After-Hours Trading
Trading after the market closes at 4 PM ET
Bear Market
When stocks are falling
Bid-Ask Spread
The gap between what buyers offer and what sellers want
Blue Chip Stock
A large, stable, well-known company with a long track record
Broker
The app or platform where you buy stocks
Bull Market
When stocks are going up
Buyback
When a company buys back its own shares
Day Trading
Buying and selling stocks within the same day
Dividend
Cash a company pays you just for owning their stock
ETF
A basket of many stocks in one
Federal Reserve
The US central bank that controls interest rates and the money supply
Going Long
Buying a stock expecting it to go up
Index
A scoreboard for a group of stocks
Inflation
Prices rising over time, making your money worth less
IPO
When a company goes public for the first time
Limit Order
Buy or sell only at a specific price or better
Liquidity
How easy it is to buy or sell something quickly
Market Cap
Total value of a company
Market Order
Buy or sell immediately at whatever price is available
Mutual Fund
A pool of money from many investors managed by a professional
Penny Stock
A very cheap stock, usually from a tiny or risky company
Portfolio
All your investments together
Pre-Market Trading
Trading that happens before the market officially opens
REIT
A company that owns real estate you can buy like a stock
Sector
A group of companies in the same type of business
Share
One unit of a stock
Stock
A tiny piece of ownership in a company
Stock Split
When a company divides its shares into more, cheaper pieces
Ticker Symbol
The short code used to identify a stock
Yield
The income you earn on an investment as a percentage
52-Week High
The highest price a stock has been in the last year
Average True Range
How much a stock typically moves in a day
Bollinger Bands
Lines around a stock's price showing its normal range
Breakout
When a stock bursts above a resistance level
Candlestick
A chart shape that shows a stock's price movement in a time period
Cup and Handle
A bullish chart pattern shaped like a coffee cup
Death Cross
A bearish signal when a short-term average falls below a long-term one
Double Bottom
A "W" shaped pattern that signals a potential reversal upward
Fibonacci Retracement
Key price levels where a stock might pause or reverse
Gap Up / Gap Down
When a stock opens much higher or lower than it closed
Golden Cross
A bullish signal when a short-term average crosses above a long-term one
Head and Shoulders
A chart pattern that often signals a trend reversal
MACD
A momentum indicator showing when a trend might be changing
Moving Average
The average price of a stock over a set number of days
Resistance Level
A price where a stock tends to stop rising
RSI
A score (0–100) showing if a stock is overbought or oversold
Support Level
A price where a stock tends to stop falling
Volume
How many shares were traded today
Analyst Consensus
The average opinion of professional stock analysts
Balance Sheet
A snapshot of everything a company owns and owes
Book Value
What a company is worth on paper if you sold everything and paid all debts
Debt-to-Equity
How much a company borrowed vs. what it actually owns
Earnings Report
A company's quarterly report card
EBITDA
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization
EPS
How much profit a company makes per share
Forward P/E
P/E ratio based on expected future earnings, not past ones
Free Cash Flow
Actual cash left after all expenses
Gross Margin
Revenue left after subtracting the direct cost of making the product
Guidance
A company's prediction for their own future performance
Operating Income
Profit from the core business before taxes and interest
P/E Ratio
How expensive a stock is compared to its profits
Price-to-Book (P/B)
Stock price vs. the company's net assets
Price-to-Sales (P/S)
How much investors pay for each dollar of a company's revenue
Profit Margin
What percentage of revenue becomes actual profit
Return on Equity
How efficiently a company uses shareholder money to make profit
Revenue
Total money a company brings in
Working Capital
A company's short-term financial cushion
Beta
How much a stock moves compared to the overall market
Black Swan
A rare, unpredictable event that causes massive market disruption
Concentration Risk
Too much money in one stock, sector, or asset type
Correlation
How closely two investments move together
Counterparty Risk
The risk that the other side of a deal can't hold up their end
Diversification
Not putting all your eggs in one basket
Drawdown
How much your investment dropped from its peak
Hedge
An investment that offsets losses in another
Leverage
Using borrowed money or financial instruments to amplify your investment
Margin
Borrowing money from your broker to buy more stocks
Position Sizing
Deciding how much of your money to put in one stock
Risk/Reward Ratio
Comparing how much you could lose vs. how much you could gain
Short Interest
How many people are betting a stock will fall
Short Selling
Betting that a stock will go down
Stop Loss
An automatic sell order if a stock drops too much
Volatility
How wildly a stock's price swings
Buy and Hold
Buy stocks and keep them for years
Contrarian Investing
Buying what everyone else is selling, and selling what everyone is buying
Dividend Growth Investing
Investing in companies that consistently grow their dividend every year
Dollar-Cost Averaging
Invest a fixed amount every month no matter what
DRIP
Automatically reinvesting dividends to buy more shares
Growth Investing
Buying companies growing fast even if expensive
Index Investing
Buying funds that track the whole market instead of picking stocks
Insider Trading (Legal)
Tracking what company executives are buying
Momentum Investing
Buying stocks that are already going up
Rebalancing
Adjusting your portfolio back to your target allocation
Sector Rotation
Moving money between sectors depending on the economic cycle
Swing Trading
Holding stocks for days to weeks to capture medium-term moves
Tax-Loss Harvesting
Selling losing investments to reduce your tax bill
Value Investing
Buying stocks that are cheaper than they're worth
Bond
A loan you give to a company or government that pays you interest
Call Option
A contract giving you the right to buy a stock at a set price
Covered Call
Selling someone else the right to buy your stock at a higher price
Credit Rating
A grade for how likely a borrower is to repay their debt
Expiration Date
The last day an option can be used
Implied Volatility
The market's expectation of how much a stock will move
Put Option
A contract giving you the right to sell a stock at a set price
Strike Price
The price at which an option lets you buy or sell
Yield Curve
A graph showing interest rates at different loan lengths