Crypto trading glossary: API and trading software terms

• API

  An application programming interface: the documented requests a system accepts from other software. A crypto trading API usually covers market data, account data and orders. Guide: What is a crypto API

• API deprecation

  A platform's notice that an endpoint, field or host will be retired. OKX's order book checksum and Binance Spot's listenKey user data stream are recent examples, so someone has to watch each changelog. Guide: Trading bot not working

• CCXT

  An open-source library that gives many exchanges one programming interface, with unified symbols and error types. Each exchange's own limits and terms still apply. Guide: CCXT Python trading bot

• Connector (adapter)

  The module that translates between your software's internal format and one platform's API, including signing, limits and error codes. A multi-platform system has one per platform. Guide: Crypto order management system

• Endpoint

  One address and method for one operation, such as GET /api/v3/depth for an order book on Binance Spot. Guide: What is a crypto API

• FIX protocol

  Financial Information eXchange, a standard message format for orders and executions, built from numbered tag and value pairs such as 35=D. Binance Spot and Kraken document FIX 4.4 connections, with different access conditions. Guide: Broker API integration

• FIX session

  A long-lived conversation between an initiator and an acceptor, in which every message is numbered and both sides repair gaps. Its rules sit in a session layer standard, separate from the business messages. Guide: Broker API integration

• Heartbeat (35=0)

  A FIX message sent during quiet periods to show the session is alive. HeartBtInt(108) is the maximum time allowed between messages from the peer. Guide: Broker API integration

• HTTP status code

  A three-digit result code on every HTTP response, where 2xx means success, 4xx a client error and 5xx a server error (RFC 9110). Platforms also put their own codes in the response body, such as Bybit's retCode, so software has to check the body as well as the status. Guide: Binance API error codes

• Logon (35=A)

  The message that opens a FIX session. It must carry HeartBtInt(108), the heartbeat interval both sides then use. Guide: QuickFIX Python

• MsgSeqNum (34)

  The sequence number on every message in a FIX session. A jump shows that messages were lost, and the session layer sets out how to recover them. Guide: Broker API integration

• NewOrderSingle (35=D)

  The FIX application message that submits one new order for execution, identified by the sender's ClOrdID(11). Guide: QuickFIX Python

• Pagination

  Returning a long result set in pages, through a cursor, an ID or a time range. History downloads have to follow it within the rate limit, and the method differs by platform. Guide: Crypto portfolio tracker API

• Ping and pong

  Control frames in RFC 6455 that check a connection is alive; whoever receives a ping must answer with a pong carrying the same data. Platforms add their own rules: Binance Spot's server pings every 20 seconds, while OKX and Bybit expect the client to send its own ping message. Guide: WebSocket heartbeat and reconnect

• Polling

  Asking a REST endpoint for changes again and again. It is simple, but it adds delay and spends rate-limit budget that a stream would save. Guide: Binance API rate limit

• Public and private endpoints

  Public endpoints serve market data and need no key. Private endpoints serve account data and orders, and need a key and usually a signature. Guide: What is a crypto API

• Reconnect and resubscribe

  Opening a dropped connection again, waiting longer after each failure, then subscribing again and rebuilding state, since most streams do not replay what you missed. Binance Spot closes stream connections at 24 hours, so reconnecting is normal operation. Guide: WebSocket heartbeat and reconnect

• ResendRequest (35=2)

  A FIX message asking the peer to send a range of messages again after a gap. Retransmitted messages keep their original MsgSeqNum(34) and carry PossDupFlag(43)=Y. Guide: QuickFIX Python

• REST API

  An interface over HTTP in which each request stands alone and gets one response. Trading software uses it for orders, account queries and history. Guide: Crypto exchange API integration

• Rules of engagement

  A counterparty's document describing how it uses FIX, such as versions, required fields and timing thresholds. Read it before connecting, because the standard leaves these details to each service. Guide: Broker API integration

• SBE (Simple Binary Encoding)

  A FIX Trading Community standard for compact binary messages, designed for low latency. Binance Spot can return responses in SBE instead of JSON.

