The majority of concepts utilised on Bitfinex are widely applicable to financial markets in general. Understanding the languages used will assist you in grasping trading principles more quickly. So, this list might serve as a starting point for navigating the Bitfinex trading platform.
Bitfinex Crypto Glossary
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Airdrop
Distribution of a cryptocurrency token or coin, typically for free, to many wallet addresses.
Auto-renew
A feature that allows automatic renewal on lending orders as they expire.
Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
The simple annual rate charged for borrowing or earned for lending. It is computed as the daily (term) rate multiplied by the number of days (term) in a year.
Note: The APR does not include compounding interest because it is a simple rate.
API
The abbreviation for Application Programming Interface, which allows data to be transmitted from one software program to another.
Ask (Order/Funding Book)
An Ask is an active sell order in the order book.
Balance
The amount of currency held in an account.
Base Price
The breakeven price of a position.
Bid (Order/Funding Book)
An active buy order in the order book or an active order to borrow in the funding book.
Blockchain
A system in which a record of transactions made in cryptocurrency is maintained across computers linked in a peer-to-peer network.
Borrower
Any user borrowing funds from another user on the platform.
Central Limit Order Book (CLOB)
A centralised database of limit orders. It is a transparent system that prioritises customer orders (such as bids and asks) based on their price, time, and priority.
Claim
A feature that allows users to settle a position using their own funds immediately.
Close
The process of selling out of a long position or buying out of a short position.
Collateral
The borrower’s assets which are used as a guarantee to secure funding for margin positions or for Bitfinex Borrow.
Collateral Haircut
A Collateral Haircut is a lower-than-market valuation imposed on an asset used as collateral for funding.
Note: A haircut is indicated as a percentage.
Confirmation
It is a confirmation on the blockchain that a transaction was recorded and validated.
Count (Order Book)
The number of orders at a specific level.
Counterparty
The trader/s or lender/s who matched with an order.
Cryptocurrency
A digital currency that is cryptographically secured.
Derivative
A financial product whose value is derived from an underlying asset.
Effective Period
The duration until borrowed funding expires.
Effective Rate
The interest rate is being paid for borrowed funding.
Equity
The net assets of an account.
Exchange
Trading without leverage using the Order Form. A currency is given/sold in return for another.
Exchange Wallet
The wallet-specific to trading without the use of leverage or also referred to as Exchange trade.
Execute (Order)
The act of completing an order.
Expiration
The time until borrowed funding is returned.
Fee
The amount charged for providing a service such as trade, bank wire, etc.
Fiat
A national currency such as US Dollar (USD), Euro (EUR), Pound sterling (GBP), etc.
Flash Return Rate (FRR)
A moving average interest rate of all fixed-rate positions, weighted by their amount.
FRR Delta
A dynamic rate is a specified offset from the Flash Return Rate.
Funding
The process of lending currencies.
Note: A funding provider lends currency while a funding taker reserves/receives it.
Funding Cost
The amount of interest owed to lenders for a position or total of all positions.
Funding Provider
The funding lender from the peer-to-peer financing market.
Funding Taker
The receiver of a funding offer; a borrower.
Funding Type
Financed position on either a daily or term basis.
Funding Wallet
The dedicated wallet specific to providing funding offers/financing.
Gross Tradable Balance
It is the amount that can be executed in the chosen pair to increase or open a position.
Note: Gross tradable balance is not affected by active orders but by your collateral, positions, P/L, and funding costs of your position.
Gross Trading Balance
The USD equivalent value of your margin wallet balances.
Hidden
A bid, ask, or funding offer is not visible on the order book.
High
The term High refers to the highest price transacted for a particular currency in the preceding 24 hours on the trading chart.
IP Address
A unique string of characters that identifies each computer using the Internet Protocol to communicate over a network.
KYC
An abbreviation for "know your customer" or "know your client," which refers to the procedure through which our platform checks a person's identity and address.
Leverage
The amount of borrowed funding to finance a trade position.
Lightning Network
The lightning network is a technological solution intended to solve the problem of transaction speed on the bitcoin blockchain by introducing off-ledger transactions.
Liquidation
The forceful closing of a position that cannot maintain the required maintenance margin.
Liquidity
The size and amount of orders in the order book.
Liquidity Taker
The trader removing liquidity from the order book or a funding borrower.
