a pound or euro account converts it at the day’s rate.
Read more: Pip value calculatorSee also Pip, Quote currency, Position sizing
Pipette
A tenth of a pip: the fifth decimal on EUR/USD, the third on USD/JPY and the second on gold, where our pip is $0.10. Leave it out when you size a trade.
Read more: How much is a pip worth on EUR/USD?See also Pip, Point
Pivot point
A level worked out from the previous day’s high, low and close. In the classic version the pivot is (high + low + close) ÷ 3, with support and resistance levels calculated below and above it.
Read more: Pivot point calculatorSee also Support and resistance, Fibonacci retracement
Point
MetaTrader’s smallest price step, the last decimal of the quote. On a five-digit EUR/USD quote 1 pip is 10 points, and on gold quoted to two decimals one of our $0.10 pips is also 10 points, so a setting of 150 points means 15 pips.
Read more: How much is a pip worth on gold (XAU/USD)?See also Pip, Pipette, Trailing stop
Position
An open trade. On an MT5 hedging account each order is its own position with one stop loss and one take profit, so following three targets by hand means three positions with the same entry and stop.
Read more: How to place a signal on MT5See also Hedging account, Netting account, TP1, TP2 and TP3
Position sizing
Working out the lot size from your balance, your risk per trade and the signal’s stop: lots = (balance × risk) ÷ (stop in pips × pip value per lot), rounded down. A fixed lot size on every signal is a risk that changes with every stop.
Read more: Position sizing from a signalSee also Risk per trade, Pip value, Lot
Profit split
The share of a funded account’s profit the firm pays you. Each firm sets its own, and some raise it through paid add-ons or a scaling plan.
Read more: Which prop firms let you follow signalsSee also Funded account, Prop firm
Profit target
The gain a challenge phase asks for, set as a share of the starting balance. Size your trades from the loss limits, not from the target.
Read more: Forex signals on a funded accountSee also Challenge, Daily loss limit
Prop firm
A company that sells an evaluation and, if you pass, lets you trade an account under its rules for a share of the profit. Rules on signals, copiers and EAs differ from firm to firm, and our Cloud Copier is not for prop-firm accounts.
Read more: Which prop firms let you follow signalsSee also Challenge, Funded account, Daily loss limit
Quote currency
The second currency in a pair: USD in EUR/USD. Pip values come out in it, which is why one lot of EUR/USD pays $10 a pip and one lot of USD/JPY pays 1,000 yen.
Read more: How much is a pip worth on EUR/USD?See also Base currency, Pip value
R multiple
A trade’s result divided by what it risked: +60 pips on a 30 pip stop is +2R, and a full stop is minus 1R. Lot size cancels out, so R compares trades on different pairs and sizes fairly.
Read more: How to calculate profit on a forex or gold tradeSee also Risk to reward ratio, Expectancy, Net pips
Range
A spell when price moves sideways between a high and a low without trending. The word also means the distance from a period’s high to its low, as in daily range.
Read more: Average daily range of the major pairs and goldSee also Average daily range, Breakout, Trend
Raw spread account
An account type with a tight raw spread plus a commission per lot, where a standard account puts its costs into a wider spread. At an example $7 a lot round turn, the open and close together, the commission is 0.7 pips on EUR/USD, where a pip is $10 a lot.
Read more: Brokers for copying Telegram signalsSee also Commission, Spread
Replay
Walking each signal through the price candles that followed it, with one exit rule applied to all of them, to see what that rule would have made. Our replay fills a signal at the first candle that spans its entry and counts the stop first when one candle touches both a target and the stop.
Read more: What a real month of signals looks likeSee also Backtest, Results page
Requote
On an account using instant execution, the broker’s reply that it will not fill at the price you sent, with a new price you can accept or refuse. On market execution the broker sets the fill price, and sending the order means accepting it.
See also Slippage, Market order
Results page
A provider’s list of closed signals with their outcomes. Ours lists the closed VIP signals since 2023 with their entry, stop, three targets and outcome, in pips from the posted entry, stops included; the methodology page lists the rows it leaves out. It updates itself as trades close.
