Trading Glossary
Take a look at our list of the financial terms associated with trading and the markets.
Bail-in
A bailin is a move in which a company sells its stock, usually at a discount. This is similar to a liquidation, but the company isn't being liquidated. Bailins are very effective at getting a company's stock price higher. The higher the stock price, the higher the potential for a company to raise equity capital.
Bail-out
A bailout is a government intervention into the operations of a company to assist the company in staying afloat. A bailout may be used when a company is unable to meet its debt obligations or when it is in danger of failing. In some cases, a bailout can be a good thing, such as the company's operations are at risk and a bailout could save it. On the other hand, a bailout can negatively impact a company, and some companies have suffered from the bad business practices of their CEOs or board members.
Balance of Trade
Refers to the difference between a country's total imports and total exports, generally using trade surplus to indicate that trade exports are greater than imports, and trade deficits indicate that trade exports are less than imports. This data directly shows the demand for foreign exchange in the country's currency, and the trade account is positive, indicating that the demand for local currency is greater than the demand for foreign currencies.
Balance Sheet
One of the three major accounting statements, reflecting the company's assets (where the money is used), as well as liabilities and shareholders' equity (where the money comes from), allows readers to understand the static operation of the enterprise in a short period of time. The balance sheet is a stock statement that reflects the company's liquidity, debt ratio, capital structure, and various financial details at that time. "Shareholders' equity = asset-liability" is the core principle of the balance sheet.
Bank Levy
A bank levy is a type of taxation system on financial institutions of the United Kingdom in which banks are forced to pay government taxes over and above any normal corporate taxes that they may incur due to the risks they pose to the larger economy. A bank levy also refers to a situation in which a bank account is frozen due to a creditor’s legal attempt to get a debtor to repay its debt.
Bank of Canada
Refers to the National Central Bank of Canada, established in 1934, with the core idea of promoting Canada's economic and financial soundness.
Bank of England
Refers to the national central bank of the United Kingdom, founded in 1694 with a history of more than 300 years, and headquartered in London, England. The central bank aims to maintain monetary policy and financial stability.
Bank of International Settlement
The Bank for International Settlements is a syndicate of central banks in a number of developed countries that provides financial services to central banks and international organizations, maintains the stability of central banks' monetary and fiscal policies, and promotes international cooperation. The Bank for International Settlements is the oldest national financial organization.
Barrels Per Day
An indicator of oil production, expressed in the number of barrels of oil produced in a single day. For example, country A might produce 5 million barrels of oil per day, which could be written as 5 million B/D; Usually there is an inverse relationship between the number of barrels produced per day and the price of oil.
Base Currency
The top currency in a currency pair is called the base currency, and the exchange rate of a currency pair is a measure of the base currency in the list price currency. Take the EURUSD currency pair (EURUSD) as an example, the euro is the benchmark currency. In forex trading, to go long on a European and American currency pair is to buy the base currency, the euro.
Base Currency
It is the first currency in a currency pair, which is the currency based on exchange rate quotations, which measures how many units of the base currency can be exchanged for one unit of base currency. Taking USD/JPY as an example, the US dollar is the base currency, and if the exchange rate is 110, it indicates that 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 110 yen.
Basis Point
A unit commonly used to measure interest rates or other financial instruments. One basis point is equal to one in ten thousandths, which is 0.01%. It is common to see rate hikes at meetings of central banks measured in BPS, such as a 10BPS hike. In addition, if the central bank raises interest rates by 0.25%, it can also be called a rate hike of 1 yard.
Bear
Refers to the overall decline in prices, with a pessimistic outlook. It can be used to describe various markets including stocks, bonds, derivatives, foreign exchange and commodities. In a bear market, short positions dominate the market and continue to suppress commodity prices.
Bear Flag
A relay pattern in a downtrend. In a bear market with a more pronounced downward trend in prices, the price forms a small upward channel. When the price crosses the lower edge of the small upward channel, the selling pressure intensifies, causing the instrument to be break the key level triggering more stop losses and new short positions. The bear flag structure is therefore a continuation pattern in a downtrend.
Bear Traps
A bear trap is a trading setup for those who are looking to short the market in a downtrend. This setup will usually break a key support level and be in a downtrend, and then reverse back to the support level and keep rising, thereby trapping the bears. Once the market rises above the breakout level, a number of stops get triggered and the market can rise rapidly.
Bear whales in Cryptocurrency
Refers to traders who hold short cryptocurrency positions with large amounts of capital, which can easily influence the movement of the crypto market.
