Glossary

Words that get abused in trading

Short, honest definitions. Each entry says what the number hides, not just what it means.

• Verified track record

  A performance history whose numbers can be independently checked, not just claimed.

• Drawdown

  The fall from a portfolio's peak to its lowest point after that peak.

• CAGR

  Compound annual growth rate: the smoothed yearly return over a period.

• Copy trading

  Automatically replicating another trader's positions in your own account.

• Survivorship bias

  The distortion created when failed entities silently vanish from a dataset.

• Hash chain

  A sequence of cryptographic hashes where each entry commits to all history before it.

• Append-only record

  Storage where data can be added but never edited or deleted.

• Paper trading

  Trading with simulated money through a real broker interface.

• Win rate

  The percentage of trades that close profitable.

• Leverage

  Trading with borrowed money to amplify position size.

• Swing trading

  Holding positions for days, between day trading and investing.

• Risk per trade

  The fraction of the account a single losing trade is allowed to cost.