Read more: The results pageSee also Win rate, Net pips, Breakeven
Risk per trade
The share of your balance you lose if a trade hits its full stop. The lot size sets it, not the signal; our risk guide starts from 1% and suggests about 0.5% for a funded account or a provider you are still testing.
Read more: How much to risk per trade with signalsSee also Position sizing, Losing streak, Drawdown
Risk to reward ratio
The distance to a target set against the distance to the stop: a 30 pip stop and a 60 pip target is 1:2. A signal with three targets has a ratio for each, and a high ratio says nothing on its own about how often the target is reached.
Read more: Risk to reward calculatorSee also R multiple, Expectancy, TP1, TP2 and TP3
Risk-on and risk-off
Shorthand for spells when traders as a group buy assets seen as riskier (risk-on) or move into assets seen as safer (risk-off). The labels describe a mood after the fact, not a rule any one market follows.
See also Safe haven, Correlation
Rollover
The moment the trading day turns over, 17:00 New York (22:00 UK for most of the year). Spreads widen for a few quiet minutes, and positions still open are charged or paid swap. The word is also used for the swap itself.
Read more: Forex market hours in UK timeSee also Swap, Spread, Daily break
Safe haven
An asset that investors buy to cut risk when other markets fall. Whether a particular asset behaved that way in a given period is a question for the price data, not for the label.
See also Risk-on and risk-off, Correlation
Sell limit
A pending order to sell above the current price, filled if the bid rises to it: a way to sell a rally at a better price than now.
Read more: Buy and sell limits and stopsSee also Buy limit, Sell stop, Pending order
Sell stop
A pending order to sell below the current price, filled if the bid falls to it, used to enter a breakdown. Like a buy stop, it opens a trade rather than protecting one.
Read more: Buy and sell limits and stopsSee also Buy stop, Breakout, Pending order
Server time
The clock your broker’s MetaTrader server runs on, shown at the top of Market Watch, which may not be your own time. Sessions, candles, order expiry and our copier’s hour filter in MT5 all follow it.
Read more: Gold market hoursSee also Expiration, Session, Timeframe
Session
The business hours of a financial centre. We use local hours: Sydney 07:00 to 16:00, Tokyo 09:00 to 18:00, London 08:00 to 17:00 and New York 08:00 to 17:00, each in its own time. Forex itself trades through the night between them.
Read more: Forex market hoursSee also Sydney session, Tokyo session, London session, New York session
Signal
A trade idea with exact levels: the market, the direction, an entry price, a stop loss and at least one target. A message without those is commentary, with nothing to place and nothing to be wrong against.
Read more: What are forex signals?See also Signal provider, Entry price, Stop loss, TP1, TP2 and TP3
Signal provider
The person, team or company that publishes signals, through a Telegram channel, an app or a website. Providers earn from subscriptions, from broker partnerships or both. Judge one by a record you can check signal by signal, stops included.
Read more: How to judge a forex signal providerSee also Results page, Broker partnership, Free channel
Signal update
A message about a trade already posted: a target reached, a stop moved, a partial or early close, or a cancelled setup. Some only report and some are optional, while close now and cancelled replace the original plan. Our copier executes close messages and logs the other updates without acting on them.
Read more: Signal updates explainedSee also VIP channel, Breakeven, Partial close
Slippage
The difference between the price you asked for and the price you got: worse is negative slippage, better is positive. Market orders and stop losses can slip, while limit orders and take profits fill at their price or better, or not at all.
Read more: Slippage in forexSee also Gap, Maximum deviation, Requote
Spread
The ask minus the bid: every new trade starts that far behind. MT5 shows it in points, and on gold quoted to two decimals 10 points make one $0.10 pip. It widens at known moments, such as the daily rollover, the minutes around big data and the Sunday open.
Read more: Why gold’s spread jumps at nightSee also Bid, Ask, Point, Rollover
Standard lot
1.00 lot: 100,000 units of the base currency, or 100 ounces of gold in our calculators. One pip on it is worth $10 on EUR/USD and on gold, counting a gold pip as $0.10.
