Template:Isdadefs Effective Date summ
The Effective Date is the day when everything starts for real on a Transaction — at which point payments start happening, Calculation Period begin to run and so on. To be contrasted with the Trade Date, being the date when traded and went “on risk” — at that point you struck your prices (Initial Price, Strike Price, so on).
So the sequence is Trade Date, Effective Date — — and Termination Date.