Trading terminal
Family V · Platforms
Not to be confused with trading signal, trading desk, trading robot.
Trading terminal is the generic name for the client software through which an order is placed and tracked. It may be a desktop program, a browser page or a mobile app, and it usually combines order entry, a position blotter, charts and a quote feed. The terminal is the interface; execution and custody remain with the broker or exchange it connects to.[1]
What a terminal contains
A terminal typically provides:
- an order ticket with market, limit and stop order types;
- a live position and order blotter;
- price charts and a watchlist;
- account balance, margin and buying-power figures;
- connection settings for one or more brokers or data feeds.
Features vary by provider and by market. Some terminals are supplied by a broker and connect only to that broker; others are broker-neutral and can be configured with several connections.
Worked example: order entry and margin
The terminal shows the margin requirement before the order is sent. The rate itself is set by the broker or regulator and differs between markets and instruments.
Terminal versus platform
The two words overlap and are often used interchangeably. In practice, a trading platform is the broader system that includes execution, risk checks and back-office functions, while the terminal is the part the trader sees and operates. A broker may run one platform and offer several terminals for it.
Often confused with
- trading signal
- A trading signal is a notification that a specific financial instrument should be bought or sold, often including an entry price, stop-loss and take-profit, generated by human analysis or an automated system and distributed through a platform, app or messaging channel.
- trading desk
- A trading desk is an organisational unit within a financial firm where staff execute, monitor and manage orders and positions, either for the firm's own account or on behalf of clients.
- trading robot
- A trading robot is software that automatically generates and submits orders to a trading venue according to a predefined algorithm, without requiring manual confirmation for each trade.
See also
References
- ↑ MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 terminal documentation; cTrader order window documentation. Field names and defaults vary between builds and between brokers.