Bearish Engulfing Pattern
A bearish engulfing pattern is a technical chart pattern that signals lower prices to come. The pattern consists of an up (white or green) candlestick followed by a large down (black or red) candlestick that eclipses or "engulfs" the smaller up candle.
Beige Book
The Beige Book is a summary of economic conditions around the United States. It is published approximately every 6 to 8 weeks, about 2 weeks before the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting. This report is of value to Fed decision-makers because it provides a real-time record of economic changes. If the Beige Book reveals that economic activity is healthy, it is positive for the dollar. Conversely, if the report shows that the economy is not performing well, the Fed may be inclined to lower interest rates.
Bellwether
It refers to the leading indicator of economic trends. The reason why some companies are worth paying attention to is mainly because it can be said that the company is a leader in whether the economy is working well, and if the company's profit performance is excellent, it often means that the current overall market environment is healthy. On the contrary, if the financial performance is a loss, then it is often implied that the economy may further decline. In general, companies that can be classified as leaders tend to be companies with large customer bases and excellent brand reputation, and these companies tend to have relatively high weights in some important indexes.
Benchmark interest rate
Generally refers to the interest rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks. The deposit and loan interest rates of commercial banks are often adjusted based on this interest rate. Therefore, the benchmark interest rate is an interest rate with a universal reference role in the financial market, and other interest rates in the market are often determined according to the level of the benchmark interest rate.
BHD
The legal tender of the island of Bahrain, the code is BHD.
Bid and Ask Prices
The bid price refers to the price at which the investor is willing to bid to buy, the sell price refers to the price at which the investor is willing to bid and sell, at a certain point in time, the gap between the bid price and the bid price is called the spread, when the optimism of the underlying asset rises, the buyer will often rush to buy the required asset, at this time, the bid price will rise steadily, because the buyer directly uses the sell price to complete the transaction and the seller begins to show a reluctance to sell and the sell price will rise; On the contrary, when pessimism spreads, sellers tend to rush to sell their assets, and at this time they will see the bid price fall steadily, because the seller directly uses the bid price to trade and the buyer begins to show the mentality of not losing money and lowering the bid price.
Biflation
Refers to the simultaneous inflation and deflation of an economy, that is, the performance of different economic commodities is diametrically opposite. Due to the Cantillon effect of economic markets, price increases driven by monetary policy are often uneven. In a depressed economy, for example, raw materials tend to perform better, while leveraged assets such as real estate may experience reduce demand, leading to lower prices.
Big Mac index
A fundamental index in purchasing power parity theory. Since McDonald's is consistent with Big Mac Hamburg on a global scale, Big Macs in different countries should theoretically have the same value, so whether the local price of the Big Mac reflects the relative value of the currency. For example, if mcDonald's Big Mac burger in the United States sells for $7, while The Australian McDonald's Big Mac sells for $10, there is no difference between the two Big Mac burgers, so theoretically, the exchange rate of the Australian dollar against the US dollar is 0.7.
Binary Option
A binary option is a financial contract where you make a wager on whether or not the price of an underlying asset will move in a specific direction within a specified period of time. For example, if you think the price of oil will go up during the next month, all you need to do is put down a small portion of cash and hope that it goes up. Otherwise, you lose the amount you've placed on the binary option. A binary option is different from regular investing because you're not putting up money for the underlying asset. But you still have some of your assets at risk if the price goes down.
Bitcoin
is a digital (crypto) currency that originated in a white paper proposed in January 2009 by a mysterious figure who is rumored to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitbi is not issued through any bank or government, and transactions are recorded through a decentralized ledger, which is extremely difficult to be corrugated. Bitcoin is currently the most valuable of all cryptocurrencies, with a market capitalization of about $880 billion.
Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash is a hard fork of Bitcoin used to increase the number of transactions that can be processed. There are many similarities with Bitcoin, the key difference is the size of the block, Bitcoin Cash will be faster in terms of transaction speed, and the speed can also be improved.
Block
A block is a collection of transaction-related data and bundled it together for validation, and this part of the data structure is a block. Blocks are a fundamental component of the blockchain.
Block Reward
Refers to the reward that miners receive after solving relevant mathematical puzzles and creating new blocks through hash rates, which vary according to different cryptocurrencies. Take Bitcoin for example, which is mined at a definite but constantly decaying rate, producing a new block about every ten minutes. Each new block accompanied by a certain number of new bitcoins from scratch. Bitcoin is halved for every 210,000 blocks mined, with is roughly a four-year cycle.
Blue Chip
A type of stock that refers to the stocks of enterprises with long-term stable growth and large market value, usually traditional industrial stocks and financial stocks. Blue chips are characterised by high operating stability, tending to have higher dividend yields and predictable future cash flows.
