To assist our traders we have created a brief list of terms/definitions related to margin trading:

collateral - currency held within your margin account. The collateral held in your account is used to repay all outstanding debts and also allows you to leverage your funds up to 2.5x the collateral value.

Transfer Balances - the transfer balances tab can be used to transfer balances between holding accounts within Poloniex (margin, lending, exchange accounts).

position - the trade(s) a customer has made. Positions can be either long or short positions.

long position - a position associated with a margin buy trade. Borrowed funds are used to create this position. Typically, a long will be created when there is belief the price of an asset will increase in value. This type of trade is what most traders are familiar with; buy low and sell high, capturing the profit in between.

short position - a position associated with a margin sell trade. Borrowed funds are used to create this position. Typically, a short will be created when there is belief the price of an asset will decrease in value. The trader will capture the difference in price from the original sell price to the repurchase price.

stop limit order - an order to buy or sell an asset at a specific price or better. A buy limit order can only be executed at the limit price or lower, and a sell limit order can only be executed at the limit price or higher. A limit order is not guaranteed to execute.

open order - a buy or sell order set to execute at a specific price point. If an order is not fulfilled entirely the remainder will be put into an open order, awaiting execution based on the trade parameters you have set.

trigger order - similar to limit order, but determined by loan rate request. If there are insufficient loans available for your margin trade the order will become a trigger order, awaiting a loan match for your margin trade.

Margin Call - a Margin Call is sent to a customer when their maintenance margin dips below 30%. Margin calls are sent to customers as a courtesy, warning them to either reduce their position, add more collateral or as a general reminder that their margin position is approaching the liquidation percentage.

liquidation - when all or part of positions are closed automatically to prevent further loss and ensure no default on loans. Forced liquidations are executed using one or more market orders; as such, order book liquidity at the time of these orders will affect the extent of the losses you incur from the liquidation. Forced liquidations occur when your Current Margin dips below your Maintenance Margin.

settlement - a trade made on your behalf to repay outstanding debts, such as lending fees. A settlement trade will trade assets held within your collateral to repay said debts. Settlements may also be used to repay lenders the exact currency that the margin trader has borrowed during loan repayment.

P/L (profit/loss) - an estimation of the current profit/loss associated with a margin account should a position or multiple positions be closed out at that particular time.