Trading Glossary

Take a look at our list of the financial terms associated with trading and the markets.
Daily Chart

Each candlestick shows the price movement of the day. The daily chart reflects the past momentum changes in commodity prices. 

Dark Pool

A form of private OTC trading, spearheaded by Goldman Sachs in 2005. Buyers and sellers are anonymously paired to trade large shares, and the transaction operation is not transparent, and the transaction details are not disclosed to the public.  

Dawn raid

A dawn raid refers to the practice of buying up a large amount of shares right at the open of the day's trading. The goal of a dawn raid is to amass a large number of shares in a target company by one company to influence a potential takeover of the target.

DAX

Germany's stock index, which combines the stock price performance of Germany's 30 largest companies, is a barometer of the German economy.  

Day Trade

Extremely short-term trading method, generally open a position on the same day, close the position on the same day, and will not hold the position overnight. The advantage of day trading is that there is no need to pay overnight inventory fees, but the corresponding transactions are relatively risky and need to be more sensitive to market fluctuations. 

dead cross

Technical analysis terminology. Some technical indicators have a combination of multiple lines, in which the fast line crosses the slow line downwards to become a dead cross, which means that the indicator accelerates down, often representing a bearish signal. For example, when the fast line of the MACD crosses the slow line, it is a signal that is technically bearish. 

Deflation

Deflation, in contrast to inflation, refers to the process by which the overall price level of a country falls. The faster commodity prices fall, the higher the corresponding deflation rate. Deflation tends to occur in situations such as overcapacity or insufficient demand in countries, as well as a continuous decline in the money supply. Deflation is generally considered to pose a far greater threat to the economy than inflation.

Delivery Time

The time required for delivery agreed upon by the buyer and seller. Because financial institutions need to do compliance investigations, the delivery of cash is often relatively delayed. In the case of the Australian Stock Exchange, the cash delivery of the stock seller is T+2, that is, the cash is obtained two working days after the sale of the stock. These two working days are the delivery period. 

Depreciation

Currency depreciation refers to the decline in the value of one currency against another. For example, the rise of the euro against the US dollar can be called the depreciation of the euro, which is also the appreciation of the US dollar. There are many reasons for the depreciation of currencies, including trade deficits, lower interest rates, inflation, and so on. 

Depression

Refers to a large-scale recession that lasts for a long time. There is no precise definition of an economic depression, with some defining a decline in real GDP of more than10 per cent as a depression, while others define a recession that lasts for several years as a depression.  

Derivative

The market derived from securities, foreign exchange, and commodities is also a tradeable  market for financial derivatives. Derivatives markets usually use margin and  leverage to track price movements and trade in exchange contracts with interest rates, exchange rates, commodity prices, and stock prices as the underlying assets. CFDs are one of the products in the derivative market. 

Derivatives

A financial derivative is a financial commodity whose value comes from the price of the underlying asset in question. In general, traders use financial derivatives as a tool to speculate or hedge against future price movements of an asset. Regardless of whether the market rises or falls, traders do not need to buy the asset itself. When establishing a position in a financial derivative instrument, since there is no physical asset exchange, the parties generally execute transactions in the form of a contract, and the contract can be traded over the counter or on the exchange. Investors can use derivatives to invest in a wide range of related assets, including foreign exchange, stocks, indices, bonds, and commodities.  

Descending Trend Line

For investors to draw a straight line from the upper left corner to the lower right corner of the price trend, the composition of the downtrend line needs to be at least two obvious highs connected, if the downtrend line connects the more highs, it can be considered that the stronger the effectiveness of this downtrend line, the more it has the effect of resistance when the price rises to the trend line position. 

Descending Triangle

A descending triangle is a short-term technical indicator used in technical analysis to determine the trend in a stock. A descending triangle shows that a price is likely to move lower, but there are often additional clues indicating whether the price will go up after the downward trend, which is called a reaction, or if the price will continue its move downward, which is called a continuation.  

Direct Quote 

Refers to the measurement of how much local currency is due based on a certain unit of foreign currency. 

Discretionary Trading

A trading style, compared with systematic trading, whether subjective trading can continue to trade stable profits depends on the trader's own experience, understanding and unique view of the market. Novice traders who are generally new to the market are subjective traders. 

Divergence

A term in technical analysis that indicates that the price of a commodity is the opposite of the trend of a certain technical indicator/data, and is used to determine whether the trend momentum has slowed down and a reversal trend may occur. For example, if the bar high of the MACD continues to fall, and the high point of the commodity price continues to rise, it is a divergent trend, which is generally used as a signal for the commodity price to peak. 