• SDK

  A library that wraps an API in a programming language and handles details such as signing. Some platforms publish official ones, such as pybit for Bybit and coinbase-advanced-py for Coinbase, and coverage varies. Guide: Bybit API in Python

• SequenceReset (35=4)

  With GapFillFlag(123)=Y, a FIX message that skips over messages the sender chooses not to retransmit, such as orders that have gone stale. Guide: QuickFIX Python

• Subscription (channel, topic)

  A request on a WebSocket for a named feed, such as one symbol's order book. The name varies: streams on Binance, channels on OKX, Kraken and Coinbase, topics on Bybit. Guide: Crypto exchange API integration

• TestRequest (35=1)

  A FIX message that asks the peer to reply with a heartbeat echoing its TestReqID(112). No valid reply counts as an error, and the connection should be ended. Guide: Broker API integration

• TradingView webhook

  An HTTP POST that TradingView sends to a URL when an alert fires. TradingView's Terms of Use (opens in a new tab), read November 5, 2026, license alerts and webhooks for display use only and prohibit using them for automated trading, including through third-party products.

• User data stream

  A private feed of your own order, fill and balance events. Binance Spot now delivers it through a subscription on its WebSocket API, and its older listenKey method was retired on February 20, 2026. Guide: Binance user data stream

• Webhook

  An HTTP request a system sends to a URL you run when an event occurs, such as a payment update. The receiver should verify the sender and handle repeats, because providers such as Stripe retry deliveries. Guide: iyzico API integration

• WebSocket

  A long-lived, two-way connection over TCP, opened with an HTTP handshake and defined in RFC 6455. Platforms use it to push market data and account events, and some accept orders over it. Guide: Binance WebSocket API and streams

• WebSocket stream and WebSocket API

  A stream pushes data you subscribe to, while a WebSocket API takes requests and returns responses, including order placement. Binance Spot runs the two as separate services on different hosts. Guide: Binance WebSocket API and streams

Back to topics

• Amend and cancel-replace

  Changing a working order, by editing it in place or by canceling it and placing a new one, with an effect on queue position that depends on the platform. Binance Spot's cancel-replace can partly succeed, in which case it returns HTTP 409.

• Bracket order

  An entry order linked to exit orders on both sides of the price. Support and structure vary; Coinbase, for example, has a trigger bracket configuration that can attach to a parent order. Guide: OCO order

• Client order ID

  An ID your software assigns before sending an order, so it can find the order even if the response is lost. FIX's ClOrdID(11) must be unique within a trading day, Binance's newClientOrderId among open orders, and Coinbase returns the existing order when a client_order_id repeats. Guide: Client order ID

• Day order

  An order that expires at the end of the trading day if not filled, and the FIX default when no time in force is sent. Markets that trade around the clock, such as most crypto spot markets, often have no equivalent. Guide: Time in force

• EMS (execution management system)

  Software that works out how and where a live order gets filled, through market views, venue connections, slicing and routing. These are market terms rather than legal categories, and products often merge EMS and OMS functions. Guide: Crypto order management system

• FOK (fill or kill)

  An order that must fill completely right away or not at all. Binance Spot reports one that could not fill as EXPIRED, not as rejected. Guide: Time in force

• GTC (good till canceled)

  An order that stays active until it is filled or canceled. Platforms can add limits: Binance USD-M futures states that GTC validity is 1 year from placement. Guide: Time in force

• GTD (good till date)

  An order that stays active until a set expiry, given in FIX by ExpireDate(432) or ExpireTime(126). Kraken takes the time in expiretm, and Binance USD-M futures in goodTillDate. Guide: Time in force

• GTX (good till crossing)

  In FIX, an order canceled before the market enters an auction or crossing phase. Binance USD-M futures uses the same letters for its post-only option, so read the platform's own definition. Guide: Time in force

• Iceberg order

  A limit order that shows only part of its size on the book and keeps the rest hidden. Binance Spot sets the visible part with icebergQty and Kraken with displayvol. Guide: Execution algorithms

• Idempotency

  The property that repeating an operation has the same effect as doing it once. RFC 9110 gives it to PUT, DELETE and safe methods but not to POST, so order retries rely on a client order ID and a status query. Guide: Client order ID

• IOC (immediate or cancel)

  An order that fills as much as it can right away and cancels the rest. It never rests on the book. Guide: Time in force

• Limit order

  An order to trade only at a set price or better. Any part that cannot trade at once may rest on the book, depending on its time in force. Guide: Time in force

• Maker and taker

  The maker is the order that was resting on the book when a trade happened, and the taker is the order that matched it on arrival. Fee schedules often differ between the two. Guide: Time in force

