After Hours Trading
Trading that occurs after the regular trading hours of 9:30 am to 4:00 pm Eastern Time.  Also known as the "after-hours market".

Alpha
The performance measure of a mutual fund on a risk-adjusted basis. Alpha compares the volatility of a mutual fund to a benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis. The excess return of the fund in comparison to the benchmark index is the funds alpha.

American Depositary Receipt (ADR) 
Certificates issued by U.S. banks that represent a certain number of shares in a foreign stock that is traded on U.S. exchanges. ADRs are denominated in U.S. dollars, and the underlying security is being held by a U.S. financial institution overseas. They are much more convenient for U.S. shareholders to own since there are no problems in transferring securities from a foreign country or currency conversion.

Annual Report
A corporation’s annual statement of financial operations. Annual reports include a balance sheet, income statement, auditor’s report and description of a company’s operations.

Anti-Takeover Measure
Actions taken by a company’s management to prevent or discourage an unwanted takeover.

Ask
Also known as the ask price or the offer price. It is the price the seller is willing to accept for a security. May also stipulate the amount of the security willing to be sold at that price.

Basic Materials Sector
The category of stocks that contain companies involved in the discovery, development, and processing of raw materials. This sector includes companies involved in mining, metal refining, chemical production, and forestry products.

Bear
An investor who believes that the overall stock market or an individual security will move downward. A bearish investor has a pessimistic outlook, and attempts to profit when the market declines.  

Bear Market
An extended period of falling prices in the market, typically accompanied by widespread pessimism in the markets. A 15-20% drop in a market index from the 12-month high is considered an entry into a bear market.

Bear Trap
The situation that occurs when a bear market reverses its trend while bearish investors who thought the decline would continue sell short. The short sellers then have to cover their positions at a higher price.

Below the Market
An order to buy or sell a security at a price that is lower than what the security current trades at.

Benchmark
The measure commonly used to compare the performance of stock, fund, or investment against a standard. Most often broad market stock and bond indices are used for the comparison.
 
Bid
This is the highest price a buyer is willing to pay for a security. Typically the offer will include the bid price and the quantity desired to be purchased.

Big Board
A nickname for the New York Stock Exchange.

Blue Chip
A blue chip stock is a large, well established company with stable earnings and no large liabilities. Most pay dividends even in market downturns. Blue chips generally sell high-quality, widely accepted products and services, and are perceived to offer reliable returns, low yields, and most importantly, low risk.

Bubble
An economic cycle that typically exhibits rapid expansion followed by a sudden contraction, known as a crash or bubble burst. It is often very difficult to differentiate a bubble from a bull market except in hindsight. Often caused when securities are being bought and sold for significantly more than their intrinsic value.

Buy And Hold
A passive long-term investment strategy that believes in the long run financial markets give a good rate of return despite periods of volatility or decline . An investor who employs a buy-and-hold strategy actively selects stocks, but once in a position, is not concerned with short-term price movements and technical indicators. Warren Buffett is an example of a buy and hold investor.

CAC 40
The French stock market index that tracks the 40 largest French stocks based on market capitalization on the Paris Bourse (stock exchange). Named after the Paris Bourse’s early automation system Cotation Assistee en Continu.

CANSLIM
A method for selecting stocks created by Investor’s Business Daily co-founder William O’Neil. Each letter in the acronym stands for a key factor to look for when deciding to possibly invest in a company.

Capitalization
1. "Invested capital" is the sum of a company’s corporate stock, long-term debt and retained earnings.
2. Market capitalization, or “market cap” is the company’s outstanding shares multiplied by its share price.

Cash Dividend
A dividend paid to stockholders, usually in the form of a check, out of the corporation’s current earnings or accumulated profits. All dividends are taxable as income to the recipients.

Choppy Market
A market condition which results in considerable price swings up and down, but no underlying price movement in the stock.

Circuit Breaker
If the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) experiences a substantial single-day decline, the circuit breakers pause trading for a specified time period or close the market for the rest of the day. Also known as “collars”.

Close
The end of a trading period. Most often the day’s closing numbers are reported in the next day’s newspaper or quoted in news sources.

Closing Bell
The New York Stock Exchange uses the bell to signify the end of a trading period.

Closing Price
The price of the last transaction at which a security is traded on a given trading day. This price remains in effect until trading commences the next trading day. Also called the “close”.

Commission
A fee paid to a stock broker or investment advisor by the client in return for handling the purchase or selling of securities in the stock market. The fee may be based on a percentage of the total transaction or as a flat fee. Commissions vary widely from brokerage to brokerage.

