Reference
Quick lookups for the terms that show up across the platform. Bookmark this and dip in when something does not make sense.
N Written by Nick, founder of Markets Mastered ยท Trading professionally since 1989
Last updated 18 May 2026A reference page rather than a read-through. Skip to whatever term you need. Where a concept has its own article, the link will take you there.
The smallest standard price increment. For most pairs, the fourth decimal place (0.0001). For JPY pairs, the second decimal place (0.01). EURUSD moving from 1.0830 to 1.0840 is 10 pips. USDJPY moving from 149.50 to 149.60 is also 10 pips.
A tenth of a pip, the fifth decimal place. Useful for tracking spreads but rarely for trading decisions.
The difference between bid and ask. Tighter spreads mean cheaper to enter and exit. Spreads widen during low-liquidity hours and around news.
The average size of a price bar's range (high minus low) over a recent window. Expressed in pips on the volatility page. See the volatility article.
The distance between the upper and lower Bollinger Bands as a percentage of price. Falling BBW = price is compressing. Used as one input to the squeeze score.
A general term for how much a market is moving. We quantify it with ATR and BBW. Markets cycle between high and low volatility regimes.
The difference between the price you intended to fill at and the price you actually got. Common around news, session opens, and on thinly-traded instruments.
Standard unit of trading size. 1 standard lot = 100,000 units of the base currency. Most retail trades are 0.01 (micro) to 1.0 (standard) lots. Use the lot calculator to size based on stop distance.
The ratio of position size to deposited capital. 30:1 leverage means $1,000 of capital can control $30,000 of position. Higher leverage magnifies both gains and losses; broker margin requirements scale to leverage.
The capital your broker holds against an open position. Calculate with the margin calculator.
In EURUSD, EUR is the base and USD is the quote. Going long EURUSD means buying EUR and selling USD. The price shows how many USD you get for 1 EUR.
Long = you profit if price goes up. Short = you profit if price goes down. In forex, every trade is simultaneously long one currency and short another.
Bullish means trend is up (higher highs and higher lows). Bearish means trend is down (lower highs and lower lows). Neutral means no clear trend.
A directional bias on a chart over a defined period. The trends grid classifies trends across seven timeframes per instrument.
The bar interval being analysed. We track 15-minute, 30-minute, 1-hour, 4-hour, 1-day, 1-week, and 1-month charts.
Relative terms. A 4-hour chart is higher timeframe than a 15-minute chart, and lower timeframe than a 1-day chart. Trades aligned across multiple timeframes are higher quality than trades that work on only one.
A temporary counter-trend move within a larger trend. The 15-minute chart goes bearish for a few hours while the daily remains bullish. Pullbacks are entry opportunities for trades in the higher-timeframe direction.
Price moving decisively beyond a recent range, level, or pattern. Often preceded by compression (a high squeeze score).
A relative score (-100 to +100) showing how a single currency is performing against the other majors over a timeframe. See the strength article.
When one currency is moving up and another is moving down. The strongest divergence on the strength board is usually the cleanest pair to trade.
Market regimes. Risk-on means investors are buying growth-sensitive assets (AUD, NZD, equities) and selling safe havens (JPY, CHF, USD). Risk-off is the opposite. The dashboard's market regime tile surfaces a quick read.
One of the four major trading windows (Sydney, Tokyo, London, New York). See the sessions article.
When two sessions are open simultaneously. The London-NY overlap (13:00-16:00 UTC) is the highest-volume window of the day.
Trend alignment alert on the short-term stack (15m, 1h, 4h). Fires when those three timeframes flip into agreement. See the alerts article.
Trend alignment alert on the higher stack (1d, 1w, 1mo). Rare but high-quality.
The set of instruments you have starred. Filters most data views to just your pairs. See the watchlist article.
The dollar amount you lose if your stop is hit. Most professionals risk 0.5 to 1% of account per trade. The lot calculator sizes the position to match a chosen risk.
A pre-set order that closes the position if price moves against you to a defined level. Should be placed beyond recent volatility, not inside it.
A pre-set order that closes the position at a target price. Often expressed as a multiple of the stop distance (e.g. 2R = 2x the stop distance away).
Profit or loss expressed in units of risk. A trade with a 30-pip stop that hits a 60-pip target was +2R. A trade that stopped out was -1R. Useful for thinking about performance independent of position size.
The peak-to-trough decline in account equity. Different from a single losing trade; usually measured across a sequence.
A point-in-time capture of all instrument metrics. Markets Mastered takes a snapshot every 15 minutes.
The quarter-hour at which snapshots are recorded (00, 15, 30, 45 minutes past the hour, in UTC). All "current" data on the platform reflects the most recent boundary.
The depth of buy and sell orders available at any given moment. Liquid markets have tight spreads and fast fills. Illiquid markets have wider spreads, slippage, and erratic candles.
Reading the data
The Trends Grid: Multi-Timeframe Direction at a Glance
One table, every pair, every timeframe. When the short and long term agree, the setup is cleaner. When they don't, you're trading against something.
Reading the data
Squeeze Score: Spotting Compressed Price Action Before It Breaks
A 0-100 score telling you how coiled a market is. The higher it climbs, the bigger the move that tends to follow when it finally breaks.
Reading the data
Volatility, Pips, and ATR: Sizing Trades to the Market
If your stop is tighter than the market's normal noise, you will be stopped out by accident. Volatility tells you what counts as noise.
This article is general market education, not financial advice. See our risk disclaimer.
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