• Market order

  An order to trade right away at the prices available on the book, with no limit price of your own. The average price can differ from the last price, and the gap tends to grow with the size of the order. Guide: Slippage in crypto

• OCO (one cancels the other)

  A pair of linked orders in which the execution of one cancels the other. Binance Spot places it as an order list, and not every platform offers it. Guide: OCO order

• OMS (order management system)

  Software that records each intended order, checks it against limits, sends it through a connector and follows it to a final state. For your own account it is software; handling other people's orders is a regulated service in many jurisdictions. Guide: Crypto order management system

• Order state machine

  A model that allows an order only defined status changes, driven by platform events rather than by your own requests. A final state such as filled stays final. Guide: Crypto order management system

• Order status

  The state a platform reports for an order. Common values are new, partially filled, filled, canceled, rejected and expired, as in Binance's status and FIX's OrdStatus(39), with platform-specific extras. Guide: Crypto order management system

• OTO (one triggers the other)

  A linked pair in which a working order must fill before the second, pending order goes active. Binance Spot documents it as an order list. Guide: OCO order

• Position mode (one-way or hedge)

  On derivatives, one-way mode keeps a single net position per contract, while hedge mode holds long and short positions separately. In hedge mode an order has to name the side, through positionSide on Binance USD-M futures and positionIdx on Bybit. Guide: Reduce only order

• Post-only order (maker-only)

  A limit order that is rejected or canceled instead of matching on arrival, so it can only add liquidity. It appears as LIMIT_MAKER on Binance Spot, post_only on OKX, PostOnly on Bybit and Alo on Hyperliquid. Guide: Time in force

• Reduce-only order

  An order on a leveraged position that can only shrink it, never open or enlarge it. Bybit, OKX, Kraken, Hyperliquid and Binance USD-M futures each offer it as a flag, and Binance does not accept the flag in hedge mode. Guide: Reduce only order

• Smart order routing (SOR)

  Logic that decides where to send an order, or how to split it, based on price, fees and available size. Binance's SOR works inside one exchange, across books with the same base asset and interchangeable quote assets. Guide: Smart order routing in crypto

• Stop-limit order

  A dormant order that becomes a limit order when a trigger price is reached. If the market moves past the limit price, it may not fill. Guide: OCO order

• Stop-market order (stop loss)

  A dormant order that becomes a market order when a trigger price is reached. Names vary: STOP_LOSS on Binance Spot and STOP_MARKET on Binance USD-M futures. Guide: OCO order

• Take-profit order

  A dormant order that triggers when the price reaches a set level on the favorable side of a position. Depending on the platform, it becomes a market or a limit order. Guide: OCO order

• Time in force

  The rule for how long an order stays active. FIX defines it in TimeInForce(59), where a missing value means Day, and crypto platforms support subsets of the values, usually including GTC, IOC and FOK. Guide: Time in force

• Trailing stop

  A stop whose trigger follows the price at a set distance when the price moves favorably and holds still when it reverses. Binance Spot sets the distance with trailingDelta.

• TWAP (time-weighted average price)

  An execution method that splits an order into smaller ones spaced over a period. Coinbase's Advanced Trade API has a TWAP order configuration. Guide: TWAP order

• VWAP (volume-weighted average price)

  The total value traded divided by the total volume over a period. It serves as a benchmark for fills and as the target of some execution methods. Guide: Execution algorithms

Back to topics

• Aggregator API

  A service that collects data from many exchanges behind one API. An aggregated price is a calculation, not a price you can trade at. Guide: Crypto price API

• Base and quote asset

  In the pair BTC/USDT, BTC is the base asset, the thing being bought or sold, and USDT is the quote asset, the currency of the price. Quantity and price rules are set in these units. Guide: Crypto exchange API integration

• Bid and ask

  The bid is the highest price a buyer is offering and the ask is the lowest price a seller is offering. Together they form the top of the book. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Candle (OHLCV, kline)

  The open, high, low, close and volume for a fixed time interval, which Binance calls a kline. Platforms differ on day boundaries and on whether a timestamp marks the open or the close, so two correct feeds can disagree. Guide: Crypto price API

• Consolidated and direct feeds

  A consolidated feed combines quotes and trades from the venues that trade a security, while a direct feed comes from one exchange with its own depth and timing. Guide: Stock market data API

