Trading & Market Structure
Crypto trading borrows most of its vocabulary from traditional markets, but the 24/7 schedule, fragmented liquidity across dozens of venues, and on-chain settlement layer change how familiar ideas actually play out. These terms cover order flow, risk management, and the market-structure concepts Stingray surfaces in alerts and dashboards.
ArbitrageArbitrage is the practice of buying and selling the same asset at roughly the same time on different venues to capture a price gap.BacktestA backtest is a replay of a trading rule against historical market data to see when it would have fired and what happened afterward.BearishBearish describes a view or market condition expecting prices to fall.BullishBullish describes a view, position, or market condition that expects prices to rise.Call OptionA call option gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy an asset at a specified strike price before expiry.CandlestickA candlestick is a single bar on a price chart representing the open, high, low, and close prices for a given time interval.Funding RateThe funding rate is a periodic payment between long and short holders of a perpetual futures contract, designed to keep the perp's price anchored to spot.FuturesFutures are contracts to buy or sell an asset at a future date for a price locked in today.HedgingHedging is opening a position specifically to offset downside risk in another position.LeverageLeverage is using borrowed capital to amplify position size beyond your own collateral.LiquidationLiquidation is the forced closure of a leveraged position when its margin falls below the exchange's maintenance requirement.Long PositionA long position profits when the asset's price rises.Look-Ahead BiasLook-ahead bias occurs when a historical test uses information that was unavailable at the time of a simulated decision.Margin CallA margin call is a demand from an exchange or lender to post additional collateral when a leveraged position's margin falls below the maintenance requirement.Margin TradingMargin trading is any trade funded in part with borrowed capital.Market CapMarket cap is the total value of an asset's circulating supply, calculated as current price × circulating supply.Market RegimeA market regime is a period when trading conditions share a recognizable pattern, such as rising or falling prices, high or low volatility, or deep or thin l…MEVMEV (maximal extractable value) is the profit a block producer can capture by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions within a block.Open InterestOpen interest is the total notional value of outstanding futures or options contracts — each long position has a matching short, and both count toward OI.Order BookAn order book is the real-time list of buy (bid) and sell (ask) orders for an asset, grouped by price level.Perpetual FuturesPerpetual futures are derivative contracts with no expiry date.Prediction MarketA prediction market lets participants trade contracts tied to future events, such as elections, policy decisions, economic releases, or protocol outcomes.Put OptionA put option gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell an asset at a specified strike price before expiry.Short SellingShort selling is a trade that profits when the asset's price falls.SlippageSlippage is the difference between the expected price of a trade and the price you actually get.Spot TradingSpot trading is the direct exchange of one asset for another at the current market price, with immediate settlement.Systematic TradingSystematic trading uses written, repeatable rules to decide when a market condition should trigger review, an alert, or a trade decision.Trading StrategyA trading strategy is a repeatable rule for deciding when to observe, alert, enter, reduce, or exit a position.VolatilityVolatility measures how much an asset's price moves, typically annualized and expressed as a standard deviation.