CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Excess volatility increases risk further. Be cautious. Past performance is not an indication of future results.
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Constant name, moving quantity

Hong Kong — Trading words, and which ones the instrument redefines

Some terms mean exactly the same thing on a currency pair, on gold and on an index CFD. Others keep the name and change the quantity behind it entirely. Mixing the two groups is how a size that looked right on one market turns out wrong on the next.

Three groups. Words that describe the mechanism, identical wherever they are used. Words that describe an amount, which the symbol sets and which have to be reread every time the symbol changes. And words that are not terms at all but names of market families.

Why the split matters more than the definitions

A glossary that lists twenty terms alphabetically suggests they all behave alike. They do not. The mechanism words can be learned once and carried everywhere. The amount words are placeholders: correct only next to a named symbol and the moment it was read. Learning which is which saves rereading the whole list every time a new market is opened.

Learned once, true on every instrument

These describe what happens, not how much of it. A pair, a metal, an index CFD and a crypto CFD all use them the same way.

The mechanism words: no symbol needs to be named for them to hold.
The wordWhat it namesSame on gold as on EUR/USD?
Order, positionThe instruction to buy or sell, then the trade it becomes once carried out by the broker.Identical
ExecutionThe price can move slightly between the click and the opening.Identical, though the size of the move is not
Long, shortBuying first, or selling first — both directions available because nothing is delivered.Identical across all families
Buy price, sell priceTwo prices standing at once; you buy at the higher and sell at the lower.Identical arrangement
SpreadThe gap between those two, taken as the trade opens.Same idea, different width — see the next table
Balance, equityThe account's figure, and what it becomes with open trades counted in.One figure for the whole account, whatever is open
Stop-loss, take-profit«Close automatically at this level», and its mirror for a gain.Identical as an instruction
Stop outTrades close automatically once losses have eaten too much of the margin.Identical rule, account-wide

Re-set by the symbol, every time

Same word, different quantity. Each of these is a blank until an instrument is named — and the platform is where the blank gets filled.

The amount words: a figure is attached to a symbol, never to the term.
The wordOn a currency pairWhat the symbol re-sets
Pip, point, tickEUR/USD from 1.1000 to 1.1001 — the fourth decimal.On an index CFD a step is a point of the level; on a metal or an energy it is a step on a measure of the goods. Same word, different distance and different money.
Lot, volume, contract sizeOne lot of EUR/USD is 100,000 euros; 0.01 of a lot is tradable.What one unit of size holds is stated per symbol in the contract details — for a metal it is a weight, not a count of currency.
Value of one stepAbout $10 a pip on a full lot of a dollar-quoted pair.Set per symbol and per size. This is the figure most often carried across markets by mistake — redo the sum.
Spread, in figuresA gap of so many pips, moving through the day.Each symbol has its own, and its own habit of widening around news.
SwapA small charge or credit for holding past the daily rollover.Stated per symbol, and not applied at all on eligible instruments under the swap-free option — see account types.
MarginWhat is set aside while a leveraged trade is open.Depends on the symbol and the size, and is printed on the order screen before confirming.
Trading hoursRound the clock on weekdays.Gold trades nearly 24 hours a day, five days a week; crypto CFDs quote 24/7; index, share and energy CFDs follow the timetable of what they track.

Words that are family names, not terms

Not definitions to memorise — labels that tell you which figures to fetch.
The nameWhat it groupsWhat it tells you to reread
Currency pair, forexEUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and the rest of a list running past a hundred instruments.Little — this is the reference case the others are read against.
MetalsGold (XAU/USD), silver (XAG/USD).Contract size first, then step value.
Index and share CFDsUS30, US500, CFDs on company shares.That a step is a point, and that a session has a timetable.
Crypto CFDsBTC/USD, ETH/USD.That they quote 24/7, and that nothing here is a way of paying — only a thing to trade.
EnergiesCrude oil, natural gas.Contract size, step value and hours, all per symbol.
CFDThe form all of the above are traded in.That nothing is owned or delivered — what a CFD holds.

Turning a loose sentence into a checkable one

  1. Ask which group the word is in

    «The spread is narrow» uses an amount word. «The order was executed» uses a mechanism word. Only the first one is missing something.

  2. Attach a symbol

    An amount word without a named instrument is not yet a claim. «Narrow on which symbol?» is the whole question.

  3. Attach a moment

    Spreads move through the day and around news. A figure with no time on it describes a screen nobody can find again.

  4. Then go and read it

    Symbol plus moment makes the figure fetchable on a demo, at no cost. Write the two down beside it; a week later the note settles the argument, memory does not.

Where this split stops working

It sorts vocabulary, not usefulness. A word in the first group is not automatically safe: «leverage» means the same on every family, and it magnifies losses exactly as fast as gains on every family too. Nor does the second group become harmless once its figure is fetched — a spread you can read is still a cost you pay. And no group here reaches the sentences about the next hour: where a price goes is not a term at all, and no one predicts these moves reliably. This is an independent guide, so every figure named on it is a pointer to your own screen, not a substitute for it.

Questions about a word that moved market

Is a pip the same distance on every instrument?

No. It is the fourth decimal on most currency pairs; elsewhere a step goes by another name and another size. Carrying the pair's figure across is the common error.

Does one lot always mean 100,000 of something?

Only for a currency pair, where one lot of EUR/USD is 100,000 euros. For a metal, an index or an energy, what one unit of size holds is stated in that symbol's contract details.

Which words can be learned once and never revisited?

Everything in the first table: order, execution, long and short, the two prices, balance and equity, the closing instructions, stop out.

Somebody said «the spread is low». What is missing?

A symbol and a moment. Without both it is not yet a claim about anything readable.

Is «24/7» a property of the broker or of the instrument?

Of the instrument. Crypto CFDs quote 24/7; the rest of the list follows the timetable of what it tracks.

Why does a swap figure differ between two open trades?

Because it is set per symbol, and the swap-free option removes it only on eligible instruments.

Does the account type change any word in the first table?

No. It changes amounts — the cost structure and the sizes — never the mechanism.

Where is the per-symbol figure finally settled?

On your own order screen at the moment the order is placed, never in a word list, this page included.

Is a crypto CFD a way of paying for anything?

No. It is an instrument to trade, priced in dollars, and it has nothing to do with moving money in or out of an account — the money page.

The second table fills itself in on a live screen.

A demo account carries virtual money and live prices, free and with no time limit. Open one, put a currency pair and gold side by side, and read the two step values off the order screens — the split above stops being something you take on trust.

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