This trading glossary collects the terms used throughout ArkonBit, from wallet vocabulary to forex units and share-market ratios. Definitions are kept short and concrete; where a term has a full explainer, the definition links to it. Jump to a letter below.
How this trading glossary is organised
Terms are grouped loosely into three families. Wallet and network words, such as address, private key, TRC20 and gas, describe how crypto moves. Market words, such as pip, lot, spread and rollover, describe how trades are priced and costed. Company words, such as market capitalisation and dividend yield, describe how shares are valued. Where a definition includes a number, the number is either a fixed rule, such as Bitcoin's 21 million cap, or a clearly illustrative example.
Definitions are written to stand alone, so you can read one without the others, but links point to the fuller explainer where the mechanism needs a diagram or a worked example.
If a term you need is missing, suggest it through the contact page. For quick answers to whole questions rather than single words, see the FAQ.
- Address
- A string of characters that identifies where coins or tokens can be received on a blockchain. Tron addresses start with T and Ethereum addresses start with 0x, which is one quick way to spot a network mismatch. An address can be shared publicly without risk; the private key that controls it must never be shared.
- Address poisoning
- A scam in which an attacker sends a tiny transfer from an address that closely resembles one you use, so that it sits in your transaction history. The hope is that you later copy the lookalike by mistake and send real funds to it. Copy addresses from the original source and check every character you can. See scam patterns.
- Arbitrage
- Buying an asset where it is cheaper and selling it where it is dearer at the same moment, profiting from the gap. Arbitrage is why prices for the same coin on different platforms stay close together, and it is also the mechanism that pulls a stablecoin back towards its peg when it drifts.
- Ask
- The price at which a market or provider will sell to you, and therefore the price you pay when you buy. It is always higher than the bid, and the gap between the two is the spread. Buy stop orders are usually triggered by the ask, even though many charts plot only the bid.
- Base currency
- The first currency in a forex pair. In EUR/USD the euro is the base, and the price shows how many US dollars one euro costs. Buying the pair means buying the base currency and paying with the second, or quote, currency.
- Bid
- The price at which a market or provider will buy from you, and therefore the price you receive when you sell. Most price charts plot the bid, which is worth remembering when a stop-loss on a buy position appears to fire before the chart touches it.
- Block
- A batch of transactions added to a blockchain in one step, linked to the previous block by a cryptographic fingerprint. Bitcoin targets a new block about every ten minutes, or around 144 a day. Each new block on top of yours makes reversing your transaction harder.
- Block reward
- New coins created for the miner or validator who adds a block, paid in addition to transaction fees. Bitcoin's reward started at 50 BTC and has been 3.125 BTC since the April 2024 halving. See Bitcoin explained.
- Blockchain
- A ledger made of blocks linked in sequence and copied across many independent computers. Because every copy is checked against the others, no single party can quietly change past entries. Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tron are each separate blockchains with their own rules and native coins.
- Cold wallet
- A wallet that keeps private keys offline, such as a hardware device that signs transactions without exposing the keys to an internet-connected computer. It is much harder to attack remotely than an app, but it can still be lost, and it still depends on a safely stored recovery phrase.
- Contract for difference (CFD)
- A leveraged contract that pays the change in an asset's price between opening and closing, without giving you ownership of the asset. CFDs carry overnight financing charges. Retail CFD leverage is capped in the UK, EU and Australia, and the UK does not allow crypto CFDs to be sold to retail consumers.
- Custody
- The question of who holds an asset on your behalf. A crypto platform holding your coins has custody, and you hold a claim on it. Holding your own private keys is self-custody. With shares, a regulated broker usually holds them for you in a nominee account separate from its own money.
- Depeg
- When a stablecoin trades noticeably away from the value it is meant to track, such as a dollar token trading at $0.97. Depegs tend to happen when markets are stressed or when confidence in the issuer's reserves weakens. See USDT explained.
- Dividend yield
- A company's annual dividend divided by its share price, shown as a percentage. A $1.20 annual dividend on a $40 share is a 3% yield. The yield rises when the share price falls, so a very high yield can signal that investors expect the dividend to be cut.
- ERC20
- The standard for tokens issued on Ethereum. ERC20 USDT is sent to addresses beginning with 0x, and the fee for each transfer is paid in ETH as gas. Sending ERC20 tokens to an address on a different network can mean they never arrive.
- Gas
- The fee for processing a transaction or running a smart contract on Ethereum, paid in ETH. Gas prices rise when the network is busy, so the same transfer can cost very different amounts at different times. A wallet with tokens but no ETH cannot pay gas.
- Halving
- The scheduled cut in Bitcoin's block reward every 210,000 blocks, roughly every four years. Halvings took place in 2012, 2016, 2020 and April 2024, and the next is expected around 2028. Each one halves the rate at which new bitcoin is issued.
