Discover our platform glossary
Forty-four terms grouped into seven themes, written to be read in order or jumped into by curiosity. Every definition links back to the Javlot pages where the term shows up.
Account & Money
The basic units your broker account is measured in.
5 terms
Equity
The live value of your broker account, including the floating profit or loss of open positions.
See the termBalance
The cash sitting on your broker account, before the profit or loss of any open positions.
See the termMargin
The portion of your equity the broker sets aside as collateral while a position is open.
See the termLeverage
The ratio between the size of a position and the deposit your broker requires to open it.
See the termLot Size
The unit a forex order is measured in. One standard lot equals 100,000 units of the base currency.
See the termTrading Mechanics
How orders are placed, priced, and filled on a broker account.
10 terms
Pip
The smallest standard price increment on a currency pair, usually the fourth decimal.
See the termSpread
The gap between the bid and ask price of an instrument, paid implicitly on every entry.
See the termOrder Type
The instruction sent to the broker that tells it how and when to fill an order.
See the termLimit Order
A pending order that fills only at the specified price or a better one, never worse.
See the termMarket Order
An order that fills immediately at the best available price the broker offers right now.
See the termStop Loss
An exit order that closes a losing position the moment a chosen price level is hit.
See the termTake Profit
An exit order that closes a winning position the moment a chosen price level is reached.
See the termSlippage
The gap between the price you asked for on an order and the price the broker actually filled it at.
See the termExecution
How the broker turns an order into a real fill: speed, routing, and the price you actually get.
See the termPosition
A single entry held on the broker account, with a direction, a size, and a current floating result.
See the termRisk Management
The terms that describe how much you can lose, and how you limit it.
4 terms
Drawdown
The drop in account equity from a peak to the trough that follows, expressed as a percent of the peak.
See the termRisk-Reward Ratio
The ratio of a position's potential loss to its potential gain, set by the stop loss and take profit.
See the termPosition Sizing
The rule that decides how large each position should be, given account equity and risk per position.
See the termRisk per Trade
The slice of account equity a single position can lose if its stop loss hits.
See the termPerformance Metrics
The numbers used to describe a strategy after the fact.
11 terms
Profit
The gain or loss on a closed position, once spreads, commissions, and swaps are taken out.
See the termTotal Profit
The sum of every closed position result over a period, winners and losers combined.
See the termGains
The sum of every winning position in a period, before losing positions are subtracted.
See the termLoss
The realized loss on a closed position, or the sum of every losing position across a period.
See the termWin Rate
The percentage of closed positions that ended in profit over a given period.
See the termProfit Factor
Gross winning amount divided by gross losing amount over a period. Above 1 means net positive.
See the termSharpe Ratio
Return per unit of volatility: average return above a baseline, divided by the standard deviation of those returns.
See the termSortino Ratio
Like Sharpe, but only counts downside volatility, not upside swings.
See the termZ-Score
A statistical measure of whether a strategy's win and loss streaks are truly random.
See the termGHPR (Geometric Holding Period Return)
The compounded average return per position, more honest than a simple arithmetic average.
See the termExpectancy
The average expected profit or loss per position, computed from win rate and average win and loss size.
See the termStrategy Styles & Timeframes
How algorithms approach the market and over what horizon.
9 terms
Scalping
A short-horizon style that opens and closes positions within minutes, targeting small per-position moves.
See the termDay Trading
A style that opens and closes positions within the same trading day, with no overnight exposure.
See the termSwing Trading
A style that holds positions across several days to a few weeks, targeting mid-horizon moves.
See the termPosition Trading
A long-horizon style that holds positions for weeks to months, riding multi-week trends.
See the termTrend Following
An approach that buys what is rising and sells what is falling, riding moves until they reverse.
See the termMean Reversion
An approach that fades extremes, betting that price will return to its average after stretching too far.
See the termBreakout
An approach that enters once price crosses a defined level, riding the move that follows.
See the termGrid Trading
A ladder of pending orders placed at regular intervals, designed to catch repeated price oscillations.
See the termMartingale
A position-sizing scheme that doubles up after each loss, betting that the next position will recover everything.
See the termBrokerage Models
How different broker types route and price your orders.
3 terms
ECN Broker
A broker that routes client orders directly into an electronic communication network of liquidity providers.
See the termSTP Broker
A broker that passes client orders straight through to its liquidity providers without taking the other side.
See the termMarket Maker
A broker that takes the other side of client positions in-house, instead of routing them externally.
See the termVerification
How a strategy is checked before and after it goes live.
2 terms
Where to go next
Glossary entries are educational. They describe how a term is commonly used in algorithmic forex trading, including on the Javlot platform. They are not a personalized recommendation and not a forecast. Past performance does not guarantee future results.