• Data gap

  A missing interval in candles or a missing run of messages, caused by outages, thin trading or dropped connections. Software has to detect it, because a backtest or a local book built over a gap is wrong. Guide: Crypto price API

• Delta update (diff)

  A message that lists only the price levels that changed since the last one. A quantity of zero removes the level. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Funding rate

  A periodic payment between long and short holders of a perpetual future, where a positive rate usually means longs pay shorts. Intervals and formulas differ by platform: Hyperliquid pays hourly, while OKX and Binance USD-M default to 8 hours with exceptions. Guide: Perpetual futures and funding rate

• Index price

  A weighted average of an asset's spot prices across several exchanges, used as the reference for a derivative. Each platform picks its own sources and weights. Guide: Perpetual futures and funding rate

• Last price

  The price of the most recent trade on that market. On a thin book it can print far from fair value for a moment, which is why derivatives platforms keep a separate mark price. Guide: Perpetual futures and funding rate

• Level 1, level 2 and level 3 data

  Level 1 shows the best bid and ask, level 2 the total size at each price, and level 3 each individual order. Not every platform publishes level 3, though Kraken, for one, documents a level 3 channel. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Liquidity

  How much can trade near the current price without moving it. With thin liquidity, larger orders pay more slippage. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Local order book

  Your own copy of the book, built from a snapshot plus delta updates. If an update is missed the copy is wrong and has to be rebuilt. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Lot size (step size)

  The allowed range and smallest step for an order's quantity. Binance Spot publishes it in the LOT_SIZE filter as minQty, maxQty and stepSize. Guide: Binance API trading bot in Python

• Mark price

  A reference price derivatives platforms use to value open positions and trigger liquidation, instead of the last trade price. The formula varies: Binance USD-M uses a median of index-based prices and the contract price. Guide: Perpetual futures and funding rate

• Market data license

  The terms that govern what you may do with data, including showing it to others. Being able to fetch data gives no right to redistribute it: OKX's API Agreement limits market data to personal, non-commercial use and requires written consent to share it. Guide: Crypto price API

• Market depth

  The quantity available at prices away from the best bid and ask. The number of levels you can request or subscribe to differs by platform. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Mid price

  The average of the best bid and best ask. It is a reference value, not a price you can always trade at. Guide: Slippage in crypto

• Minimum notional

  The smallest order value, price times quantity, that a market accepts. Binance Spot sets it in the NOTIONAL filter, which can also set a maximum. Guide: Binance API trading bot in Python

• Non-display use

  Using market data in software with no person viewing it, such as for automated decisions. Exchanges such as Nasdaq and Borsa Istanbul define it and treat it separately from display use. Guide: Stock market data API

• Normalization

  Mapping each platform's symbols, fields, units and error codes to one internal format, so the rest of the software does not depend on a single API. Guide: Crypto exchange API integration

• Open interest

  The number or value of derivative contracts still open at a moment. It measures outstanding positions, not trading volume. Guide: Funding rate history API

• Order book

  The list of open limit orders for a market, arranged by price. Platforms share it through REST snapshots and WebSocket updates. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Order book checksum

  A value sent with book updates so you can verify your copy, such as the CRC32 on Kraken's book channel. OKX has deprecated its checksum field in favor of sequence IDs. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Order book snapshot

  A complete copy of the book at one moment, from a REST call or the first message on a stream. On Bybit, a new snapshot message means you must reset your local book. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Perpetual future

  A derivative with no expiry date, designed to track an asset's spot price through funding payments. Access depends on your jurisdiction, and SPK Communiqué III-35/B.2 bars leverage, derivatives and short sales on assets listed on platforms in Turkey. Guide: Perpetual futures and funding rate

• Sequence number (update ID)

  A counter on market data messages that shows whether any were missed. Binance uses update IDs, OKX seqId and prevSeqId, and Coinbase sequence numbers, each with its own rule for a gap. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Spread

  The best ask minus the best bid. A wider spread makes trading in and straight back out more expensive. Guide: Local order book from WebSocket

• Symbol (instrument ID)

  A platform's name for a market, written differently by each: BTCUSDT on Binance, BTC-USDT on OKX and BTC-USD on Coinbase. A multi-platform system maps them to one internal form. Guide: CCXT Python trading bot

