Forex Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the most common forex and CFD terms: spread, pip, leverage, margin, swap and more.
Risk warning. Leveraged forex trading carries high risk and, in Türkiye, is subject to SPK regulation (1:10 leverage cap, ~50,000 TRY margin). This content is not investment advice; user statements belong to their authors.
- Forex
- Foreign exchange — the global market where currency pairs (e.g. EUR/USD, USD/TRY) are traded.
- Spread
- The gap between the bid and ask price of a currency pair; one of a broker’s core trading costs.
- Pip
- The smallest standard price move in a currency pair; on most pairs the fourth decimal (0.0001).
- Leverage
- Opening a larger position with a small margin. It magnifies losses as much as gains; the SPK caps leverage at 1:10 in Türkiye.
- Margin
- The amount reserved in your account to open and maintain a leveraged position.
- Margin Call
- When losses drop your margin below a threshold and the broker asks for more funds or closes the position.
- Swap
- The interest-differential cost or credit of holding a position overnight.
- Lot
- The unit of trade size. A standard lot is 100,000 units; mini 10,000, micro 1,000.
- Slippage
- When an order executes at a different price than expected; common during high volatility.
- Commission
- A fixed per-trade fee charged in addition to the spread on some account types.
- CFD
- A leveraged derivative to trade an asset’s price difference without owning the underlying asset.
- Stop-Loss
- An order that auto-closes a position at a set price to cap losses.
- Take-Profit
- An order that auto-closes a position at a target price to lock in profit.
- MetaTrader (MT4/MT5)
- The most widely used forex/CFD trading platforms; offer charting, indicators and automated trading (EAs).
- SPK
- The Capital Markets Board of Türkiye — regulates and supervises capital markets, including forex.