Tooling and execution

Algorithmic trading

Trading decisions and execution driven by code rather than by a person. It covers everything from a single automated entry rule to a fully systematic strategy running unattended.

API trading

Placing and managing orders programmatically through an interface rather than by hand. It is how custom systems, risk monitors, journals and analytics tools connect to an account, and it carries the same rules as manual trading.

Copy trading

Replicating trades from one account to another automatically. Copying between your own accounts is a scaling tool; copying another person's trades, or letting them trade yours, is a different activity entirely.

Expert advisor

A program that places trades automatically according to coded rules. It executes a strategy without a trader present, which removes hesitation and removes judgement at the same time.

High-frequency trading

Automated trading at very high order rates and very short holding periods, measured in seconds or less. It depends on infrastructure rather than analysis, and it is not what a retail prop account is built for.

Latency

The delay between an action and its effect - an order leaving your machine and reaching the venue, or a price leaving the venue and reaching your screen. Measured in milliseconds.

Latency arbitrage

Trading on a price that is known to be stale because a faster feed has already moved. It profits from a delay in the environment rather than from any view about the market, and it is prohibited industry-wide.

Tick scalping

Taking positions for a handful of ticks at a time, often held for seconds. Where the profit comes from a pricing lag rather than a market view, firms treat it as exploiting the environment.

Trade copier

Software that mirrors orders from a source account to one or more destination accounts, scaling position size to each. It is the mechanism behind copy trading and multi-account management.

VPS

A rented always-on server used to run trading software continuously. It keeps an automated strategy running through a local power cut, a lost connection or a closed laptop.