Every term the platform and these articles use, in plain language. Skim it once and come back when something is unfamiliar.
Positions and orders
Position — what you are currently holding in a contract.
Long — you bought. You profit if the price rises.
Short — you sold first. You profit if the price falls.
Flat — you hold no position at all. Several rules only apply when you are flat.
Exposure — how much risk you currently have on, counting both open positions and orders waiting to fill.
Fill — the moment an order actually executes and becomes a position.
Market order — buy or sell now, at whatever the price is.
Limit order — buy or sell only at your price or better. It waits.
Stop order — an order that activates once price reaches a level, usually used to cut a loss.
Bracket — a take profit and a stop loss attached to a position, so your exit is set in advance.
OCO — "one cancels the other". Two exit orders linked so that when one fills, the other is cancelled automatically.
Flatten — close everything and cancel your orders in one action.
Reverse — close your position and open the same size on the opposite side, in one action.
Contracts and prices
Contract — one unit of the thing you are trading. Two contracts move your money twice as fast as one.
Tick — the smallest amount a price can move, worth a fixed sum per contract.
Point value — what a one-point move is worth on that contract.
Mini and micro — the standard and smaller versions of the same product. A micro moves the same way but is worth a fraction as much.
Front month — the contract most people are currently trading, since each one eventually expires.
Roll — when trading activity moves from an expiring contract to the next one.
Bid and ask — the best price someone will buy at, and the best price someone will sell at.
Money and performance
Balance — your account's cash, updated when a trade closes.
Equity — your balance plus or minus whatever an open position is currently worth.
Realised P&L — profit or loss on trades you have closed.
Unrealised P&L — profit or loss on a position still open. It is not yours until you close.
High-water mark — the highest your account has ever been. Some drawdown rules measure from it.
Baseline — the balance your day is measured against, reset at each daily close.
Commission — your firm's charge per contract, per side.
Rules and accounts
Evaluation — the paid challenge you trade to prove you can follow the rules.
Funded account — what you trade after passing. It never passes again; you take payouts instead.
Profit target — how much you need to make to pass an evaluation.
Daily loss limit — the most you can lose in one day. Hitting it stops your day. It does not fail you.
Max loss — the most you can lose in total. Hitting it ends the account.
Drawdown — how far your account is allowed to fall from a high point.
Trailing drawdown — a drawdown floor that rises as your account does, so profit you give back counts against you.
Consistency — a cap on how much of your profit may come from a single day.
Lockout — a block on opening new trades. Closing is always still allowed.
Breach — breaking a rule. Some breaches pause your day, some end the account.
Scaling plan — contract limits that increase as the account grows.
Payout — taking profit out of a funded account, arranged by your firm.
Import key — the one-time code your firm gives you to attach an account to your login.