Low
On the trading chart, the term Low is the lowest price traded for a specified currency within 24 hours.
Mainnet
It is a self-contained blockchain running an independent network with its technology and protocol.
Maintenance Margin
The net equity (as a percentage of the position value) that is required to protect the position from liquidation.
Maker/Taker
The process of adding or removing liquidity from the order book, respectively.
Margin
Using the Order Form to trade with leverage is called Margin Trading. This term also refers to the assets held as collateral.
Margin Available
The total amount of the funding offered and the range of the rates offered.
Margin Buy
Using leverage to create a long position (buy).
Margin Call
A notification that a position is in danger of liquidation.
Margin Reserved
The amount of funding that is yet unused but taken from the funding market for Margin Trading.
Margin Sell
Using leverage to create a short position (sell).
Margin Wallet
The wallet is specific to trading with leverage/financing. This is where collateral funds are kept.
Market
Virtual or physical meeting space for participants to trade with each other. The order book is an indication of the liquidity of the market.
Market Price
The value of the most recently executed order.
Master account
The primary account that is in use.
Note: Only if an account generates sub-accounts can it be considered a Master.
Matched
Two parties (buyer/seller or borrower/lender) become coupled to execute a trade.
Maximum Margin Rate
The highest interest rate a trader is willing to accept for funding
Net Trading Balance
The sum of Gross Trading Balance, Unrealized P/L and Unrealized Funding Cost.
Offer
The orders to lend in the funding book.
OHLC
This is a bar chart that depicts the open, high, low, and close prices for a specified time period.
Order
A bid (buy order) or an ask (sell order) and its the kind of order: market, limit, stop, etc.
Order Book
A database of available bids and asks.
Over The Counter (OTC)
Access to large liquidity outside of the public order book.
Per (Order Book)
The duration of margin funding, typically expressed in days.
Peer-to-Peer
From one user to another, person to person.
Period (Funding Book)
The duration a borrowed funding offer has until it expires and is returned.
Platform
The Bitfinex exchange upon which trading and funding occur.
Position
The trade amount longed (bought) or shorted (sold) through the order book.
Precision
The number of significant figures.
Profit/Loss (P/L)
The profit or loss of open margin positions relative to the market price.
Protocols
A set of rules that define the structure of a blockchain framework that is associated with a cryptocurrency.
Provided
The amount of funding given to a borrower for a specific rate and duration.
Rate
The interest charged to the borrower of funding.
Required Equity
The amount of equity needed to keep a margin position open.
Reserve
A funding taker obtains a funding offer from a funding provider.
Spread
The difference between a short (selling) and a long (buying) position on the same trading pair.
Stablecoin
Any cryptocurrency that is intended to have a reasonably steady price, generally by being tied to a commodity or fiat currency or having its supply controlled by an algorithm.
Staking
It is a means of earning rewards for a specific cryptocurrency by just holding onto it.
Sub-accounts
A segregated account that is linked to another master (main) account.
Note: A sub-account is created by a Master (main) account.
Taken: Unused
The borrowed funding that is available to open a position.
Taken: Used
The borrowed funding that is bound to an open position.
Throttled (Order Book)
The update frequency of the order book.
Note: The default frequency is five seconds.
Ticker Price
The price of the most recently executed trade, updated every 15 seconds. It is also known as Market Price.
Total (Order/Funding Book)
The cumulative amount at a specific price (trading) or rate (funding).
Trading Pair
A currency traded against another currency, like BTCUSD or ETHBTC.
Transfer
The action of moving funds in or out of Bitfinex or between wallets/accounts within the platform.
Trigger
The target at which an action or order will execute.
TXID
The abbreviation for Transaction ID is a string of letters and numbers that uniquely identifies a transaction on the blockchain.
Type
The order type, such as market, limit, stop, etc.
Unrealised P/L
The profit or loss of an open position if it were closed at market price.
Unrealised funding cost
The total unrealised funding cost for all open margin positions.
Volume
The total quantity or value of trades (buys and sells) within a timeframe.
Wallet
Storage location for a cryptocurrency.
Whitelist
A security feature that allows users to predetermine a specific address for deposit/withdrawal or account access associated with a particular IP address.
Wire
A method of funds transfers from one bank account to another bank account.
While these are only some of the terminologies used on the Bitfinex platform, feel free to contact Bitfinex Support if you see any concept you have trouble grasping. We are happy to assist you!