Common Stock
A security that represents equity ownership in a corporation, provides voting rights, and entitles the holder to share in the company profits via a dividend payment.

Composite
A standardized grouping of equities, indices, or other factors used to measure the performance of a particular sector or the overall market. Also known as a “composite index”.

Composite Index
See Composite

Correction
A drop of at least 10% in a stock, bond, commodity or index, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, etc.

Covered Call
The selling of a call option while simultaneously holding an equivalent position in the security. This is used when the stock is neutral or slightly declining. If the option expires unexercised, the writer keeps the premium, if the option is exercised, the writer already owns the stock, so the risk is limited.

Current Yield
The ratio of the annual interest payments and the bond’s current price.

Defensive Company
A company that has sales and earnings remain relatively unchanged during economic upturns and downturns.

Depositary Receipt
Marketed internationally to sophisticated investors, these are negotiable certificates that give evidence of ownership of a company’s shares. They are a good medium for international investors because they maybe more liquid and more easily traded than the underlying shares.

Dividend
The payment designated by the board of directors to be distributed among the shares outstanding. On common shares, the dividend varies with the profitability of the company and the amount of cash on hand, and may be omitted if business is poor or the directors decide to withhold earnings to invest in the company. Sometimes a company will pay a dividend out of past earnings even if it is not currently operating at a profit

Dividend Rate
The total dividend payments from an investment expressed on an yearly basis plus any additional non-recurring dividends that may be paid out during that period.

Dividend Yield
The annual percentage of return that the dividend provides to the investor on either common or preferred stock-often referred to as just "yield." The yield is calculated by dividing the annual cash dividend per share by the stock’s market price at the time of purchase.

Dividend yield is calculated as follows:

Dogs of the Dow
Popularized by Michael O’Higgins in 1991, it is an investing strategy that consists of buying the 10 Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks with the highest dividend yield at the beginning of the year.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (or Dow 30) consists of the 30 largest and most widely held public company stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The DJIA was invented by Charles Dow back in 1896.

Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA)
The oldest stock market index. The Dow Jones Transportation Average is comprised of 20 stocks that represent the transportation industry.

Dow Theory
A theory regarding stock price movements and provides the basis of technical analysis. Theorizes that an upward movement in one of the averages will be followed closely by an upward movement in the other averages.

Downgrade
Used to refer to an analysts negative change in the rating of a company, such as from a “buy” to a “sell”. Typically done when an analyst believes the company’s outlook has detrimentally changed due to any number of factors.

EAFE Index
The index created by Morgan Stanley Capital International  that serves as the benchmark for 21 major indexes in Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia.

Earnings Before Interest & Tax (EBIT)
An indicator of a company’s profitability, calculated as revenue minus expenses, excluding tax and interest. EBIT is also referred to as "operating earnings", "operating profit" and "operating income", as you can re-arrange the formula to be calculated as follows:

EBIT 
Acronym for Earnings before Interest and Taxes.

Earnings Estimate
The expected future quarterly or annual earnings for a company as estimated by an analyst or investment company.

Earnings Per Share (EPS)
The measure of a company’s earnings on an individual share basis. EPS is an indicator of a company’s profitability.

Calculated as:

Earnings Season
The time period in which a majority of company earnings are released to the public.

Earnings Surprise
When the quarterly or annually reported earnings of a company are higher or lower than the analysts’ earnings estimates.

Effective Date
The date on which shares can start trading, typically 20 days after the security is registered with the SEC. This usually refers to the date when shares become available for sale in an initial public offering.

Elliot Wave Theory
Theory named after Ralph Nelson Elliott, who concluded that the movement of the stock market could be predicted by observing and identifying a repetitive pattern of waves, observed as a series of 5 waves up and 3 waves down.

Energy Sector
The group of stocks that involve the producing or supplying of energy. The sector includes companies involved in the exploration and development of oil or gas reserves, drilling for gas or oil, or integrated power firms.

Exchange
A market in which securities commodities, options or futures are traded. Examples are the NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX.

Exchange Traded Funds
An open ended mutual fund that trades throughout the day. Because the ETF trades like a stock with daily price changes, it does not have a NAV like a traditional mutual fund does. Typically used to replicate an index (like the NASDAQ), a sector (such technology), or a commodity (such as oil).

Financial Sector
The category of stocks containing financial markets and institutions.

Float
The number of shares publicly owned and available for trading. The float is calculated by subtracting the number of restricted shares from the number of outstanding shares.