Read more: What is 0.01 lot worth in forex and gold?See also Mini lot, Micro lot, Pip value
Stop limit order
An MT5 pending order in two steps: when price reaches the stop level, the platform places a limit order at a second price you set. A buy stop limit places a buy limit below its stop level, and a sell stop limit places a sell limit above it.
Read more: Buy and sell limits and stopsSee also Buy stop, Buy limit, MetaTrader 5
Stop loss
The price at which a trade closes at a loss, set where the reason for the trade is proven wrong. When price reaches it, it becomes a market order, so in a gap it fills at the first price available, which can be beyond the level. Size the trade from its distance and leave it where the signal put it.
Read more: Stop loss with signalsSee also Breakeven, Position sizing, Trailing stop, Gap
Stop out
The margin level at which the platform starts closing your positions itself, in the order your broker’s rules set, without waiting for your stop loss. On UK and EU retail accounts the regulators require a close-out when margin level falls to 50%.
Read more: Margin level and free marginSee also Margin call, Margin level, Negative balance protection
Stops level
The broker’s minimum distance between the current price and a stop or target. A level closer than that, or on the wrong side of the price, is refused with the message Invalid stops, and a stop moved to exactly the entry can be refused the same way.
Read more: How to place a signal on MT5See also Stop loss, Breakeven
Support and resistance
Support is a price below the market where falls have stopped or turned before; resistance is one above it where rises have stalled. Our stops sit beyond levels like these, such as a session high or low, a swing or a round number that has held.
Read more: Pivot point calculatorSee also Breakout, Pivot point, Stop loss
Swap
The interest adjustment charged or paid on a position still open at the daily rollover, 17:00 New York (22:00 UK for most of the year). Each symbol has a swap long for buys and a swap short for sells, and on gold both can be negative. A trade closed before its first rollover pays none.
Read more: Swap on goldSee also Triple swap, Rollover, Swap-free account
Swap-free account
An account without the nightly swap. Each broker sets its own terms, which can include a fee once a position has been open for a number of days, so read them before treating overnight holds as free.
Read more: Swap on goldSee also Swap, Triple swap
Sydney session
Sydney business hours, 07:00 to 16:00 local: 20:00 to 05:00 UK in the UK winter and 22:00 to 07:00 in the UK summer. Sydney changes its clocks in the opposite season, so for a few weeks a year it sits between the two.
Read more: Forex market hoursSee also Tokyo session, Session
Symbol specification
The MetaTrader window, opened by right-clicking a symbol in Market Watch, that lists its contract size, minimum lot and lot step, swap rates, triple swap day and trading sessions. It is the place to check your broker’s figures before you trust any calculator.
Read more: How to place a signal on MT5See also Contract size, Swap, Triple swap
Symbol suffix
Extra text a broker adds to a market’s name to separate its account types, as in XAUUSD.m or EURUSDpro; some brokers use another name altogether, such as GOLD. Automation has to match the exact name on your account, and a copier that cannot will skip the trade.
Read more: Why your broker calls gold XAUUSD.m or GOLDSee also XAU/USD, Trade copier
Take profit
The price at which a trade closes in profit, filled at that price or better. A sell’s target triggers on the ask, so on a chart drawn from the bid it can look touched without filling. On MT5 each position holds one take profit.
Read more: How to use take profit with signalsSee also TP1, TP2 and TP3, Partial close, Bid
Test mode
A copier setting that runs a channel’s messages through reading, checks and sizing but sends nothing to the broker, so you can see what it would have traded before you go live.
Read more: The Cloud CopierSee also Cloud copier, Forward test
Timeframe
The period each candle on a chart covers, such as M1 for one minute, H1 for one hour and D1 for one day. In MetaTrader the candles open and close on the broker’s server time.
See also Candlestick, Server time
Tokyo session
Tokyo business hours, 09:00 to 18:00 local: 00:00 to 09:00 UK in the UK winter and 01:00 to 10:00 in the UK summer. It moves by an hour in UK time when the UK changes its clocks.
Read more: Forex market hoursSee also Sydney session, Overnight range, Session
TP1, TP2 and TP3
A signal’s three take profit prices, from the nearest to the furthest from the entry. The nearer the target, the more often it is reached and the less each win pays. Closing at one of them, or splitting the position across all three, is your choice, not the signal’s.
