As students learn to trade they commonly practice in a demo account. This is not live and so does not use real money, therefore protecting the students capital. Once a student reaches the necessary skill level they may choose to upgrade their account to begin live trading with real money in live markets. 

A type of trading account offered by brokers using virtual funds to trade rather than real money. This is a safe space for students to learn as they will make neither profits nor losses.

Different brokers have different minimum requirements. It is possible to start to learn to trade with an account size as small as £200, however an account of, say, £2,000 will give you better margin requirements. You may wish to consider starting with a smaller sum and funding your account once you have grown in confidence and skill. Of course this is a personal decision based upon your own financial circumstances.

You may wish to consult your own independent financial advisor for...

Many traders only risk 1% of their account size. It is important to remember that minimising your risk is key to protecting your capital.

Please refer to the money management section of your course where more detail is provided.

The ratio between how much a trade could potentially lose compared to how much it could win e.g. risking 1% of your total account value hoping to win 2% equivalent.

Commodities that trade in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products. Examples include US Crude Oil and Arabica Coffee.

A share of ownership of a publicly traded company or corporation e.g. buying shares of Tesla.

A Stock Market Index is an index that measures the price performance of a portfolio of stocks and represents a section of the financial market e.g. the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Foreign Currency Exchange is a global marketplace where national currencies are traded against one another in pairs e.g. EUR/USD.

Order Trades can be placed when you cannot be at the screens to wait for the price to reach your entry level to enter the trade manually.

Orders can be placed through the broker - either directly on the charts, through the broker's website or the broker's app.

The Spread is the difference between the buy and the sell price of a market. This difference (in pips or points) is the broker's charge for executing the trade.

When you expect to hold trades to completion anywhere from a couple of days to a few months.

When you place and complete trades within a single day's trading.

The buying and selling of financial assets in the hope of making a profit.

Brokers are companies who act as intermediaries between the individual investor and the market they want to trade.

A form of trading where a bet is placed on the future change of price of a financial market rather than having to buy the underlying asset. The profits are tax-free and the broker makes their profits on the spread.

The deposit needed to open a trade. As Spread Betting is a Leveraged product the Margin is the price you would need to cover if a trade went against you and you had not placed a Stop Loss Limit in the market.

Leverage is a mechanism offered by brokers where you effectively borrow funds from the broker in order to increase the position you are able to trade beyond what your account size would offer otherwise.

These are all different types of trading. Each has their own levels of leverage and risk. It is important to research different trading options to discover which one will work best for you.