• Symbol filter

  A rule a platform applies to every order for a market, covering price, quantity or value. Software should read the current rules at run time, such as from Binance's exchangeInfo, since they can change. Guide: Binance API trading bot in Python

• Tick data

  A record of each trade or quote change rather than a summary per interval. It takes far more storage than candles and is needed when rules depend on individual trades or the book. Guide: Crypto tick data

• Tick size

  The smallest allowed price step for a market. Binance Spot publishes it as tickSize in the PRICE_FILTER, and a price that does not fit is refused. Guide: Binance API trading bot in Python

• Ticker

  A short summary for one market, such as last price, best bid and ask, and 24-hour volume. The fields vary by platform. Guide: CCXT Python trading bot

Back to topics

• Acceptance test

  An agreed check of how software behaves in a stated case, such as a duplicate message or a dropped connection. A return, a win rate or a backtest result is not an acceptance criterion. Guide: Crypto trading bot developer

• Backtest

  Running written rules over historical data to see how they would have behaved under stated assumptions about fills and costs. It shows past behavior, not future results. Guide: Backtesting pitfalls

• Certification test (conformance)

  A test a venue or broker requires before your software may connect. Borsa Istanbul requires members to get a FIX or OUCH certificate for their software or to use a certified application. Guide: Broker API integration

• Demo trading

  Simulated trading that a platform runs apart from real balances. OKX selects it with the x-simulated-trading: 1 header and Bybit with a separate host and keys, and neither supports every endpoint. Guide: Paper trading API

• Dry run

  Running the whole program with order sending switched off and logging what it would have sent. It tests the logic, not the platform's response. Guide: Paper trading API

• Failure injection

  Causing failures on purpose during a test, such as timeouts, rate-limit errors, dropped connections and partial fills, to see how the software reacts. Guide: How to test trading bots

• Integration test

  A test of the software against a real interface, usually a testnet, covering signing, order placement and event handling. It catches gaps between the documents and actual behavior. Guide: How to test trading bots

• Look-ahead bias

  Using information in a test that was not available at the simulated moment, such as a bar's close before that bar has ended. It makes a backtest look better than a live run could be. Guide: Backtesting pitfalls

• Monte Carlo resampling

  Resampling a list of test trades to see the range of paths the same trades could have produced. It describes variation in past results and predicts nothing. Guide: Backtesting Python libraries

• Out-of-sample test

  A test on data that was not used to build or tune the rules. A good result is still not a forecast. Guide: Backtesting pitfalls

• Overfitting

  Tuning rules until they fit the noise in past data, so they look strong in the test and fail on new data. The more variations tried, the greater the risk. Guide: Backtesting pitfalls

• Paper trading

  Simulating orders against live market data with no real money. Simulated fills leave out effects such as market impact and queue position, as Alpaca's documentation notes, so live results can differ. Guide: Paper trading API

• Repainting

  Script behavior in which historical and real-time calculations differ, so a chart's history can show results the script would not have shown live. TradingView's Pine Script documents describe it. Guide: Pine Script developer

• Replay test

  Feeding recorded market data or order events back through the software, to reproduce a problem or compare two versions. Guide: How to test trading bots

• Sandbox

  A test environment, though the word covers very different things. Coinbase's Advanced Trade sandbox, for example, returns static, pre-defined responses without authentication. Guide: Coinbase sandbox environments

• Staged rollout

  Going live gradually, starting with small limits and widening them only after each step checks out. It limits the cost of a fault that testing missed. Guide: How to test trading bots

• Survivorship bias

  Testing only on assets that still exist today, which leaves out delisted ones. Building a test list from a platform's currently trading symbols causes it. Guide: Backtesting pitfalls

• Synthetic data

  Generated data used in place of real records. It lets a test produce rare cases on demand, but it cannot show how a real market behaves. Guide: Backtesting Python libraries

• Testnet

  A separate environment with its own addresses, keys and valueless balances, for testing API calls. Not every platform offers one, prices and liquidity differ from production, and Binance Spot's testnet resets about once a month. Guide: Paper trading API

• Unit test

  An automated test of one function in isolation, such as rounding a price to the tick size or applying a fill to a position. It needs no network. Guide: How to test trading bots

• Vectorized and event-driven backtests

  A vectorized backtest computes results for the whole history with array operations, while an event-driven one feeds data to the code step by step, as a live system would. The first is faster, and the second handles order logic more naturally. Guide: Backtesting Python libraries

• Walk-forward analysis

  Repeatedly tuning on one period and testing on the next, unseen one, then moving both windows forward. Guide: Backtesting Python libraries

Back to topics

• Algorithmic trading (MiFID II)

  Under MiFID II, trading in financial instruments in which an algorithm sets order parameters such as timing, price or quantity with limited or no human intervention. Systems that only route orders or process them after the trade are excluded. Guide: Are trading bots legal?

