Trader Dictionary

Long: Buying in anticipation of price going up

Short: Selling in anticipation of price going down

SL or Stop Loss: An order placed with your broker to exit a position at a loss should the market move against you

TP or Take Profit: An order placed with your broker to exit a position at a profit should the market move in your favor

HTF or High Time Frame: Refers to the daily time frame or higher (I don't consider anything intraday as high time frame)

BS or Buy Side: Referring to something above the current price or above a key level

SS or Sell Side: Referring to something below the current price or below a key level

If you see me label something as a BS fakeout or an SS fakeout, this 👆 is what I'm referring to

FO or Fakeout:Literally means "failed break" which can be bullish or bearish depending on the context. This requires at least one daily close above a key level closely followed by at least one daily close back below it (BS fakeout) or at least one daily close below a key level closely followed by a daily close back above it (SS fakeout). See the course for more details.

Putting everything above together, that gives us two acronyms to use: Buy Side Fakeout (BSFO) and Sell Side Fakeout (SSFO)

FVG or Fair Value Gap: An imbalance in price that occurs during aggressive buying or selling. These are often represented by large up or down candles with little to no retracement. Gaps can be "open" or "closed" depending on whether or not the price has revisited the imbalance.

Time Price Opportunity (TPO):A time price opportunity (TPO) shows how many times the market traded at a certain price during specific time periods—basically, it’s a way to see which prices got the most attention throughout the specified period. The more TPOs at a price, the more time the market spent trading there.

Point of Control (POC):This is the price level where the most trading happened during a certain period. It tends to serve as support or resistance since this is where buyers and sellers spent the most time, especially on the higher time frames.

Value Area High (VAH): The highest price within the range where about 70% of all trading took place within a certain period, so it marks the upper edge of where most of the action happened.

Value Area Low (VAL): The lowest price within that same 70% trading range, showing the bottom edge of where most trades went down.

Composite (Comp) Profile:A TPO profile showing merged data across multiple periods, typically days. This is especially useful in a ranging market where multiple TPO profiles overlap.

Single Print (SP): A price level on a TPO chart that was only traded during one specific time period, showing the market moved quickly through that price without much interest. Very similar to the imbalances we often discuss. These, too, can often serve as magnets.

Poor High (PH): A poor high is when the top of a price range doesn’t look “finished”—it’s formed by lots of trading at the same price, showing buyers couldn’t push higher, so the market might try to revisit or break above that level later.

Poor Low (PL):A poor low is when the bottom of a price range has lots of trading at the same price, meaning sellers couldn’t push prices any lower, so the market might come back to test or break below that level later.