Reference
Gold Trading Glossary: 30 Terms Every Trader Should Know
A quick reference for the words you'll see on the DOS GOLD dashboard and in trading in general.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ask | The lowest price a seller will accept right now |
| Bid | The highest price a buyer will pay right now |
| Spread | The gap between bid and ask, a cost of trading |
| XAUUSD | Symbol for spot gold priced in US dollars |
| GC | COMEX gold futures, 100 troy ounces per contract |
| Troy ounce | 31.1035 grams, the standard unit for gold |
| Lot | A standard trade size. 1 lot of XAUUSD is usually 100 oz |
| Leverage | Borrowed exposure that makes gains and losses bigger |
| Margin | The deposit needed to hold a leveraged position |
| Margin call | Warning that your account is too low to hold your positions |
| Long | A position that profits if the price rises |
| Short | A position that profits if the price falls |
| Entry | The price where you open a trade |
| SL (stop loss) | An order that closes a losing trade at a set price |
| TP (take profit) | An order that closes a winning trade at a set price |
| Breakeven | Moving the stop to the entry price so the trade can't lose |
| Slippage | Getting filled at a worse price than expected, common in fast markets |
| Gap | A jump in price with no trading in between, often after weekends |
| Volume | How much was traded in a period |
| Open interest | How many futures contracts are still open |
| Order book | The list of waiting buy and sell orders at each price |
| Order wall | An unusually large order at one price level |
| Liquidity | How easily you can trade without moving the price |
| Volatility | How much and how fast the price moves |
| Support | A price area where buying has tended to stop falls |
| Resistance | A price area where selling has tended to stop rallies |
| Safe haven | An asset people buy when they are afraid, like gold |
| DXY | The US Dollar Index, the dollar against major currencies |
| FOMC | The Fed committee that sets US interest rates |
| NFP | Non-Farm Payrolls, the monthly US jobs report |