The Prop Trader's Chronicles: Short-Term Proprietary Trading Strategies for Both Bull and Bear Markets

Glossary

add liquidity   The act of placing a nonmarketable order, which is any limit buy order with a limit price less than the best offer, or any limit sell order with a limit price greater than the best bid.

AMEX—American Stock Exchange   Now called NYSE Amex Equities after its acquisition by the NYSE Euronext parent company. It was originally known as the New York Curb Exchange prior to 1953.

Anvil   A popular trading platform used by many proprietary trading firms. It has been acquired by Lightspeed, which has since focused on its direct access retail brokerage operations.

API—application programming interface   An API allows programmers to access the interface of a piece of software using other software. APIs typically allow the same functions as the regular user interface except the software-based user obviously does not require the visual aspects of the interface. Instead, the functions of the software are offered for access programmatically. For example, a programming savvy trader might design a C++ or Visual Basic-based application that interfaces with the API of Sterling Trader Pro (a trading platform that can also be used to trade manually through its normal graphical user interface).

arbitrage   The act of simultaneously buying and selling instruments, typically for a risk-free profit. True arbitrage involves doing so with instruments with prices derived from the market value of the same or closely related assets, which minimizes any real market risk, though many ...