Trading glossary
Market History & Crises
12 plain-English Market History & Crises terms — each with a worked example, related terms, and risk notes. Educational only — no advice or signals.
Bank Run
When many depositors rush to withdraw their money at once, fearing a bank will fail — and the rush can itself drain the bank's cash and cause its collapse.
Black Swan
A rare, high-impact event almost nobody foresaw that looks obvious only in hindsight — the kind of shock standard risk models routinely underestimate.
Capitulation
The point in a falling market when many holders give up at once and sell in panic, producing a sharp, high-volume drop that can mark a short-term low.
Circuit Breaker
An exchange rule that automatically pauses or halts trading when a price falls (or sometimes rises) too far, too fast, to cool panic and restore order.
Currency Peg
A policy that fixes a country's currency to a set rate against another currency, basket, or gold, defended by the central bank until it can no longer hold.
Deleveraging
Reducing debt or borrowed money (leverage) by paying it down or selling assets — often forced during a crisis, which can trigger fire sales and falling prices.
Financial Contagion
When trouble in one market, asset, or institution spreads to others that seemed unrelated, turning a local shock into a wider crisis.
Flight to Safety
When fear spikes, investors rush out of risky assets and into perceived "safe havens" such as government bonds, gold, or stable currencies — often all at once.
Short Squeeze
A rapid price spike that forces traders who bet against an asset to buy it back, and their buying pushes the price up even faster.
Stablecoin Death Spiral
A self-feeding collapse where a stablecoin loses its peg, its backing token is minted to defend it, and the supply flood crashes both toward zero.
Systemic Risk
The risk that the failure of one institution or market triggers a chain reaction that threatens the whole financial system, not just one player.
Volatility
A measure of how much and how quickly an asset's price moves over time — large, fast swings mean high volatility; small, steady moves mean low volatility.
Educational content only. Map.Trade does not provide financial advice or trading signals.