Dividend Yield Ratio

Dividend yield refers to the ratio between dividends and the initial share price. For example, when a company announces an annual dividend, dividing the dividend per share by the share price at the beginning of the year is the dividend yield. The dividend yield is also a type of investment yield and can be used as a reference standard for selecting stocks. It is generally used to select or evaluate mature stocks, although dividend yields can generally not be used to directly determine the valuation of stock prices. 

Dogecoin

Dogecoin is an altcoin that emerged in 2013 and was formed by two talented software engineers who wanted to create a payment system as a ‘joke’. After Dogecoin was released on Twitter, and gained popularity on Reddit, its price rocketed to be the seventh largest cryptocurrency in the world. Despite the price falling rapidly, the underlying technology allows a financial transaction to be confirmed within 1 minute as opposed to nearly 10 minutes with Bitcoin.

Doji

When a single candlestick pattern indicates that the opening price is almost the same as the closing price, but there are candlesticks with upper and lower shadows. This pattern means that both bulls and bears have not been able to gain a decisive advantage after the market close, so although the price has risen or fallen, it has finally closed near the flat. Generally, when this pattern occurs, it indicates that the price movement may stagnate in the short term, and a Doji may appear in the case of trend continuation or reversal.

Double Bottom

One of the classic candlestick reversal patterns. After the price continues to fall to a certain stage, two depressions are formed, and the trading volume shows a decrease, reflecting the meaning of price bottoming. The horizontal line of the highest point between the two bottoms becomes the bottom neckline, and when the K line rises below the neckline position, the double bottom pattern is established, releasing the price bottom reversal signal. 

Double Pay Cryptocurrency 

A digital currency may have a failing model or possibility that a cryptocurrency has been spent more than twice. This could be due to a delay in payment, or an error on the system. This is the risk the digital currency payment system needs to avoid to build trust with the millions of users on the network. 

Double Top

One of the classic candlestick reversal patterns. After the price continues to rise to a certain stage, two peaks are formed, and the trading volume is decreasing, reflecting the meaning of price peaking. The horizontal line of the lowest point between the two peaks becomes the head neckline, and when the candlestick falls below this neckline position, the double top pattern is established, releasing a price reversal signal. 

Dove

Refers to the policy direction of officials, divided into hawks and doves. Policy easing is generally referred to as dovish, with representative officials supporting lower interest rates and higher inflation; This often means a depreciation of the national currency and an appreciation of risk assets. 

Dow Jones Industrial Average

A stock market index created by Charles Dow and listed in the United States30Weighted income from the share price of a well-known company. Although there is the word "industrial" in the index, in fact many of the constituent stocks in the index are no longer related to industry. Johnson & Johnson, Apple, Intel, Procter & Gamble and other companies are all constituent stocks of the Dow. The Dow, along with the S&P and NASDAQ, has become the three major stock indexes in the United States. 

Dow Theory

Founded by Charles Dow, Dow theory holds that markets move forward in the form of trends, and that a change in a trend means a change in the market situation. Dow theory contains three core ideas: the principle of triple motion, the principle of mutual verification, and the principle of speculation. 

Downtrend  

A down trend is when the value of stocks declines rapidly. Down trends can come from a change in the economy, a change in the political or economic environment, or in a company's business. For example, a decrease in sales can be caused by a poor economy or a bad political situation. A change in the economy may also lead to a change in the stock market; for example, if the economy is doing poorly, but a company does well, the stock market would also do well.  

Dragonfly doji candlestick pattern 

The Dragonfly doji candlestick pattern is the most basic of all candlesticks and can be used as a starting point for developing more complex patterns. The Dragonfly Doji is a type of Japanese candlestick pattern consisting of a long and a short, with an open, a low, and a close. The open and low may be the same, or the low may be lower than the open, or the open may be lower than the low. The candlesticks may be filled, half-filled, or unfilled. The pattern is also known as a "long" pattern or "candle with a long tail."

Drawdown

Drawdown is a term used to describe the temporary correction in the market. When prices rise quickly and fall back down to their previous positions, this is referred to as a drawdown. Sometimes prices move in one direction and then go in the other direction, a drawdown.

Drawdown

DD usually refers to the percentage loss of a trading account from highs to lows over a specific period of time.  For example, when the balance of a trading account drops from 10,000 to 9,000, then DD=9,000/10,000-1*100%=10%.  

Durable Goods Orders

Durable Goods Orders is a monthly survey by the US Census Bureau which focuses on the current industrial activity, providing insights into the supply chain, helping investors make better decisions.

Dust Transaction

Refers to a very small amount of Bitcoin transactions, which may be worth only $0.00001, and is often used for de-blockchain cyber attacks. The attackers clogged the entire network by sending many of these small amounts of transactions. Or send dust bitcoins to a designated account and steal information about that account when the account makes a payment.