Algo trading glossary: the terms, in one line each.

Placing orders by rules fixed in advance, executed by a program on your own broker account. Also called algorithmic, automated or systematic trading.

A credential that lets software place and cancel orders and read positions on your account without your password. A properly scoped key cannot withdraw funds.

Running a rule over historical prices to see what it would have done. Hypothetical by nature; before costs unless stated; useful only with the losing periods shown.

On Signals, an instrument where a clear majority of active strategies are bullish. Avoid zone is the reverse; wait means no consensus.

The fall from a peak to the next trough in account value, usually quoted as the maximum over a period. The number to read before any return figure.

The share of a strategy's trades that closed at a profit. Meaningless without the average win and average loss next to it.

Your ability to stop everything at once. With Firefly, revoking the API key at the broker; open positions keep their stops.

RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme: the annual limit for Indian residents sending money abroad, under which US stock accounts are funded from India.

A strategy family that bets a stretched price returns toward its average. Works until it does not; always paired with a stop.

A strategy family that buys what has been rising and sells what has been falling, on the evidence that trends persist for a while.

The orders-per-second level above which an exchange requires an algorithm to be registered through the broker. End-of-day rule sets stay well under it.

Running a strategy on live prices with simulated money. The way to watch a system before giving it capital.

Using shares or fund units you already hold as collateral for F&O margin, without selling them. A haircut is applied by the broker.

How much capital a rule commits to one trade. Firefly scales size with strategy agreement and down with volatility.

Systematic investment plan: a fixed amount into a mutual fund on a schedule. Signals ranks funds by rule; it does not time SIPs.

The difference between the price a rule expected and the price the order filled at. Larger in thin stocks and fast markets.

A fixed internet address for the machine placing API orders, registered with the broker; orders from any other address are rejected under SEBI's 2025 framework. Firefly places orders from its own registered address.

A pre-set exit that closes a position once a loss reaches a limit. On Firefly every rule has one, placed at the broker.

A group of rules sharing one idea: trend, momentum, mean reversion, breakout, volatility, quality, macro.

Firefly's layer that re-weights strategies by recent hit rate, moving capital toward rules that are working and away from ones that have gone quiet.

A pre-set exit that closes a winning position at a target. The counterpart of the stop-loss.

A strategy family that enters in the direction of an established move and exits when it reverses.

How much a price moves. Realised volatility is measured from history; implied is read from option prices. Firefly sizes positions down as it rises.

SEBI's distinction: a white-box algo's logic is disclosed and replicable; a black-box algo's is not and needs a research-analyst registration. Firefly's rules are white-box.