Terminology

ForexForeign Exchange
currency pairse.g. EUR/USD
cross currency pairspairs that don’t use the USD, e.g. EUR/GBP
financial instrumentcurrencies such as EUR/USD
EUR/USDbase currency
EUR/USDquote currency
go longbuy (base currency up against the quote)
go shortsell (quote currency up against the base)
opening a positionbuy or sell, go long or short
spreaddifference between sell and buy rate
pipsmallest measured unit of a currency rate, usually in the 4th decimal place, e.g. $1.4521
capitalamount of money deposited into trading account
leveragecontrol a large position in the market with a relatively small amount of capital
stop losspredetermined loss price at which a position will be closed
take profitpredetermined profit price at which a position will be closed
bullish marketa market that will go up
bear marketa market that will go down
ask price (offer)broker’s rate to buy (go long) a currency pair
bid pricebroker’s rate to sell (go short) a currency pair
spreaddifference between ask and bid price which goes to the broker
liquiditya market can be less or more liquid, depending on frequency of trading and spread price
candlestick chartsused to track a currency pair’s price rise (green candle) and decline (red candle)
lotscurrencies are traded in lots rather than singular units, i.e. standard, mini, micro and nano
resistance pointprice levels a rising currency pair has trouble breaking
support levelprice levels a falling currency doesn’t go below
risk to reward ratio (RRR)compares the potential loss of a trade against its potential gain, e.g. risking 1 dollar to potentially earn $3 is a 1:3 ratio