- Hot wallet
- A wallet app on an internet-connected phone or computer. It is convenient for small, frequent transfers but more exposed to malware, phishing and fake support contacts. Many people keep only a spending amount in a hot wallet and the rest in cold storage.
- Leverage
- Controlling a position larger than your deposit, with the provider supplying the rest of the exposure. At 30:1, $1,000 of margin supports a $30,000 position, and every gain or loss is calculated on the full $30,000. See the margin calculator.
- Limit order
- An order to buy or sell only at a set price or better. A buy limit sits below the current price and a sell limit above it. Limit orders avoid slippage and often pay the lower maker fee on crypto platforms, but they may never fill if the price does not reach them.
- Lot
- A standard unit of trade size. In forex, one standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency, a mini lot 10,000 and a micro lot 1,000. For gold, one lot is commonly 100 ounces. On a USD-quoted pair, one pip on one standard lot is worth $10.
- Maker fee
- A trading fee charged on orders that rest in the order book and add liquidity for others to trade against, such as a limit order below the market. Platforms usually charge makers less than takers, because resting orders make the market deeper.
- Margin
- The collateral a provider sets aside from your balance while a leveraged position is open. It is not the most you can lose. If losses eat into your equity, the provider can close positions; in the UK and EU this must happen when equity falls to 50% of the required margin.
- Market capitalisation
- The total market value of a company's shares: share price multiplied by the number of shares issued. A company with 500 million shares at $40 has a market capitalisation of $20 billion. Indices such as the S&P 500 weight their members by a version of this figure.
- Mining
- The proof-of-work process in which specialised computers compete to find a valid next block. The winner adds the block and earns the block reward plus fees. The cost of mining is what makes rewriting Bitcoin's history prohibitively expensive.
- Negative balance protection
- A rule that stops a retail client's account from falling below zero, so losses cannot exceed the money deposited. It applies to retail CFD clients in the UK and EU. It does not stop you from losing your whole deposit.
- Pip
- The standard unit of movement in a currency price: 0.0001 for most pairs and 0.01 for pairs quoted in Japanese yen. A move in EUR/USD from 1.0850 to 1.0870 is 20 pips. See the pip calculator to price a pip at any size.
- Private key
- The secret number that authorises spending from a blockchain address. Whoever holds it controls the funds, and there is no password reset if it is lost or stolen. Wallets usually derive private keys from a recovery phrase, so protecting the phrase protects the keys.
- Proof of reserves
- A report or cryptographic check showing the assets a crypto platform holds for customers. On its own it can mislead: a platform can hold large reserves and owe even more. It is only meaningful when it also accounts for the platform's liabilities to customers.
- Proof of stake
- A consensus method in which validators lock up coins as collateral to earn the right to propose and confirm blocks, and can lose part of that stake for dishonest behaviour. Ethereum has used proof of stake since 2022, and Tron uses a delegated version.
- Recovery phrase
- A list of 12 or 24 words from which a wallet's private keys can be rebuilt on any compatible device. Anyone who has the words has the funds. Store it offline, never photograph it and never enter it on a website; no genuine support service will ever ask for it.
- Rollover
- The daily point, 17:00 New York time in forex, at which open positions are rolled forward and pay or earn overnight financing. Also called swap. The charge is usually tripled on Wednesday nights to cover the weekend.
- Satoshi
- The smallest unit of bitcoin, named after its pseudonymous creator. One bitcoin equals 100 million satoshis, so a small purchase is often easier to read in satoshis than in fractions of a coin.
- Slippage
- The difference between the price you expected and the price at which your order actually filled. It is most common with market orders and stop orders in fast markets, around news releases and at the weekend open. It can occasionally work in your favour.
- Spread
- The gap between the bid and ask prices. It is a cost paid on every trade, even when no separate commission is charged, and it usually widens when markets are thin or volatile. See trading fees explained.
- Stablecoin
- A token designed to track a reference value, usually the US dollar. Fiat-backed stablecoins such as USDT rely on reserves held by the issuer; their value depends on those reserves being real, liquid and sufficient. Stablecoins are not bank deposits.
- Taker fee
- A trading fee charged on orders that fill immediately against orders already in the book, such as a market order. Taker fees are usually higher than maker fees because taking liquidity removes depth from the market.
- TRC20
- The token standard on the Tron network. TRC20 USDT is sent to addresses starting with T, and transfer costs are paid in TRX or covered by Tron's bandwidth and energy resources. A wallet holding TRC20 tokens but no TRX or resources may be unable to move them.
- Two-factor authentication (2FA)
- A second login step, such as a time-based code from an authenticator app or a physical security key, that protects an account if the password leaks. App-based codes and keys are safer than SMS codes, which can be intercepted through SIM-swap fraud.