Market capitalization Basics
Share price × shares outstanding — what the whole company is worth at today's price; used to compare company size.
See it on the site →Investing glossary
Plain-language explanations of terms used across the site and reports, from P/E and moving averages to 13F filings and the VIX.
P/E ratio Basics
Price ÷ earnings per share: how many times its earnings a stock trades at. High can mean strong growth hopes or an expensive stock — compare within the same industry.
See it on the site →P/B ratio Basics
Price ÷ book value per share. Below 1 is often read as trading under the company's net asset value.
See it on the site →EPS (earnings per share) Basics
Net income ÷ shares. The headline number in earnings reports, compared with the consensus estimate to judge a 'beat' or 'miss'.
See it on the site →Dividend yield Basics
Annual dividend per share ÷ price. A falling price raises the yield, so check whether the dividend itself is at risk.
See it on the site →Moving averages (20-day, 200-day) Charts & trends
Lines joining the average close of the last 20 days (~1 month) or 200 days (~10 months). Price above the 20-day suggests short-term strength; above the 200-day, long-term strength.
See it on the site →Golden cross · Death cross Charts & trends
The 50-day average crossing above the 200-day is a golden cross (read as bullish); crossing below is a death cross (read as bearish). They lag, so they're not used alone.
See it on the site →RSI (relative strength index) Charts & trends
Compares the size of recent gains and losses (usually 14 days) on a 0–100 scale. Above 70 is read as overbought, below 30 as oversold.
See it on the site →Volume spike Charts & trends
Trading far above its usual (20-day average) level. A volume surge without a big price move can precede a change, such as large investors building or unwinding positions.
See it on the site →From 52-week high Charts & trends
How far today's price is below the highest price of the past year. −30% means 30% below the one-year peak.
See it on the site →Fear & Greed index Sentiment
Investor sentiment on a 0 (extreme fear) to 100 (extreme greed) scale. The site shows the crypto-market index from Alternative.me.
See it on the site →VIX (volatility index) Sentiment
Expected 30-day volatility of the S&P 500 implied by options prices. Higher means more anxiety; above about 20 is usually read as stressed.
See it on the site →Yield curve (10-year minus 2-year) Economy & rates
The 10-year Treasury yield minus the 2-year. Normally positive; when it turns negative (inverted) it's often read as a recession warning.
See it on the site →U.S. dollar index (DXY) Economy & rates
The dollar's average value against six major currencies (euro, yen, pound and others). A rising index — a stronger dollar — often weighs on emerging markets, commodities and U.S. multinationals' overseas earnings.
See it on the site →Funding rate · Open interest Sentiment
Funding is the periodic payment between longs and shorts in crypto perpetual futures; a large positive rate means bets on rising prices are crowded. Open interest is the size of futures contracts still open — a gauge of how much leverage has built up.
See it on the site →FOMC · Policy rate Economy & rates
The FOMC is the Federal Reserve meeting that sets the policy rate (8 times a year). Rate-decision odds are market expectations implied by futures prices (CME FedWatch), not guarantees.
See it on the site →CPI · PCE (inflation) Economy & rates
CPI is the consumer price index; PCE is the price index the Fed prefers. Hotter-than-expected readings tend to reduce hopes for rate cuts and weigh on stocks.
See it on the site →GDP growth Economy & rates
How much a country's total output grew. The U.S. reports annualized quarter-on-quarter, the eurozone non-annualized quarter-on-quarter, China year-on-year — so the numbers aren't directly comparable.
See it on the site →Form 13F Strategies
Quarterly SEC filing by institutions with investment discretion over $100M+ in 13F securities (mainly U.S.-listed stocks). Filed within 45 days of quarter-end, so it can be up to about six weeks old.
See it on the site →IPO (initial public offering) Strategies
An IPO is a company's first sale of stock to the public. Underwriters gauge institutional demand on a roadshow (book-building) to set the offer price the night before trading starts; most shares go to institutions, and heavily oversubscribed deals often jump on day one.
See it on the site →Leveraged ETF Strategies
An ETF that tracks 2x or 3x an index's daily move. Because it resets daily, choppy markets can cause losses even if the index ends flat (volatility drag).
See it on the site →Forced selling · Liquidation Strategies
When stock bought with borrowed money falls below the required maintenance ratio, the broker sells it (forced selling). In crypto futures, a position is closed when its margin runs out (liquidation).
See it on the site →Stop-loss · Reward-to-risk Strategies
A stop-loss is the price where you've decided in advance to sell. Reward-to-risk is target gain ÷ accepted loss; 1:2 means risking 1 to aim for 2.
