Glossary

Account funding is the process of transferring money into an investment or brokerage account so you can begin buying assets or trading.

A periodic summary from your broker or bank showing your holdings, transactions, cash balances, and account activity over a set time frame.

An asset is anything of value that an individual or business owns, which can potentially generate income or grow in worth over time.

Asset allocation is the process of dividing an investment portfolio across different asset types, such as stocks, bonds, and cash, to balance potential return against risk.

A benchmark is a standard, usually a market index, used to compare and evaluate the performance of an investment, fund, or portfolio.

The bid is the highest price buyers are currently willing to pay for an asset, and the ask is the lowest price sellers are willing to accept. The difference between them is the spread, a core trading cost.

A blockchain is a shared digital ledger that records transactions in linked, time-stamped blocks, maintained by a network of computers rather than a single central authority.

A blue-chip stock is a share of a large, well-established company with a long track record of stable operations, reliable earnings, and often consistent dividend payments.

A bond is a loan an investor makes to a government or company in exchange for regular interest payments and the return of the original amount at a set future date.

A bond ETF is an exchange-traded fund that holds a basket of bonds and trades on a stock exchange like a share, giving investors diversified fixed-income exposure in a single instrument.

A bond fund pools money from many investors to buy a diversified portfolio of bonds, paying out interest income while its share price fluctuates with interest rates and credit conditions.

A broker regulator is an authority that oversees how brokerage firms operate, setting rules for licensing, conduct, and the handling of client money.

A broker scam is a fraudulent scheme in which an entity poses as a legitimate brokerage to take investors' money, often using fake platforms, pressure tactics, or false promises of guaranteed returns.

A brokerage account is an investment account you open with a broker to buy, hold, and sell assets such as stocks, ETFs, and bonds.

A call option is a contract giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase an underlying asset at a set strike price before or at expiration, in exchange for a premium.

A capital gain is the profit you make when you sell an asset for more than you paid for it.

A brokerage account where you can only buy investments using money you have already deposited, with no borrowing. Trades settle from your own available cash.

Cash flow is the movement of money into and out of a business, investment, or personal account over a specific period, showing whether more cash is coming in than going out.

A contract for difference (CFD) is a derivative that pays the difference in an asset's price between opening and closing a position, without owning the underlying asset.

The practice of keeping customer funds in separate accounts from a company's own operating money, so client assets are identifiable and not used for the firm's business expenses.

Cold storage is a way of holding cryptocurrency by keeping the private keys completely offline, reducing exposure to hacking, phishing, and exchange failures.

Compound interest is the process of earning returns not only on your original money but also on the returns that money has already generated, causing balances to grow at an accelerating pace over time.

A corporate bond is a debt security issued by a company to raise money, in which the issuer promises to pay interest and repay the principal at maturity.

Correlation measures how two assets move in relation to each other, ranging from -1 (opposite directions) to +1 (same direction), and is a core input for diversification decisions.