Glossary

Stock Trader
Individuals or firms trading equity (stock) markets as their principal capacity are called stock traders. Stock traders usually try to profit from short-term price volatility with trades lasting anywhere from several seconds to several weeks.

Forex
The foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest market in the world, in terms of cash value traded, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions.

Arbitrage
Arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a price differential between two or more markets: a combination of matching deals are struck that capitalize upon the imbalance, the profit being the difference between the market prices.

Derivatives
In finance, a derivative is a financial instrument that is derived from an underlying asset's value; rather than trade or exchange the asset itself, market participants enter into an agreement to exchange money, assets or some other value at some future date based on the underlying asset. Examples of assets could be anything from bars of gold, to a stock, or even an interest rate. A simple example is a futures contract: an agreement to exchange the underlying asset (or equivalent cash flows) at a future date. The exact terms of the derivative (the payments between the counterparties) depend on, but may or may not exactly correspond to, the behaviour or performance of the underlying asset.

Futures
In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract, traded on a futures exchange, to buy or sell a certain underlying instrument at a certain date in the future, at a specified price. The future date is called the delivery date or final settlement date. The pre-set price is called the futures price. The price of the underlying asset on the delivery date is called the settlement price. The settlement price, normally, converges towards the futures price on the delivery date.

Options
In finance options are types of derivative contracts, including call options and put options, where the future payoffs to the buyer and seller of the contract are determined by the price of another security, such as a common stock. More specifically, a call option is an agreement in which the buyer (holder) has the right (but not the obligation) to exercise by buying an asset at a set price (strike price) on (for a European style option) or not later than (for an American style option) a future date (the exercise date or expiration); and the seller (writer) has the obligation to honor the terms of the contract. A put option is an agreement in which the buyer has the right (but not the obligation) to exercise by selling an asset at the strike price on or before a future date; and the seller has the obligation to honor the terms of the contract.