Focus List
A small list of recommended stocks that an investment firm believes offers the most attractive investment opportunities for its’ clients.

Forward Price-to-Earnings (Forward P/E)
A measure of the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) using a forecasted earnings amount for the P/E calculation. Even though the earnings used are forecasted and not actual earnings, there is still benefit in estimating the P/E ratio.

Going Public
The process of selling shares in a company to investors for the first time. Also known as an initial public offering (IPO).

Growth Company
Any company whose business generates positive cash flows or earnings, which increases at rates faster than the overall economy. Typically these companies pay little to no dividends to stockholders, instead they typically reinvest their retained earnings into the company’s growth opportunities.

Growth Fund
A fund that has capital appreciation as its primary goal, with little or no dividend payouts. They focus on companies that are experiencing significant earnings or revenue growth.

Growth Stock
Stock in a company which is growing earnings at an above-average rate relative to the market.

Hang Seng
An index of the 33 largest stocks on the Hong Kong stock market.

Hiccup
A short-term market dip. A hiccup can be used to describe the business actions of a particular company, a stock price downturn, or the stock market as a whole.

Historical Volatility – HV
A measure of price fluctuation over a given time period. This measure is calculated by taking the average deviation from the average price of a financial instrument in the given time period.

Holding Company Depository Receipt – HOLDR
A type of security created by Merrill Lynch and traded daily on the American Stock Exchange that bundles together the stocks in a particular sector, industry or other classification and allows buying or selling of this collection in a single transaction.

Income Stock
A stock with a history of regular high dividend payments that constitute the largest portion of the stock’s overall return.

Index
An index provides a representation of a particular market or a portion of it. Each index has its own calculation methodology and is usually expressed in terms of a change from a starting value.

Insider
A person who has information of or access to corporate information that isn’t available to the general public.

Insider Information
Material information that is known by the company’s board of directors, management, and employees about a company’s activities that has not been disclosed to the public.

Interest
1. The amount of ownership a stockholder has in a company.
2. The fee charged by the lender to the borrower for the privilege of borrowing money, typically expressed as an annual percentage rate.

Interest Sensitive Stock
Any stock that is extremely sensitive to changes in interest rates.

International Securities Exchange (ISE)
An electronic options exchange that was created in 2000. The exchange currently consists of an options exchange, a stock exchange, an alternative markets platform and market data. ISE offers index options, including a portfolio of proprietary index products, and enhanced market data products for sophisticated investors

Intraday
Another way of saying "within the day". The term is often used when stating high and low prices of a security.

January Effect
The tendency for stock prices to rise during the month of January. This is generally attributed to investors buying stocks that have dropped following a sell-off at the end of December by persons seeking to create tax losses to offset any capital gains.

Junior Issue
Debt or equity issue of a corporation that is subordinate in claim to another issue of the same corporation in regard to dividends, interest, principal, or security in the event of liquidation.

Junior Security
A security with a lower claim on assets in the event of a company’s liquidation.

Large Cap
An abbreviation for the term "large market capitalization". Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the number of a company’s shares outstanding by its stock price per share. A large-cap stock would be from a company with a market-capitalization dollar value of over $10 billion.

Leveraged ETF
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) that uses derivatives and debt to increase the returns of an underlying index. They are available for most indexes, such as the NASDAQ-100 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Limit Order
The customer specifies with a broker a price to buy or sell a certain number of shares or a certain time within which the order must be executed.

Manipulation
The artificial increasing or decreasing the price of a stock. Most manipulation is illegal.

Margin Account
An account in which stocks can be purchased for a combination of cash and a loan. The loan in the account is collateralized by the securities and cash. If the value of the stock drops sufficiently, the account holder will be required to deposit more cash or sell a portion of the stock.

Margin Call
A call to bring margin deposits up to the minimum amount. This is sometimes called a "maintenance call".

Margin Debt
A debit in your account that is owed to the broker. The debit is secured with stocks and bonds which regulators have authorized for use as collateral. It excludes funds due which are debits resulting from purchases in a cash account.

Market Capitalization
The value of a company. It is determined by multiplying the number of shares outstanding by the current stock price. Frequently referred to as "market cap".

Mega Cap
Companies having a Market Cap greater than $200 billion.

Member Firm
A securities brokerage firm organized as a partnership and having at least one general partner or employee who is a member of the New York Stock Exchange.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)
Combining of two companies into one larger company. Such actions are commonly voluntary and involve stock swap or cash payment to the target. Stock swap is often used as it allows the shareholders of the two companies to share the risk involved in the deal.

