Trading glossary

Long

A position that profits when the price goes up. You "go long" when you expect the market to rise.

Short

A position that profits when the price goes down. Going short lets you win from a falling market. On RingSide you do it with virtual money.

Leverage

A multiplier on your position size. At 10× leverage a 1% price move changes the value of your stake by about 10%. It magnifies both gains and losses. RingSide allows up to 100× in one-minute rounds, down to 3× in week-long crypto rounds.

Liquidation

The forced close of your positions when your account value falls too far. On RingSide that is below the maintenance margin of 0.1% of your position value (roughly −9.9% at 10× leverage). After liquidation you are out of that round.

Margin

The capital set aside to back a leveraged position. RingSide uses cross margin, so your whole account balance backs every open position.

Spread

The gap between buy and sell price that many platforms charge as a trading cost. RingSide has none. Every trade fills at the mid price of the shared one-second snapshot, with no fees.

Stake

The entry fee for a round, paid in virtual chips. It depends only on the round’s duration, not on the number of players, and is held in escrow until settlement.

Pot

All the stakes of a round pooled together. At the end it is split among the top finishers by place.

Rake

The platform’s fee. RingSide keeps 5% of the pot, and the rest is split by rank. It is the only point at which the platform takes part in a round.

Return

The percentage change of your portfolio over the round. Return at the close decides your placement.

Settlement

Valuing every open position at the price that applied the moment the round ended, so the result does not depend on when anyone opens the page.

Elo

A head-to-head rating carried over from chess. It moves up when you beat stronger opponents and down when you lose. On RingSide it sits alongside your season return.

See these in action in How it works.