Bolling Band
One of the most commonly used technical indicators, typical mean reversion logic. The Bollinger Bands are composed of the midline, the upper rail and the lower rail, the midline is a simple moving average of 20 periods, and the upper and lower rails are two standard deviations away from the midline, relying on the mathematical laws of normal distribution. In general, the candlestick touching the upper Bollinger band is used as a sell signal, while touching the lower Bollinger band is a buy signal.
Bond Auction
Government bond auctions are financed by governments by selling long- and short-term government bonds to investors. First, the central bank announces the total amount that needs to be borrowed. Brokers, institutions and individual investors will then submit their own quotes for the bonds. Just like buying a house, the highest price is the one who secures the bond. However, the special thing about bonds is that they are quoted at a yield, and the investor with the lowest yield can buy the bond.
Bond Repayment Period
Refers to the repayment period of the bond determined at the time of issuance, after the maturity of the bond, the issuer must repay the principal. For example,a 10-year Treasury bond is a bond issued by the U.S. government that repays the principal 10 years after the bond was issued. In the financial market, bonds with a maturity of less than 1 year are generally regarded as short-term bonds, bonds with a year of more than 1year and less than 10 years as medium-term bonds, and long-term bonds of more than 10 years. The annualized interest rates of bonds of different maturities issued by the same issuer will generally be different.
Bond Yield
Refers to the ratio of the income that can be obtained from a bond each year to the carrying price of the bond. Bond yields can be used to compare bonds of different face values and returns. At the same time, bond yields often represent the degree of confidence investors have in the market, and the higher the yield, the stronger the confidence. This is often reflected in national bonds and corporate bonds.
Bonds
If the issuer of the bond is issued in order to raise funds, after the funds are raised, the corresponding interest will be paid at the agreed interest rate or amount at the agreed time. For bondholders, it is a fixed income investment that is also considered a creditor. Bonds are a direct debt relationship.
Breakeven
From an accounting point of view, it means that all sales revenue equals all costs, which means the company is neither profitable nor loss-making. Trading in the market means a losing order is offset by a profitable order, and the trader does not lose or earn. Breakeven is often used in valuation models, where companies price products through equilibrium points or traders develop trading strategies.
Brent Crude
A benchmark price commonly used in the international oil market to measure the level of oil prices, it is the most widely used crude oil price in the world. Most international oil prices use Brent crude as a reference. Brent crude oil is compared to the price of oil refined in Europe, and its quality is slightly lower than that of WTI crude oil. Brent crude oil can not be directly delivered physically, often through options, CFDs and other ways to trade.
Brexit
Refers to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, so that the United Kingdom is no longer bound by EU law and free trade, and can control immigration rights. There has always been strong European skepticism in the UK, especially as the wave of immigration intensified intra-party tensions and led to a Brexit referendum in2016. Finally, the United Kingdom officially left the EU Single Market and customs union on 31 December 2020.
Broad Measure of Money Supply
Refers to the deposits of enterprises outside the banking system, the deposit of residents and other deposits, including all forms of money that can form purchasing power. TheM2 money supply is often used to measure the strength of monetary policy and future inflationary pressures, and many countries use the M2 money supply as a regulatory target. M2 = M1 + Commercial Bank Time Deposits.
BSD
The legal tender of the Bahamas, code BSD.
Bull
Refers to a market with overall rising prices, a term with an optimistic outlook. It can be used to describe various markets including stocks, bonds, derivatives, foreign exchange and commodities. In a bull market, long positions dominate the market and continue to push up prices.
Bull Trap
A bull trap is a trap for those looking to trade the long side of the market. This will usually break a resistance level and be in an uptrend, and then reverse back to the resistance level and keep falling, thereby trapping the bulls. Once the market falls back below the breakout level, a number of stops get triggered and the market can fall rapidly.
Bull whales in Cryptocurrency
Refers to traders who hold long positions in cryptocurrencies with large capital, which can easily influence the movement of the crypto market.
Bullish Flag Pattern
A bullish flag pattern is when you see a trend go up and then come back down again. It shows that the trend is going to continue. This is a bullish pattern and is very similar to when prices of a stock go up and then come back down. This signal is often used to identify an asset that could be in the middle of a bull run.
Buyer pressure
Buyer pressure is when you see a market at a point where the prices simply keep rising due to buying demand. The most obvious form of buyer pressure is when a market is heavily short sold and the buyers step in due to incredible value of the instrument. This forces prices up so dramatically it can be called a short squeeze.