Glossary of Terms

A comprehensive reference of trading terminology, abbreviations, and definitions used throughout the knowledge base and in professional trading contexts.
TermDefinitionCategory
ATRAverage True Range — measures market volatilityIndicators
BacktestTesting a strategy against historical dataStrategy
Bollinger BandsPrice bands based on standard deviations from a moving averageIndicators
CandlestickChart representation showing open, high, low, close for a periodCharting
DrawdownPeak-to-trough decline in account valueRisk
EMAExponential Moving Average — weighted moving average favoring recent pricesIndicators
Entry SignalCondition that triggers opening a new positionStrategy
Exit SignalCondition that triggers closing an existing positionStrategy
FILTERState-based signal that checks current market conditionsMangroveAI
MACDMoving Average Convergence Divergence — trend-following momentum indicatorIndicators
Market OrderOrder to buy/sell immediately at best available priceOrder Types
Max DrawdownLargest peak-to-trough decline during a specific periodRisk
OHLCVOpen, High, Low, Close, Volume — standard market data formatData
Position SizingDetermining how much capital to allocate to a single tradeRisk
RSIRelative Strength Index — momentum oscillator (0-100 scale)Indicators
Sharpe RatioRisk-adjusted return metric (return / volatility)Performance
SlippageDifference between expected and actual execution priceExecution
SMASimple Moving Average — arithmetic mean of prices over N periodsIndicators
Sortino RatioRisk-adjusted return using only downside deviationPerformance
Stop-LossOrder to exit a position when price reaches a specified loss levelRisk
Take-ProfitOrder to exit a position when price reaches a specified profit levelRisk
TRIGGEREvent-based signal that fires when specific conditions occurMangroveAI
VWAPVolume-Weighted Average PriceIndicators
Win RatePercentage of trades that are profitablePerformance
For the complete glossary with 200+ terms, see knowledge-base/09-glossary.md in the repository.