StockTradingBook.com

 

Terms used in Stock Trading, Trading Patterns, Technical Analysis, and the Stock Market


At-the-money - an option those strike price matches the underlying current price
Bar chart - stock chart that shows a vertical line representing the price range, typically includes ticks to represent the open and close
Bear market - a market characterized by prices that generally fall
Bid - the price you expect to sell at when using a market order
Breakeven - when the price is equal to a level that covers the expense of entering and exiting a trade
Breakout - when a stock trades above or below a significant high or low price
Broker - an agent who executes buy or sell orders for customers
Bull market - a market characterized by prices that generally rise
Buy stop order - an order to buy that is contingent on prices rising above a certain price before being executed
Call option - the right, but not the obligation, to buy a stock at a certain price sometime in the future
Candlestick chart - Japanese stock chart that represents price action with a real body for the open and close and wicks, or tails, for the high and low
Chart - graphical representation of price action
Close - last trading price for the market session
Day order - order that either is filled or expires by the end of the day trading session
Day trading - trading that typically involves opening and closing a position within one trading day
DIA - ticker symbol for the AMEX Diamonds
Divergence - a difference in indicators
Downtrend - a series of lower lows and lower highs
Elliott Wave - method of analyzing the stock market in waves of threes and twos
Exchange - an association that participate in the business of buying and selling stocks
Fibonacci - for the stock market, a method of measuring potential support and resistance levels
Fill or Kill - an order that is filled almost immediately or canceled if not filled immediately
Floor trader - exchange members who trade on the floor, typically for themselves or as a member of a financial institution
Gap - a skip or jump in a trading range.
Good-Till-Cancel - an order that is open until either a certain price is reached or canceled
Hedge - a transfer of risk that typically involves offsetting a position with either the purchase or sale of options
High - highest price that occurs for a trading period
Index - a specialized average that represents a group of stocks
Interest rate - rate at which funds are usually borrowed or lended
Level II - in depth representation of bids and offers
Leverage - the ability to control a larger amount of money with a smaller amount
Limit order - an order that is only filled a specified price, or better
Line chart - stock chart that plots a line from closing price to closing price
Liquidity - a market that allows for easy entry and exit of a position due to the large amount of volume
Low - lowest price that occurs for a trading period
Margin - effectively borrowed money
Margin call - when a broker requires that you put up more money for the open positions that you have in your account
Market order - an order to enter or exit a position at the current price
Money management - controlling the amount of money at risk
Moving average - a lagging indicator of price action that replaces the oldest price with the most recent price
Offer - price at which you can expect to pay for taking a long position
Online trading - trading through a broker, typically on the internet, that requires no interaction with a human broker
Open - first price of the trading period
Point and figure chart - stock chart that represents price with X's and O's, does not account for time like a typical bar chart does
Position - what stocks you are either long or short in your account
Pullback - when stocks prices temporarily give back recent gains or losses
QQQ - AMEX tracking stock for the Nasdaq 100 index
Rally - when prices rise
Range - difference between the high and low price of a trading period
Resistance - a price level where rising prices can be expected to stop or turn back down
Retracement - when a stock gives back recent gains before rising again or when just the opposite when falling
Short - selling a stock that you don't own
SPY - AMEX tracking stock that represents the S&P 500
Stochastic - oscillator indicator typically associated with George Lane as the inventor
Stop order - order to buy or sell that is executed once a certain price is exceeded
Support - a price level where falling prices can be expected to stop or turn back up

 

 

 

StockTradingBook.com