Trading, fintech, and API terms explained for builders.
A portfolio managed by an AI agent or automated system on behalf of a user. The Agent Portfolios API lets you create portfolios, delegate trading via scoped user tokens, and manage permissions programmatically.
A unique identifier passed in the x-api-key header to authenticate requests to the eToro public API. Obtained from the API portal after completing KYC.
The lowest price a seller is willing to accept for an instrument. Together with the bid price, it forms the spread.
A category of financial instruments with similar characteristics — for example stocks, crypto, currencies, commodities, ETFs, or indices. The instrument-types endpoint returns available asset classes.
The highest price a buyer is willing to pay for an instrument. The difference between bid and ask is the spread.
A data structure representing price movement over a time period, containing Open, High, Low, Close, and Volume (OHLCV). Also called a candlestick. Used in charting and technical analysis.
Contract for Difference — a financial derivative where you trade the price movement of an asset without owning the underlying asset. Many instruments on eToro are traded as CFDs.
The last traded price of an instrument at market close. The historical closing-price endpoint provides daily closing price data.
A user who copies the trades of a Popular Investor. The PI Data API provides copier counts and related statistics.
A simulated trading environment with virtual funds. The Demo Trading API mirrors the Real Trading API exactly but uses fake money, making it safe for testing bots and strategies.
A specific URL path in the API that performs a particular action, like GET /market-data/rates for fetching current prices or POST /trading/execution/market-open-orders/by-amount for placing trades.
A marketplace where financial instruments are traded — for example NASDAQ, NYSE, or Binance. The exchanges endpoint returns available exchanges.
Past price data for instruments, available as daily closing prices or OHLCV candles. Used for backtesting strategies and building charts.
A property where making the same API request multiple times produces the same result. Use the x-request-id header with a unique UUID per request to ensure idempotent behavior.
A tradeable financial asset available on eToro — a stock, ETF, crypto, currency pair, commodity, or index. Each instrument has a unique numeric ID used across all API endpoints.
Know Your Customer — identity verification required before accessing API keys. Complete KYC on etoro.com to get your API credentials.
Trading with more capital than you deposit by borrowing from the broker. A 5x leverage means a $100 position controls $500 worth of an asset. Leverage amplifies both profits and losses.
An order to buy or sell at a specific price or better. On eToro's API, these are called Market-If-Touched (MIT) orders.
Real-time and historical information about instruments — prices, rates, candles, exchanges, and metadata. Available via REST endpoints and WebSocket streaming.
An order to buy or sell immediately at the current market price. On eToro's API, placed via the market-open-orders endpoint by amount or units.
Model Context Protocol — an open standard for connecting AI code editors (Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf) to external tools. The eToro MCP server lets AI agents interact with the trading API directly.
Market-If-Touched order — eToro's term for a conditional order that executes when the price reaches a specified level. Equivalent to a limit order on other platforms.
Open, High, Low, Close, Volume — the five data points in a price candle. Open and Close are first/last prices in a period; High and Low are extremes; Volume is total traded quantity.
Profit and Loss — the financial result of your trading positions. The PnL endpoint returns your account's realized and unrealized P&L.
An eToro user who qualifies for the Popular Investor program based on trading performance, risk score, and copier count. PI Data API endpoints provide their statistics.
A collection of open positions and their aggregate value. The portfolio endpoint returns all positions, unrealized P&L, and account equity.
An open trade on an instrument — either buying (long) or selling (short). A position has an entry price, current value, and unrealized P&L.
The maximum number of API requests allowed per time window. Exceeding the limit returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header. Rate limit headers are included in every response.
Receiving live price updates via WebSocket instead of polling the REST API. Subscribe to instrument topics and receive push updates when prices change.
Representational State Transfer — the architectural style used by the eToro public API. Send HTTP requests (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to endpoints and receive JSON responses.
A test environment that simulates real trading without financial risk. On eToro, the Demo Trading API is the sandbox — same endpoints, virtual money.
A stream of posts, discussions, and updates from eToro users about instruments or trading ideas. The Feeds API lets you read and create posts.
The difference between the bid (buy) and ask (sell) price of an instrument. A tighter spread means lower trading cost.
A risk management parameter that automatically closes a position when the price moves against you by a specified amount, limiting potential losses.
A risk management parameter that automatically closes a position when the price moves in your favor by a specified amount, locking in gains.
A short alphabetic code identifying an instrument — for example AAPL for Apple, BTC for Bitcoin, or EURUSD for the Euro/Dollar pair.
A per-user credential passed in the x-user-key header. Combined with the API key for authenticated requests that access user-specific data like portfolios and trades.
A curated list of instruments a user wants to monitor. The Watchlists API supports creating, updating, and managing multiple watchlists.
A persistent, bidirectional connection between client and server for real-time data. The eToro WebSocket API (wss://ws.etoro.com/ws) streams live price updates.
A UUID header sent with each API request for tracing and idempotency. Generate a unique UUID for every request to avoid duplicate operations.