• AML and CFT

  Anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: rules that require regulated firms to identify customers, monitor activity and report suspicious transactions. Exact duties depend on the jurisdiction and the firm's activity. Guide: Turkey country risk

• API terms

  The contract that governs your use of a platform's API, which can be narrower than what the API technically allows. OKX's API Agreement, for one, requires written approval to offer its API as part of a commercial product or to run orders for third parties. Guide: Crypto bot development company

• Article 99/A

  The provision of Law No. 6362 on measures for crypto-asset service providers, including unauthorized activity. A Turkish office, a Turkish-language website, or promotion directly or through people or firms in Turkey makes a foreign platform's activity count as directed at Turkish residents. Guide: Is crypto legal in Turkey

• Capital Markets Law No. 6362

  Turkey's capital markets statute, into which Law No. 7518 inserted the crypto provisions in 2024. Article 35/B requires SPK permission for crypto-asset service providers, and Article 109/A sets criminal penalties for operating without it. Guide: Turkish Capital Markets Board (SPK)

• CASP

  Crypto-asset service provider, the MiCA term for a legal person or other undertaking whose business is providing crypto-asset services. Those services include custody, operating a trading platform, exchange, order execution, advice and portfolio management. Guide: Crypto bot development company

• Communiqués III-35/B.1 and III-35/B.2

  SPK's two communiqués of March 13, 2025 on how crypto-asset service providers are set up and how they operate. Article 14 of B.2, for one, bars leverage, derivatives, margin purchases and short sales on assets listed on platforms. Guide: Is crypto legal in Turkey

• Crypto asset service provider (Turkey)

  In Turkish, kripto varlık hizmet sağlayıcı: under Article 3 of Law No. 6362, platforms, custody firms and other entities designated by regulation. A platform here is a firm where crypto assets are traded, settled or transferred, or where related custody takes place. Guide: Is crypto legal in Turkey

• Crypto payment ban (Turkey)

  A regulation of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye that has barred the direct or indirect use of crypto assets in payments since April 30, 2021. It also stops payment and e-money institutions from intermediating transfers to or from crypto platforms. Guide: Is crypto legal in Turkey

• Custody

  Keeping crypto-assets, or the means of access to them such as private keys, on behalf of clients. MiCA and Turkish rules both treat it as a service that needs authorization. Guide: Is crypto legal in Turkey

• DORA

  Regulation (EU) 2022/2554, the Digital Operational Resilience Act on ICT security in the financial sector, which applies from January 17, 2025. MiCA points crypto-asset service providers to it for their ICT systems.

• ESMA

  The European Securities and Markets Authority, the EU body that publishes rulebooks, guidelines and Q&As on MiCA and MiFID II. National authorities supervise most firms directly.

• FATF

  The Financial Action Task Force, the intergovernmental body whose Recommendations set global AML and CFT standards. Its Recommendation 16 is the international standard behind the Travel Rule, and it has extended that Recommendation to virtual asset service providers. Guide: Turkey country risk

• FinCEN

  The US Treasury bureau that administers anti-money-laundering rules. Its guidance FIN-2019-G001 explains how money transmitter rules, including the Travel Rule, apply to convertible virtual currency businesses.

• Investment advice

  Personal recommendations on what to do with an asset, a licensed activity in many jurisdictions. MiCA defines it as personalized recommendations to a client, and Turkish Communiqué III-35/B.2 as directive comments to a person or a similar group. Guide: Are trading bots legal?

• KYC (know your customer)

  Verifying a customer's identity, at the start of a business relationship and during it, which regulators often call customer due diligence. An API key does not replace it, and platforms can tie API features to the account's verification level. Guide: Create an exchange API key

• KYT (know your transaction)

  Assessing the risk of a crypto transfer, usually with blockchain analytics. It is a market term rather than a legal one, and it does not replace KYC.

