Accumulation
A range where big buyers quietly build their position after a fall. Price moves sideways while supply is absorbed, then breaks up.
Trading words, explained simply.
52 words you hear in gold and forex, each in two or three plain lines, with a link to the RTC Learn lesson that teaches it properly.
A
Ask and bid
The bid is the price you can sell at, the ask is the price you can buy at. The gap between them is the spread.
B
Balanced price range BPR
The area where a bullish and a bearish fair value gap overlap. Price often reacts strongly when it comes back into it.
Bearish
Expecting price to fall. A bearish market makes lower highs and lower lows.
Break even BE
Moving the stop loss to the entry price after the trade has moved in your favour, so the trade can no longer lose money. In RTC this usually happens after TP1.
Break of structure BOS
Price closes beyond the last swing high in an uptrend, or the last swing low in a downtrend. It confirms the trend is still going.
Breaker block
An order block that failed: price broke through it, and the zone now works in the opposite direction when price comes back.
Bullish
Expecting price to rise. A bullish market makes higher highs and higher lows.
C
Change of character CHoCH
The first break against the current trend, for example the first lower low after a run of higher lows. An early warning that the trend may turn.
Climax
A very wide candle on ultra high volume at the end of a move. Buying climax near a top, selling climax near a bottom: the crowd is all in and the move is tired.
CPI
Consumer Price Index, the main US inflation number, released monthly. A high-impact release that can move gold and the dollar fast.
D
Discount zone
The lower half of a price range, below the 50% level. In an uptrend, RTC looks for buys in discount, not in premium.
Displacement
A strong, fast candle or series of candles that moves price away with force, often leaving a fair value gap behind.
Distribution
A range where big sellers unload their position after a rise. Price moves sideways, demand is used up, then breaks down.
Drawdown
How far the account falls from its highest point before it recovers. Small risk per trade keeps drawdown small.
E
Entry
The price where the trade is opened. In RTC every entry needs a reason from each layer, a stop loss and a target before it is taken.
Equal highs and equal lows
Two or more highs (or lows) at almost the same price. Many stop losses rest just beyond them, so price is often drawn there.
Equilibrium
The 50% level of a price range. It splits the range into premium above and discount below.
F
Fair value gap FVG
A three-candle gap where the wicks of the first and third candle do not overlap. Price often comes back to fill part of it.
FOMC
Federal Open Market Committee, the US Federal Reserve meeting that sets interest rates. The decision and the press conference can move gold sharply.
H
Higher high and higher low HH · HL
The building blocks of an uptrend: each peak is above the last, and each pullback stops above the last one.
I
Inversion fair value gap IFVG
A fair value gap that price closed through. The gap flips: support becomes resistance, or resistance becomes support.
K
Killzone
The busiest hours of a trading session, when the big moves usually start, such as the London open and the New York open.
L
Leverage
Borrowed buying power from the broker, for example 1:100. It makes positions bigger, so it makes losses bigger too. Position size matters more than leverage.
Liquidity
Groups of resting orders, mostly stop losses, above highs and below lows. Big players need this liquidity to fill their own large orders.
Liquidity sweep
Price runs just past a high or low, takes the stops resting there, and quickly comes back inside. Often the start of the real move.
Lot
The size of a trade. One standard lot is 100,000 units of a currency, or 100 ounces of gold. A mini lot is 0.1, a micro lot 0.01.
M
Margin
The part of your balance the broker holds to keep a trade open. If the account falls too low, the broker can close trades (a margin call).
Market structure
The pattern of highs and lows that shows the trend: higher highs and higher lows up, lower highs and lower lows down, or a range.
Midnight open
The opening price of the new trading day at New York midnight. Price above it leans one way, below it the other; it is a level RTC marks every day.
N
NFP
Non-Farm Payrolls, the US jobs report, usually on the first Friday of the month. One of the biggest movers of gold and the dollar.
No demand and no supply
VSA signals: a narrow up candle on low volume (no demand) shows weak buying; a narrow down candle on low volume (no supply) shows weak selling.
O
Optimal trade entry OTE
The 62% to 79% retracement of a move, measured with Fibonacci. A pullback into this area gives the best price for an entry in the trend.
Order block OB
The last opposite candle before a strong move that broke structure. It marks where big orders were placed, and price often reacts there again.
P
Pip
The standard step of price movement. On most currency pairs it is 0.0001. On gold (XAUUSD) RTC counts 0.10 as one pip, so a move from 2650.00 to 2651.00 is 10 pips.
Position size
How many lots to trade so that hitting the stop loss costs only your planned risk, for example 1% of the account.
PPI
Producer Price Index, US inflation at the factory level. A high-impact release that often moves gold together with CPI.
Premium zone
The upper half of a price range, above the 50% level. In a downtrend, RTC looks for sells in premium, not in discount.
Q
Quasimodo QML
A reversal pattern: a higher high is followed by a lower low that breaks structure, and price returns to the left shoulder level to reverse.
R
Risk to reward R:R
What you can win compared with what you risk. With 1 : 2, a winning trade makes twice what a losing trade costs.
S
Session
The trading day is split into the Asian, London and New York sessions. Gold moves most in London and New York, and in the hours they overlap.
Spread
The difference between the buy (ask) and sell (bid) price. It is a cost on every trade and widens around big news.
Spring
In Wyckoff, a quick drop below the bottom of an accumulation range that fails and snaps back. It traps sellers before the move up.
Stop hunt
A fast move that triggers the stop losses of many traders, then turns. It looks like a breakout but is a trap.
Stop loss SL
The price where a losing trade closes automatically. It is set before the trade, never moved further away, and decides the position size.
Stopping volume
Very high volume on a down move with a close off the lows. Big buyers are stepping in and stopping the fall.
Swing failure pattern SFP
A candle wicks beyond a swing high or low but closes back inside. The breakout failed, and price often reverses.
T
Take profit TP
The target where a winning trade closes. RTC trades usually have TP1 and TP2: part is closed at TP1 and the stop moves to break even.
U
Upthrust UTAD
In Wyckoff, a push above the top of a distribution range that fails and falls back. It traps buyers before the move down.
V
Volume spread analysis VSA
Reading the volume and the size (spread) of each candle together, to see whether big players are buying or selling behind the move.
W
Wyckoff method
A way of reading markets through accumulation and distribution ranges and the events inside them, made by Richard Wyckoff a century ago.
X
XAUUSD
The symbol for gold priced in US dollars, the main market RTC trades and teaches. Gold reacts strongly to the dollar, interest rates and US news.
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Know the words. Now learn the method.
19 free lessons in RTC Learn, in course order, from risk to Wyckoff.
Educational only, not financial advice. Signals are examples to study. Trading gold and forex carries high risk; trade your own plan and risk 1% or less. Past results do not promise future results.