Contract specifications

A 'ticker' is a symbol used to identify a particular company or asset on a publicly traded market. Tickers are usually simple abbreviations and pretty easy to distinguish. A good example is the EURUSD, which refers to the Euro - US Dollar currency pair. You'll soon get familiar with tickers and learn to identify the assets you're most interested in.

A spread is the difference between the ask price (the price a trader is willing to buy a currency pair for) and the bid price (the price that a trader is willing to sell a currency pair at). It can also be called the 'cost of trading'.

A 'minimum spread' is the lowest possible amount that the trade could cost, being the smallest difference between the ask and bid prices.

Financial instruments are traded in lots. Lots represent the amount of the asset you're buying or selling. There are three most common types of lots - standard, mini and micro. Minimum lot sizes will be determined by trading instrument and type of trade.

A swap is the interest you either earn or pay for a trade you keep open overnight. There are two types. Swap short for keeping short positions open overnight, and Swap long for keeping long positions open overnight. The amount of interest paid or due varies by trading instrument and other factors.

Pip is short for 'point in price' and is the measure of change in a currency pair, based on the number of decimal places used to indicate the price. It could also be referred to as 'percentage in point' and 'price interest point'. It's a standardised unit used to show the change in value between a currency pair.