Read more: What TP1, TP2 and TP3 mean in a trading signalSee also Take profit, Partial close, Breakeven
Trade copier
Software that reads trades from a source, such as a Telegram channel or another account, and places them on your MT4 or MT5 account with the sizing and management rules you set. It does not decide which trades to take. Our Cloud Copier’s terms exclude prop-firm and challenge accounts.
Read more: How a Telegram signal copier worksSee also Cloud copier, Test mode, Expert Advisor
Trading journal
A record of every trade you take: the signal, your fill, the lot size, the stop distance and the outcome. Set against the provider’s record, it shows whether a gap comes from your entries, exits, sizing, missed signals or costs.
Read more: Losing streaks with signalsSee also Forward test, Results page
Trailing drawdown
A maximum loss limit that rises with the account’s highest balance or equity, so the floor follows your best point instead of staying at the start. Some firms stop it rising once it reaches the starting balance.
Read more: Forex signals on a funded accountSee also Maximum loss, Drawdown
Trailing stop
A stop that follows the price at a set distance once a trade is far enough in profit, and is not moved back. On our copier it is set in points: where trailing starts, how far behind the price it sits, and how far price must move before it steps again.
Read more: Copier parametersSee also Stop loss, Point, Breakeven
Trend
A run of prices in one direction: higher highs and higher lows in an uptrend, lower highs and lower lows in a downtrend.
Read more: Sessions and newsSee also Range, Breakout
Triple swap
The night each week when the broker charges three nights of swap at once to cover the weekend. The weekday varies by broker and instrument; check the symbol’s Specification in MT5, which shows it as 3-days swap.
Read more: Swap on goldSee also Swap, Rollover, Symbol specification
VIP channel
A signal service’s paid channel. Ours is a Telegram channel with the full feed of forex and gold signals and the updates after entry: targets reached, partial-close guidance, early closes and cancelled setups.
Read more: The VIP plansSee also Free channel, Signal update
Volatility
How far and how fast a price moves over a period. A simple way to measure it is the range, high minus low, of each hour or each day.
Read more: What time does gold move most?See also Average daily range, Range
VPS
A virtual private server: a remote computer that stays on, rented to keep MetaTrader and an EA or desktop copier running while your own computer is off. A cloud copier, ours included, needs none.
Read more: How to copy Telegram signals to MT4 or MT5 automaticallySee also Expert Advisor, Cloud copier
Win rate
The share of closed trades counted as wins. On our results page it is targets reached plus breakevens, out of all closed signals, with breakevens also shown on their own. A win rate means little without the counts beside it and the size of the average win against the average loss.
Read more: How every signal is scoredSee also Expectancy, Breakeven, Results page
XAG/USD
Spot silver, priced in US dollars per troy ounce. Our calculators count a silver pip as $0.01 on a 5,000 ounce lot, so a pip on one lot is $50.
Read more: Silver, XAG/USDSee also Gold to silver ratio, XAU/USD
XAU/USD
Spot gold, priced in US dollars per troy ounce. We count a pip as $0.10 of price on a 100 ounce lot, so a pip on one lot is $10, the same as EUR/USD, and a gold stop several times wider in pips than a forex stop needs a lot size several times smaller.
Read more: Gold, XAU/USDSee also Pip, Contract size, Daily break, Symbol suffix
How these definitions are written
Every figure follows the conventions on our calculators and results page: a forex pip is 0.0001 on 100,000 units, or 0.01 on yen pairs, a gold pip is $0.10 of price on a 100 ounce lot, and session times are local business hours in each centre. Where a number depends on your broker or your account type, the definition says where to check it.
Terms about our own service describe what our pages state: the methodology page for how results are scored, and the copier parameters for what the copier does. Prop firm rules differ from firm to firm, so those definitions stay general, and the firm’s own rules page is the one to read before you trade.
If a term you met is not here, the site search covers every guide, tool and market page.
Every closed signal is on the record
The results page lists each closed VIP signal with its entry, stop, targets and outcome, stops included.
Ready to join? Compare the VIP plans: £89 a month, or £540 paid once a year.