Recurring Functions

P/L

P/L is a short form for profit/loss. It tracks the amount of profit or loss that has occurred in a particular account. If it is a Forex account, then the P/L will display the Profit or Loss for the entire the time the account has existed. For a futures account, the P/L will display for that day.

The profit/loss ratio shows the track record of the user in generating profits over
losses. The profit/loss ratio is the average profit on winning trades divided by the
average loss on losing trades over a specific time period.

Similarly, you will see displays of Open P/L in some widgets. This is similar to P/L, but instead it is only calculating your Profit or Loss for your open positions. It will count up the current profit and loss totals for all your positions, even though this profit or loss is not realized until the position has closed.

Symbol

A symbol is an asset such as a commodity, index, or currency pair.

These symbols can be seen in many widgets. Wherever you see a downward arrow in a widget, click it to open a dropdown list. This will show the list of all assets thats are available. You may click the asset you are interested in to select which asset the widget will display. The widgets may also display different asset symbols

You can type in the name or code of the asset to find it. If you begin your search with a / then you will search only exact matches for asset codes.

Flags

Flags are markers for your orders. There are four different flags that you can choose from when creating an order. The two most popular types can be toggled as defaults flags on the bottom left of the Chart widget. These are Day and GTC. All 4 flag options are available in the Order widget, for when you are creating a new order. These are available by clicking on Flags, on the right side of the Order widget.

Day:

This flag is the most commonly seen for most day traders. It is the default flag setting in the platform. This flag tells the order to try to fill for the trading day, and then delete it at the end of trading if it has not been filled. Forex trading ends at 5pm EST. Day orders in Futures end when the exchange (up to 4) that the order is placed in closes.

GTC:

This name of this flag is short for Good Til Canceled. Along with Day, this order can be set as the default flag with the toggle in the Chart widget. With this flag, the order will stay open until you manually delete it or its filled. Be careful with this flag so you aren't surprised by an order you have forgotten about.

Fill or Kill:

Fill or Kill is a flag that you can set on an order for a quick trade. This flag will cause the order that you create to fill instantly. If the order cannot be filled completely and immediately, it will be deleted. Even if the order can fill partially, it will still be deleted because it cannot be filled fully.

Immediate or Cancel:

The Immediate or Cancel flag is similar to a Fill or Kill flag. This flag will cause the order to fill as much of the quantity you order as possible, instantly. Any quantity that cannot be filled right away will be canceled.

Quantity

Quantity of lots/contracts can be set in one of two ways.

The first is in the Order form, on the left side. It has some common quantities in a dropdown list, or you can type in your own amount. If it is a buy order, it will be shown as a positive number. If it is a sell order, it will show as a negative number. If you click the blue Buy button, it will set the quantity as a positive. If you click the red Sell button, it will set the quantity to a negative.

The second way to set the quantity is inside of Widgets. Widgets such as the Chart and the Depth & Sales have a quantity selection function on the left. Like the Order form, the quantity selector in these widgets has common amounts that a trader might choose. It also has a calculator to type in or calculate the amount of contracts/lots you want to trade.

Buy

In widgets such as the Chart and Depth & Sales, you will see a set of three blue buttons.
There is a larger one labeled Buy Market. It allows you to open an order, prefilled to buy an asset at the current price in the market.

The two smaller buttons below this are similar to Buy Market. They will open an Order form prefilled to buy at the current Bid and Ask prices.

Sell

In widgets such as the Chart and Depth & Sales, you will see a set of three red buttons.
There is a larger one labeled Sell Market. It allows you to open an order, prefilled to sell an asset at the current price in the market.

The two smaller buttons below this are similar to Sell Market. They will open an Order form prefilled to sell at the current Bid and Ask prices.

Prices

You will see sets of prices in certain widgets. These widgets are Chart, Time and Sales, Depth & Sales and Reconstructed Tape. These widgets will show you three prices. You can see the Last Price, Bid, and Ask. The Last Price is the current price in the market. Below this price you can also see the percentage price change since the market opened. It will be colored red for a lower price than opening, and blue for a higher price.

The Bid and Ask prices are the prices on either side of the market price. The Bid price is the highest price that a buyer will pay. The Ask price is the lowest point that a seller will take.

In addition to this, you can also see the quantities of these Bids and Ask, shown below the prices. This allows you to see how strong each of these levels are, and the rate at which they are changing.