See it on the site →Compounding · Rule of 72 Strategies
Compounding is earning returns on past returns. Divide 72 by the annual return (%) for the rough years to double (8% a year ≈ 9 years).
See it on the site →Consensus estimate Earnings
The average of analysts' forecasts for a company's results. Earnings are usually judged less by the raw number than by how they compare with this estimate.
See it on the site →Earnings beat · Earnings miss Earnings
Results above the consensus are a beat; below it, a miss. A stock can still fall after a beat if the outlook disappoints.
See it on the site →Guidance Earnings
A company's own forecast for next quarter's or the year's revenue and profit. Markets sometimes react more to guidance than to the results just reported.
See it on the site →Revenue · Operating profit · Net income Earnings
Revenue is total sales; operating profit is what the core business earns after costs and operating expenses; net income is the bottom line after interest, taxes and everything else.
See it on the site →Operating margin Earnings
Operating profit ÷ revenue: how much of each sale the core business keeps. Higher means more profitable; levels differ by industry, so compare peers.
See it on the site →Free cash flow (FCF) Earnings
Cash generated by operations minus capital spending. It's the money left for dividends, buybacks or paying down debt — often seen as a truer measure than accounting profit.
See it on the site →Capex (capital expenditure) Earnings
Money spent on long-lived assets such as factories, equipment or data centers. Big companies' capex plans hint at future sales for the firms that supply that equipment.
See it on the site →ROE (return on equity) Basics
Net income ÷ shareholders' equity: the yearly return a company earns on its owners' money. Debt can inflate it, so check leverage too.
See it on the site →P/S ratio Basics
Market cap ÷ annual revenue. Used instead of P/E for growth companies with little or no profit; hard to compare across industries with different margins.
See it on the site →EV/EBITDA Basics
Enterprise value (market cap + net debt) ÷ earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It evens out differences in debt and depreciation; lower is read as cheaper.
See it on the site →Beta Basics
How strongly a stock has moved relative to the overall market. 1 means in line with the market; 1.5 means about 1.5% for every 1% market move. It's backward-looking, not a promise.
See it on the site →Share buyback · Cancellation Basics
A buyback is a company purchasing its own shares in the market; cancellation retires them for good. Fewer shares lift per-share earnings, so it's seen as returning money to shareholders.
See it on the site →Dividend payout ratio Basics
The share of net income paid out as dividends. A very high ratio can make the dividend hard to sustain if profits fall.
See it on the site →Record date · Ex-dividend date Basics
You must be a shareholder of record on the record date to get the dividend. Because settlement takes time, buying on or after the ex-dividend date doesn't qualify; the price typically drops by about the dividend that day.
See it on the site →Stock split Basics
Dividing each share into several. In a 10-for-1 split the price becomes one-tenth, so company value and your holding are unchanged — shares just get cheaper to buy.
See it on the site →Short selling · Short interest Sentiment
Short selling means borrowing shares, selling them, and hoping to buy them back cheaper later. Short interest is the amount still outstanding; a high level shows crowded bearish bets, and a rally can force a rush of buy-backs (a short squeeze).
See it on the site →Pre-market · After-hours Sentiment
Trading sessions before and after the U.S. regular session (9:30 a.m.–4 p.m. Eastern). Many earnings come out after the close, so big moves often show up here first, but thin trading can exaggerate prices.
See it on the site →Sector rotation Sentiment
Money moving out of one group of industries into another — say, from growth stocks into cyclical or defensive ones. The index may barely move while sectors diverge sharply.
See it on the site →Volatility Charts & trends
How widely a price swings up and down. Higher volatility means bigger possible gains and losses over the same period, so it's used as a measure of risk.
See it on the site →Circuit breaker Sentiment
A market-wide trading halt triggered by a sharp one-day drop. U.S. markets pause trading if the S&P 500 falls 7% or 13% from the prior close, and close for the day at 20%.
See it on the site →Lock-up Strategies
A period after an IPO (often 90–180 days) during which insiders and early investors agree not to sell. When it expires, a wave of selling can weigh on the price.
See it on the site →ETF (exchange-traded fund) Strategies
A fund built to track an index or basket of assets that trades on an exchange like a stock. One purchase spreads your money across many holdings.
See it on the site →Index fund Strategies
A fund that simply tracks an index such as the S&P 500 or the total U.S. stock market, aiming to match the market at low cost rather than beat it. Unlike an ETF, it's usually bought or sold once a day at its net asset value.
