The vocabulary the rest of this Help Center assumes — general futures concepts, not anything Tradara-specific.
A futures contract tracks a price without you taking delivery — you're agreeing to a price now and closing out later. Buying first (long) profits if price rises; selling first (short) profits if it falls, and is entirely normal in futures. Holding neither is flat, a state several account rules key off.
A tick is the smallest price movement a contract can make, worth a fixed dollar amount per contract (tick value/value per point) set by the exchange, not Tradara or the assigning firm. Result = ticks moved × tick value × contracts held. Mini and micro are standard and reduced-size versions of the same product; a micro uses less of any position limit.
Market fills immediately at the best price. Limit waits for your price or better. Stop triggers at a level, usually to cut a loss. Time in force (TIF) controls how long an unfilled order stays working. OCO links two exit orders so one filling cancels the other.
Balance is settled cash; equity adjusts it for live open-position value. Realized P&L is from closed trades; unrealized/open P&L is from what's still open and isn't locked in.
Evaluation accounts prove you can follow the rules before funding. Profit target is what an evaluation needs to reach. Daily loss pauses trading for the day if breached; max loss ends the account. Trailing drawdown is a max-loss floor that rises with new equity highs, so profit given back can count against it. Lockout blocks new exposure without blocking you from closing existing positions.