• Market manipulation

  Orders or other conduct that give false or misleading impressions of supply, demand or price, or that hold a price at an artificial level. MiCA Article 91 prohibits it for crypto-assets. Guide: Are trading bots legal?

• MASAK

  Turkey's Financial Crimes Investigation Board. Its General Communiqué No. 29 sets waiting periods and stablecoin withdrawal limits for platforms. Guide: Is crypto legal in Turkey

• MiCA

  Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets, which applies from December 30, 2024, and from June 30, 2024 for its asset-referenced and e-money token titles. Crypto-asset services in the EU need authorization, and the transitional period for existing firms ran to July 1, 2026 at the latest. Guide: Crypto bot development company

• MiFID II

  Directive 2014/65/EU, the EU's rules on investment services in financial instruments. Its Article 17 requires firms that trade algorithmically to have effective systems and risk controls. Guide: Are trading bots legal?

• Portfolio management

  Managing client portfolios under a mandate, a licensed activity in many jurisdictions. MiCA covers discretionary client-by-client mandates, and Article 15(3) of Turkish Communiqué III-35/B.2 prohibits managing each customer's portfolio on the customer's behalf, as an agent, for a direct or indirect benefit. Guide: Crypto portfolio tracker API

• Reception and transmission of orders

  Taking a person's order and passing it to a third party for execution, listed as a crypto-asset service under MiCA. In Turkey, taking and executing orders needs SPK permission. Guide: Crypto order management system

• Reverse solicitation

  A service that a client starts at its own exclusive initiative. MiCA Article 61 exempts a non-EU firm only in that case, and soliciting clients in the EU by any means removes the exemption. Guide: Crypto bot development company

• RTS 6

  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/589, the EU's detailed rules for investment firms that trade algorithmically, covering matters such as testing, kill functionality and pre-trade controls. It binds those firms, and its list also serves as a reference for other trading software. Guide: Trading bot risk management

• Sanctions screening

  Checking customers, wallet addresses and locations against sanctions lists. OFAC's 2021 guidance for the virtual currency industry says compliance programs generally should include list and geographic screening.

• SEC Market Access Rule

  US Rule 15c3-5 (17 CFR 240.15c3-5), which requires broker-dealers with market access to apply pre-trade controls, including credit and capital thresholds and blocks on erroneous or duplicative orders. Guide: Trading bot risk management

• Self-hosted wallet

  A wallet whose keys the user controls, with no provider holding them. Under the EU rules, a provider still collects and holds the transfer information for transfers to or from one and, above EUR 1,000, must assess whether its customer owns or controls the address.

• SPK (Capital Markets Board of Türkiye)

  Sermaye Piyasası Kurulu, also written CMB: Turkey's capital markets regulator, which also licenses and supervises crypto-asset service providers under Law No. 6362. Its bulletins record permits, fines and access blocks. Guide: Turkish Capital Markets Board (SPK)

• SPK operating list

  The provisional list (Faaliyette Bulunanlar Listesi) of firms that declared they would operate under Temporary Article 11 of Law No. 6362. SPK states that being on it does not mean a firm has been authorized. Guide: Turkish crypto exchange APIs

• Spoofing

  Bidding or offering with the intent to cancel before execution, in the words of 7 USC 6c(a)(5)(C), which bars it on US registered entities. The term appears here only as a warning. Guide: Are trading bots legal?

• Transfer of Funds Regulation (TFR)

  Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, which recast the EU's Travel Rule and extended it to crypto-asset transfers. EBA guidelines on it apply from December 30, 2024. Guide: Travel rule API

• Travel Rule

  The duty of providers to send originator and beneficiary details with a transfer, which the FATF has extended to virtual asset service providers. Amounts differ: the EU applies it to crypto transfers of any amount, the US from USD 3,000 (31 CFR 1010.410(f)), and Turkey requires fuller, verified sender data from TRY 30,000. Guide: Travel rule API

• VASP

  Virtual asset service provider, the FATF's term for businesses that offer services such as exchange, transfer or safekeeping of virtual assets. National laws use their own names, such as CASP in the EU.

• Wash trading

  Trades that change nothing except the appearance of activity, such as buying from yourself. US commodities law prohibits wash sales, and such trades can fall under market manipulation rules elsewhere; the term appears here only as a warning. Guide: Are trading bots legal?

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