See it on the site →Expense ratio Strategies
The yearly percentage a fund or ETF deducts from its assets to cover costs. It's taken quietly each day, but the gap compounds over long holding periods.
See it on the site →Inverse ETF Strategies
An ETF designed to rise when an index falls on a given day (sometimes by 2x). Like leveraged ETFs it resets daily, so over longer periods its return can drift from the index's decline.
See it on the site →Market order · Limit order Strategies
A market order fills right away at whatever price is available; a limit order fills only at your set price or better. In thinly traded stocks a market order can fill at a worse price than expected.
See it on the site →Dollar-cost averaging Strategies
Investing a fixed amount at regular intervals, such as monthly. You automatically buy more when prices are low and less when high, which eases the pressure of timing — but it doesn't prevent losses.
See it on the site →Diversification Strategies
Spreading money across different stocks, sectors, asset types and countries. It limits the damage when one holding falls, though it helps less when the whole market drops together.
See it on the site →Schedule 13D · 13G Strategies
SEC filings required when an investor owns more than 5% of a U.S.-listed company. Investors seeking to influence management file a 13D; passive investors file the shorter 13G.
See it on the site →Form 4 (insider trades) Strategies
SEC filing that officers, directors and 10%+ owners of a U.S.-listed company must submit, generally within two business days, when they trade its shares. Insider sales often reflect taxes or personal needs, so they're harder to read than purchases.
See it on the site →PMI (purchasing managers' index) Economy & rates
A survey asking company purchasing managers whether orders, output, hiring and more are improving. Above 50 signals expansion, below 50 contraction; manufacturing and services are reported separately.
See it on the site →Nonfarm payrolls · Unemployment rate Economy & rates
The U.S. jobs report, usually released on the first Friday of the month. It shows how many non-farm jobs were added and the unemployment rate, and weighs heavily on Fed rate decisions.
See it on the site →Initial jobless claims Economy & rates
The number of people in the U.S. filing for unemployment benefits for the first time in the past week, released every Thursday. Because it's so timely, it gives an early read on layoffs.
See it on the site →Core inflation Economy & rates
Inflation excluding volatile food and energy prices. It filters out temporary swings to show the underlying trend.
See it on the site →Real interest rate Economy & rates
The nominal interest rate minus (expected) inflation. A 5% rate with 4% inflation grows purchasing power by only about 1%. Rising real rates often weigh on gold and growth stocks.
See it on the site →Basis point (bp) Economy & rates
One hundredth of a percentage point (0.01%). A rate rising from 4.00% to 4.25% has gone up 25 bp.
See it on the site →Treasury yield (10-year) Economy & rates
The return investors demand to lend to the U.S. government; when bond prices fall, yields rise. The 10-year yield anchors loan rates and stock valuations, and a rising yield often weighs on growth stocks.
See it on the site →Credit spread Economy & rates
A corporate bond's yield minus a government bond yield of the same maturity — the extra pay for default risk. Widening spreads signal worry about the economy and corporate defaults.
See it on the site →Quantitative tightening (QT) · Easing (QE) Economy & rates
QE is a central bank buying bonds to pump money into the system; QT shrinks those holdings, typically by not reinvesting as bonds mature, draining money. Alongside rate decisions, they shape market liquidity.
See it on the site →Spot bitcoin ETF Crypto
An ETF that holds actual bitcoin and tracks its price. It can be traded in a brokerage account without a crypto exchange, and its daily inflows and outflows are watched as a gauge of demand.
See it on the site →Stablecoin Crypto
A coin designed to hold a fixed value against a currency, such as one coin = one U.S. dollar. Issuers back it with reserves like cash and Treasury bills, and it's widely used to settle crypto trades.
See it on the site →Halving Crypto
The point at which bitcoin's mining reward is cut in half, roughly every four years (210,000 blocks), slowing the supply of new coins. Any link to price comes from past cycles and isn't guaranteed.
See it on the site →Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) Chips
An index of 30 major semiconductor companies listed in the U.S. It's a barometer for the chip industry and sets the tone for Asian chip stocks the next trading day.
See it on the site →HBM (high-bandwidth memory) Chips
Memory made by stacking several DRAM chips vertically and linking them with tiny through-silicon vias (TSVs) so huge amounts of data move at once. It sits right next to AI accelerators (GPUs), so its demand tracks AI investment.
See it on the site →Foundry · Memory Chips
A foundry manufactures chips designed by other companies under contract; memory means data-storage chips such as DRAM and NAND. Memory is a standardized product, so its prices swing in pronounced supply-and-demand cycles.
See it on the site →