TRG Glossary Flashcards
Absorption
The situation when market orders (aggressive trades that consume liquidity of passive resting limit orders) are unable to consume the liquidity at a given price and thus price does not move beyond the level where the passive resting limit orders are absorbing the aggressive market orders.
A-K trade
Ace-King trade, as in a Texas holdem poker game, the best initial hand/best quality ranking of a trade setup. Alternatively, some members use scales of 1-5, A-F, 5 stars, etc.
Auction
Markets are auctions. Imagine an auction on eBay; price goes up when as bid it up, except in financial markets price can go down as well as sellers push bids down
Bubba
A “Docism” (saying of Doc’s); finding YOUR Bubba – it’s your personally developed trade process and setup. Your Bubba is something unique to you and is ever evolving.
Cat stop
Catastrophic Stop Loss. A cat stop is a safe guard against loss of connection to the trade server; it is not related to the exit of your trade setup.
Combine
A term coined by TopStepTrader for an evaluation that can result in using their funds in exchange for a profit share. Other firms call it different things, e.g. evaluation, Gauntlet, etc
CT
Counter Trend trade, as in fading (selling) a move up.
Delta
Although a general math term for ‘difference’, in order flow analysis it is typically used to describe the difference in quantity of contracts bought and sold using market orders, or more simply whether trades are executing on the buy or sell side of the tape.
DOM
Depth Of Market is trading visualization that shows the number of contracts available to buy or sell a security or currency at different prices at a given moment in time. DOM, also known as the order book, is essentially a measure of the advertised supply and demand for a particular underlying
Ebb & flow
Price action that has a rhythm up and down in a range for a period of time. Orderly, not chaotic
ECON
Economic impact
Edge/Ledge:
Edges are top or bottom of a volume profile. Ledge is the edge of a volume profile for a particular session.
ETH
Extended Trading Hours. The ‘overnight’ (ON, ‘Globex’ in CME terminology) session for a given contract that trades for an extended period beyond RTH: Regular Trading Hou
Exhaustion
Shorthand for the situation where we are running out of aggressive buyers or sellers
FHH/L
First Hour High or Low of Regular Trading Hours aka IB Range(IB: Initial Balance, aka IB Range aka FHH/L)
FLIP
occurs typically after a strong run up or down and in the next session ‘flips’ in the opposite direction with strong conviction. Often referred to as ON FLIP or Over Night FLIP.
FLOW
Like Chi, or water, the energy and activity of your Process that puts you in the best state of mind and body to execute your trading strategies. Also can refer to the energy in the market.
FOMO
Fear Of Missing Out (leads to overtrading or taking less than A-K trades)
Footprint
A type of chart that exposes volume-related information at each price level, e.g. the quantity of contracts bought and sold using market orders; the total volume traded at each price level; the net difference between buy and sell market orders. It is multi-dimensional in nature, and can provide an trader with more information for analysis, beyond just the security’s price.
FURU
Fake Guru – this is a NO FURU zone.
GEO
Geo-political
HMomo
High Momentum
HVReversal
High Volume Reversal – characterized by a spike in volume at a significant price reversal.
HVN
HVN: High Volume Node – an area of high volume (a “bulge”) on the volume profile. Indicates many traders interested in doing business at this price area.
Inflection point
Inflection points (IP) are areas of previous interest. For example, a previous day’s high or low or an edge that has held once or twice before. They are areas of interest that we look for potential places to watch and look for a trade opportunity.
IB
Initial Balance, aka IB Range aka FHH/L is the price range the first hour’s RTH trading session – a concept from Market Profile. Initial Balance may help define the context of the trading day. (see also Opening Range
LRC
Linear Regression Channel – the 2 standard deviation range of price over a given period used to provide context to the range of prices that a market has during this period. IT IS NOT A TREND OR A CHANNEL. It does not indicate direction, only an indication of what is relatively high and low over this period. Useful for us in shorter time frames (10, 15 or 20 sec charts) especially in fast moving/high volatility markets to help see the action in the DOM more clearly.
Market Microstructure:
A view of the market that considers the order flow (the volume of market orders traded) at each price level.
Market Structure
A view of the market defined by time (e.g. RTH/ETH sessions) combined with the price boundaries (High; Low; Open; Close) for these sessions. This can also take into account concepts from Market Profile, e.g. high/low prices achieved during fixed time periods such as the first hour of RTH trading (“Initial Balance”).
Mechanical
We like to take the emotion out of trading. Mechanical does not mean inflexible. It means you’ve made decisions ahead of time and follow a Process without emotion
Motleys/Motley Crew
A nick name given to the group that started with Doc towards the end of 2019 and then continued in a smaller, more intensive group in Jan 2020 before combining with the TRG family. The name comes from a specialized group of highly successful IBM sales engineers.
OF
Order Flow. The bid/ask or buy/sell orders and trades in real time. Any method of monitoring the markets that incorporates nothing more than price, time, and volume.
1TD
One tick drill – A simple drill making one tick and doing so without unnecessary risk. The purpose of the drill is to get good entries.
Opening Range
We focus on two, the Open 5 minute range (Open5a/b) and the first hour high/low range (FHH/L). These ranges are measured from the start of regular trading on the NYSE, i.e. 09:30am Eastern Time (US).
Open 5
The first five minutes of Regular Trading Hours. Open 5a (an HMOMO setup), and Open 5b (trading the extremes of the range that developed during the first 5 +/- minutes).
Outside In/Inside out
Trades taken based on Market Profile structure, FHH/FHL range established. Trading from the outer edges toward the middle or from the middle toward the outer edges.
NEWZ
“News” as in a catalyst that may have an impact on the market. The news itself is irrelevant, it is the reaction that matters.
PA
Price Action
Playbook
Your set of Bubbas or trade setups and ideal environments that you have developed over time that work for YOU.
Price discovery
Times of thinner-than-normal liquidity and erratic price action where the market “discovers” agreed-upon value.
Process
Process: the single most important concept new traders need to learn. Process encompasses your entire approach to trading; including your playbook, setups, preparation, journaling, etc.
Range
When a market trades between certain prices (high/low, or ebb & flow) for a period of time in an orderly manner.
RTH
Regular Trading Hours – the ‘day session’ for a given trading contract. This may be aligned to the underlying instrument (e.g. ES future RTH = NYSE stock exchange trading hours) or the legacy trading pit hours for a given contract.
SLLS
‘stop, look, listen, smell’ (take a few seconds to assess the situation/circumstances)
SOH
Sit On Hands – your default position.
Spr/UpT
Spring/Upthrust. Wykoff term; break out of a price range with volume
Structural scalping
Taking scalp trades based on market structure, as opposed to “video game” scalping short-term price action extremes.
TOD
Time of Day
Unfinished business
When traded volume indicates there is still demand (or supply) at the top (or bottom) of a particular interval bar. By implication there is a price beyond this level where demand (or supply) will run out (exhaust).
Video game scalping
Scalping fast moving price action extremes, as opposed to structural scalping.
