Glossary

Terms specific to the Exchange API. For platform-wide terms see the platform glossary; for the concepts and how they relate, see Core Concepts.

• Adaptive Currency Conversion (ACC) — how Payments converts a checkout into the payer’s currency when it differs from the merchant’s initiation currency. Priced by an implicit per-session quote (default — minute-scale validity, refreshable in-place) or by a rate lock. Not exposed on the Exchange API; see Adaptive Currency Conversion in the Collect docs.
• All-in rate (allInRate) — the rate actually transacted at: the rate a quote or lock is priced from, plus markup.
• Balance — available / reserved / total — available funds can be spent; reserved funds are committed to in-flight activity (pending withdrawals, accepted-but-unfilled orders); total is the sum.
• Base / quote currency (base / quote) — the two sides of a pair: base is the currency priced, quote is the currency it’s priced in (1 base = N quote). Unrelated to a Quote (the RFQ resource).
• Basis points (bps) — the unit for markup; 100 bps = 1%.
• Beneficiary (ben_) — a pre-registered destination owned by the merchant (bank account or wallet) for withdrawals. Distinct from a payout beneficiary (a third-party recipient) — see the Payouts glossary.
• Deposit (dep_) — inbound funding of the account balance; credited once received.
• Estimated settlement time — the window in which a trade is expected to complete and funds reach the destination.
• Execution option — a specific trading/settlement path for a pair.
• Indicative rate — a real-time but non-binding reference rate, for display or sizing — not bookable on its own.
• Markup — the spread added (in basis points) over the rate a quote or lock is priced from, producing the all-in rate.
• Mid / mid-market rate (midRate) — the fair reference midpoint, with no markup. Also called the spot or reference rate.
• Order (ord_) — the booked trade created by accepting a quote; lifecycle pending → filling → filled.
• OTC (over-the-counter) — a trade executed via a trading desk rather than on an exchange.
• Quote (RFQ) (qut_) — a firm, single-use offer to trade a specific amount at a locked rate, valid for seconds; accepting it creates an order.
• Rate — the price of one currency in terms of another; indicative, amountless, and perishable on its own.
• Side (buy / sell) — which leg of a quote is fixed: sell fixes the amount given up, buy fixes the amount received.
• Slippage — price movement between quote and fill. Accepted quotes carry no slippage — the rate is honoured.
• Withdrawal (wth_) — moving the merchant’s own funds out of the account balance to a registered beneficiary. Distinct from a payout (funds to a third party) — see the Payouts glossary.