Trading glossary
Brokers & Platforms
14 plain-English Brokers & Platforms terms — each with a worked example, related terms, and risk notes. Educational only — no advice or signals.
Broker
An intermediary that executes buy and sell orders in financial markets on behalf of clients, earning revenue through commissions, spreads, or both.
Broker Risk
The risk that a broker fails, acts improperly, or creates conditions that result in financial loss for a trader, independent of market movements.
Commission Model
A fee structure where a broker charges an explicit, disclosed fee per trade, separate from the bid-ask spread.
Dealing Desk
A desk inside a broker that acts as the counterparty to client trades internally, rather than routing orders to an outside market.
ECN Broker
A broker that routes orders directly to a network of banks and institutions, skipping a dealing desk, with transparent commissions and raw spreads.
Execution Quality
How well a broker fills your orders — covering speed, price accuracy, slippage, and fill rate versus the quoted price at the moment you placed the trade.
Market Maker
A firm or individual that continuously quotes both a buy price and a sell price for an asset, profiting from the spread while providing liquidity to other market participants.
No Dealing Desk
A broker execution model where client orders are routed electronically to external liquidity providers without an internal dealer reviewing or manually intervening in the order.
Regulated Broker
A broker that holds a valid licence from a recognised financial regulator, requiring it to meet ongoing capital, conduct, and client-protection standards.
Requote
A requote occurs when a broker cannot fill your order at the price you requested and offers you a new, different price instead.
Spread Markup
The additional amount a broker adds to the raw interbank spread, widening the bid-ask gap to generate revenue.
STP Broker
A broker that routes client orders directly to liquidity providers without a dealing desk intervening, so trades execute automatically at market prices.
Unregulated Broker
A broker operating without oversight from a recognised financial regulatory authority, offering no formal client protections.
Withdrawal Policy
The rules a broker or prop firm sets on how, when, and how much a trader can withdraw from their account.
Educational content only. Map.Trade does not provide financial advice or trading signals.