Micro Cap
Companies with market capitalizations between $50 million and $300 million.

Mid Cap
A company with a market capitalization between $2 and $10 billion.

Minority Interest
Minority interest in business is ownership of a company that is less than 50% of outstanding shares.

MSCI Emerging Markets Index
An index created by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) that is designed to measure equity market performance in global emerging markets.

Naked Position
A securities position that is not protected from market risk in any manner. For instance, the position of person who writes a call option without owning a long position in the underlying security, or writing a put option without having a short position in the underlying security.

Naked Put
A put option whose writer does not have a short position in the stock on which he or she has written the put.

Naked Shorting
The illegal practice of short selling shares that have not been affirmatively determined to exist. Some professional investors and hedge funds take advantage of loopholes in the rules to sell shares without making any attempt to borrow the stock.

NASDAQ 100 Index
The NASDAQ 100 Index tracks the 100 largest stocks listed by the NASDAQ Composite Index. It is the most widely traded Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) in the world, with 91 million shares moving each day. The NASDAQ 100 is often treated as an index of "tech stocks" simply because it’s components are mostly new technology companies.

NASDAQ National Market Securities- NASDAQ NM
The NASDAQ National Market consists of over 3,000 companies that have a national or international shareholder base, have applied for listing, meet stringent financial requirements and agree to specific corporate governance standards. To list initially, companies are required to have significant net tangible assets or operating income, a minimum public float of 500,000 shares, at least 400 shareholders, and a bid price of at least $5.

Net Investment
The total carrying value (after accumulated depreciation) of all property, plant, and equipment, less directly related liabilities. This amount is exclusive of real properties that are held for investment purposes.

Calculated as:

Net Investment = Capital Expenditures – Non-cash Depreciation

Net Long
An investor who has more long positions than short positions in a given asset, market, portfolio or trading strategy. Investors who are net long will benefit when the price of the asset increases.

Net Short
An investor who has more short positions than long positions in a given asset, market, portfolio or trading strategy. Investors who are net short will benefit when the price of the underlying asset decreases.

Net Volume
A security’s uptick volume minus its downtick volume over a specified period.

Nikkei
Short for Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average, the leading and most-respected index of Japanese stocks.

NYSE Composite Index
The composite index covering price movements of all common stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The index tracks the change in the market value of NYSE common stocks, and is adjusted to eliminate the effects of new listings and delistings. The market value of each stock is calculated by multiplying its price per share by the number of shares listed.

Open
1. The start of trading on a securities exchange
2. An unexecuted order that is still valid

Oracle of Omaha
Commonly referred to as "The Oracle of Omaha" due to his Nebraska roots, Warren Buffett is widely regarded as the world’s most prominent value investor.

Outstanding Shares
Shares of a corporation that have been issued and are held by public shareholders.

Over-the-Counter (OTC)
A geographically decentralized market in which stock and other securities transactions are not conducted in person — as on the much-televised floor of the New York Stock Exchange — but through a telephone and computer network. The over-the-counter market is regulated by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD).

Overbought
A market condition wherein a stock, sector or index has extended outside its normal range to the upside. Often accompanied by increased volume and a string of consecutive positive sessions, the condition implies a near term reversal is likely.

Oversold
A market condition wherein a stock, sector or index has extended outside its normal range to the downside. Often accompanied by increased volume and a string of consecutive negative sessions, the condition implies a near term reversal is likely.

Par
1. A dollar amount assigned to a security when first issued.
2. The face value of a bond. Generally $1,000 for corporate issues, with higher denominations such as $10,000 for many government issues.

Par Value
A dollar amount that is assigned to a security when representing the value contributed for each share in cash or goods.

Peer Perform
A rating used by analysts when a security is expected to provide returns that are consistent with those of other companies within its sector. 

Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX)
The SOX is the most widely recognized index that investors use to track the performance of the 18 U.S. based semiconductor makers and equipment manufacturers.

Pink Sheets
A daily list of over-the-counter stocks not traded on NASDAQ and the broker/dealers making markets in them. The pink sheets normally show the bid and ask prices of the prior day. Pink sheets also refers to OTC trading.

Pre-Market
Trading that is done before the regular market opens.

Preferred Stock
A security that shows ownership in a corporation and gives the holder a claim, prior to the claim of common stockholders, on earnings and also generally on assets in the event of liquidation. Most preferred stock pays a fixed dividend that is paid prior to the common stock dividend, stated in a dollar amount or as a percentage of par value. This stock does not usually carry voting rights.

