Glossary

Alerts are set by traders to notify them when a specific market event occurs, so that a trader can take action with that information. In the current version of Varcity.io, alerts can be set for the following triggers:  

• Bid price

• Ask price

• Mid-price

• Last price

We are working on creating more alert trigger options. Have an idea for an alert trigger? Let us know at feedback@varcity.io

A bar chart is a graphical representation of price activity over a period of time, consisting of an opening foot—facing left—a vertical line, and a closing foot—facing right. Bar charts are used to plot the trading price levels for a specific period, such as minute, 5-minute, 15-minute, hourly and daily bar charts.

A bear market is a market that experiences extended price deadlines. It usually describes a condition where a securities price will fall 20% or more from the recent highs. 

A bull market is commonly used to reference the stock market, however, it can be applied to anything that is traded. From bonds, real estate, currencies, and commodities. A bull market is the condition of a financial market in which prices are rising or expected to rise. 

An order can be cancelled if the order is open or partially filled, with the remainder of the partial fill available to be cancelled.  

Candlesticks are one of the most popular tools used by traders to interpret price data and to track price movements. Candlestick charts show the opening, high, low, and closing prices over a given period of time.

When reading a candlestick chart, traders look at the size and shape of the candlesticks to identify patterns that can indicate future price movements.

A trade that has been ended by a trader, either by buying or selling, is known as a closed position.

The Commodity Channel Index (CCI) is used to determine whether a securities price level is above or below its long-term average. When it is high (+100), the security is considered overbought and might be heading for a correction. When low (-100), the security is considered oversold and might be heading for a rebound.

Cyptocurrency also known as crypto is a digital currency that is designed to work as a form of exchange through a computer network. This network doesn't rely on any central authority, such as government or bank in order to uphold or maintain it.

Exchange of interest in one currency for the same in another.  These are exchanged of specific dates through the life a contract. 

When an order to trade a financial security is satisfied, it is referred to as a fill. The fundamental act of any market transaction, the completion of an order is frequently referred to as "filling" or "getting the order executed."

The foreign exchange market, which is commonly known as the "forex market" is a global decentralized or over-the-counter market for trading currencies. The forex market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. This includes all aspects of buying, selling and exchanging currencies at the current or dtermined prices.

Futures are contracts that a standard legalized contracts to buy or sell something at a price that has already been determined for delivery at a future date. This transaction happens between parties that are not yet known to each other. 

Indices serve as a gauge for the price development of a collection of shares from a market. The FTSE 100, for instance, keeps tabs on the 100 biggest corporations listed on the London Stock Exchange. You can gain exposure to a whole economy or industry at once by trading indices, and you only need to initiate one trade.

Level 1 Quotes provide basic price data for a symbol including the best real-time bid/ask price offered and volume of open offers at that particular price.

Leverage in trading enables you to open a position worth much more than the money you deposit. For example, you might be able to multiply your position size by 5, 10 or even 20 times the amount of your initial outlay.

A limit order is a buy/sell order that specifies a maximum price to be paid or a minimum price to be received for a stock (the "limit price"). Only at the specified limit price or better will the order be filled.

Line charts are simple, basic ways of representing price movements in all types of financial securities. A line chart uses closing prices and connects them with a continuous line.

Lots in securities and trading represent the number of units of a security bought on an exchange. 

Buying on margin is borrowing money from a broker to purchase a security. Margin trading allows you to buy more of a stock than you'd normally be able. 

A market order is a request to purchase or sell a stock at the best price currently being offered on the market. A market order normally guarantees an execution but not a certain price.

Within the VTI Widget and My Portfolio (for Pro subscriptions), you can see the total market value of your virtual portfolio including all securities. 

A forward sale is an agreed upon sale of a share that is agreed upon on that day which will then have a settlement date in the future. These types of agreements allow companies to take advantage of current trading prices. 

On Balance Volume (OBV) is a cumulative indicator that measures buying and selling pressure by adding volume on up days and subtracting it on down days. When the security closes higher than the previous close, all of that day's volume is considered to be up-volume.

An open position is any entered trade that has yet to close with an opposing trade. Since the position is still open, no profit or loss is realized until the position is closed.

An option is a contract which bears its owner, who is the owner, the right, to buy or sell a certain quantity of a security or security. This is done at a specific price on or before specific date. 

The Order Book, sometimes known as Depth of Market, provide more information than Level 1 Quotes. The Order Book includes data regarding current order books and market depth to show the number of buyers and sellers at each price point. This allows traders to assess the volume of orders at different prices in an effort to identify the optimal bid/ask price and spread to achieve their particular trading goals.

If your order was partially executed, only a portion of it was fulfilled. When there aren't enough shares to fill your order, partial executions take place.

Used in the bid-ask spread of a forex quote, "Pip" is an acronym for percentage in points, and represents the smallest whole unit price move of an exchange rate.  When looking at a currency pair, a single pip is the last decimal place in a quote ($0.0001) which is 1/100 of 1%, otherwise known as one basis point.

The exception to this definition is the Japanese Yen as it is quoted only to two decimal places.  In this case, a single whole unit pip is 0.01 (instead of 0.0001 for other currency pairs).

A position is a market exposure or representation of an exposure held by a trader. A trader takes a long position when they put in a buy order with the intent that the price will increase, or when they put in a sell order for a short position. By doing either a buy or sell order, a trader opens a position, but will need to close their position in order to realize any gains or losses.

Quantity (or Qty) is another term for volume.

Applied to your entire virtual portfolio, the risk-adjusted return is a calculation that is used to measure an investment's return by examining how much risk is taken in obtaining the return. It is an important metric for traders to measure their risk-management and consistency.

The Sharpe ratio, or reward-to-variability ratio, is a measure of risk-adjusted performance for a portfolio. It compares the average return on an investment with the amount of risk taken by that investment. The Sharpe ratio is calculated as the difference between an investment’s average return and the return of a risk-free investment divided by the standard deviation of those returns.

The moving average is a technical indicator used in finance to help smooth out the price data by creating a constantly updated average price. The impacts of random, short-term fluctuations on a price over a specified time frame are mitigated by calculating the moving average.

The most commonly used moving averages are the simple moving average (SMA), which is calculated by adding the closing prices over a given number of time periods, and the exponential moving average (EMA), which gives more weight to recent prices.

The Sortino ratio is a variation of the Sharpe ratio that differentiates harmful volatility from total overall volatility by using the securities downside deviation instead of its total standard deviation. The Sortino ratio takes a securities  return and subtracts the risk-free rate, then divides that amount by its downside deviation.

A Spotlight is a trading widget that shows historical data for your selected financial security, organized by: current day, past month, past quarter and the past year. For each time period, the following data is shown:

Open: the opening price on the first day of the time period selected

High: the highest price during the time period selected

Low: the lowest price during the time period selected

Close: the closing price on the last day of the time period selected

Quantity: the quantity traded in the time period selected

Standard deviation is an indicator that measures price volatility by relating a price range to its moving average. A higher value for the indicator means a wider spread between price and its moving average, which indicates greater volatility. A lower value for the indicator means a smaller spread between price and its moving average, which indicates less volatility.

A symbol is a widely recognized abbreviation of a financial securities name. These shorthand currency identifiers are often used on financial documents and in international and domestic markets.

The total return on your virtual portfolio, expressed as a percentage.

The total return on your virtual portfolio, expressed in dollars.

Any day that you are actively trading on Varcity.io is counted as a trading day and is displayed in your Varcity Network profile.

Trading widgets refer to the different components on the Varcity trading dashboard. Currently, the trading widgets in V1.0 are:

VTI + metrics

Charts

Order Book

Watchlist

Spotlight

Orders

Positions

Alerts

Economic Calendar

News

The value of all trades divided by the portfolio value to show how quickly the portfolio is replaced on a daily basis.

My Portfolio shows Varcity Pro subscribers key information regarding their portfolio as a whole and by category, including margin utilized/available, book and market value.

Volatility shows a portfolio's tendency to deviate from its mean returns and can be used as a measure of portfolio risk.

The VTI is a quantitative trading performance metric developed by Varcity for use on Varcity’s demo trading platform. The VTI combines standardized industry performance metrics with a proprietary algorithm that assesses positive trading behaviours, to create a measure of trading performance compared to all other demo traders on the Varcity platform.

The VTI is not predictive of performance in live trading and is intended for educational purposes only on Varcity's trading simulator. Please see Terms and Conditions for more information.

A Watchlist is a trading widget that allows you to keep track of symbols/financial securities in an organized list with key trading data. Every symbol you choose to add to your Watchlist is categorized by type: forex, crypto, indices or futures. In Basic, there is one Watchlist available; however in Pro, you have 3 Watchlists available.