Price-Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio)
A valuation ratio of a company’s current share price compared to its per-share earnings.

Calculated as:

Price-Weighted Index
A stock index weighted by adding the price of one share of each stock included in the index, and dividing this sum by a constant divisor. The divisor is changed when a stock split or stock dividend occurs because these affect the stock prices. Stocks with a higher price will be given more weight and, therefore, will have a greater influence over the performance of the index.

Price/Earnings to Growth (PEG Ratio)
A ratio used to determine a stock’s value while taking into account earnings growth. The calculation is as follows:

Profit Warning
When a company advises its earnings won’t meet analyst expectations.

Profitability Ratios
A group of ratios which show the combined effects of liquidity, asset management, and debts on operating results. For most of these ratios, having a higher value relative to a competitor’s ratio or the same ratio from a previous period is indicative that the company is doing well.

Pullback
After a strong trend the market retraces a small portion of that move before resuming its trend. This differs from a consolidation, which trades sideways. When a market rises strongly, a pullback may see it decline a small portion of that gain as profit taking steps in before rallying again.

QQQQ
Formerly the QQQ, this is the ticker symbol for the NASDAQ 100 Trust, which is an ETF that trades on the NASDAQ. It is also known as "cubes" or the "quadruple-Qs".

Quarterly Earnings Report
A quarterly filing made by public companies to report their performance. Most companies file in January, April, July and October.

Quote
The highest bid to buy and the lowest offer to sell a security in a given market at a given time. The last price at which a security or commodity traded, meaning the most recent price on which a buyer and seller agreed and at which some amount of the asset was transacted.

Real Time
An application in which information is received and immediately responded to without any time delay. Online brokerages often provide a real-time data feed that displays stock quotes and their respective real-time changes, with a very insignificant lag time, so that clients can base their investing decisions on the most up-to-date information.

Record High
The highest historical price reached by a security, commodity or index during trading. The record high is measured from when the instrument first starts trading and updates whenever the last record high is set.

Record Low
The lowest historical price reached by a security, commodity or index during trading. The record low is measured from when the instrument first starts trading and updates whenever the last record low is set.

Red Flag
An indicator of potential problems with a security. A warning term used to indicate further analysis is warranted.

Reverse Stock Split
A proportionate decrease in the number of shares, but not the value of shares of stock held by shareholders. Shareholders maintain the same percentage of equity as before the split. For example, a 1-for-3 split would result in stockholders owning 1 share for every 3 shares owned before the split.

Russell 2000 Index
An equity index comprising 2000 mid-capitalization US listed stocks. The benchmark small cap stock index in the United States.

Santa Claus Rally
A Santa Claus rally is a late-December rise in stock market activity, generally seen over the final week of trading prior to the new year.

Scalping
The practice of trading in and out of the market on very small price fluctuations. A person who engages in this practice is known as a scalper.

Secondary Market
The market where securities are traded after they are initially offered in the primary market. Most trading is done in the secondary market. The New York Stock Exchange, as well as all other stock exchanges, the bond markets, etc., are secondary markets.

Secondary Offering
The offering for sale of a large block of stock that is not a new issue, but one that is held by a large stock holder, usually a company founder, and proceeds of the sale go to those holders, not the issuing company. Such an offering is generally sponsored or underwritten by an investment bank, much in the same way as an IPO.

Sector
A group of stocks that share common industry characteristics. For example, airline company stocks are a sector of the transportation industry.

Sector Rotation
An active management strategy in which assets are shifted to sector, style, or geographic regions in order to overweight, and thus have a higher exposure in the portfolio.

Secular Market
A market driven by forces that could be in place for 5 to 25 years, causing the price of a particular investment or asset class to rise or fall over a long period of time. 

Security
Evidence of direct ownership (stock), creditorship (bond), or indirect ownership (rights, warrants, and options).

Security Analyst
The security analyst studies the financial condition of companies or markets with attention to capital structure, the amount of working capital available, prospective earnings and dividends, etc., and makes recommendations based on this research.

Sell
1. The process of liquidating an asset in exchange for money.
2. A recommendation to sell a particular security.

Sell to Close
A phrase used on the street to represent the closing of a long position in option transactions.

Sell to Open
A phrase used on the street to represent the opening of a short position in option transactions.

Sell-off
The selling of securities, such as stocks, bonds and commodities in a rapid, accelerated manner. The increase in supply leads to a decline in the value of the security.

Share Repurchase
Occurs when a company buys back its own shares from the marketplace, reducing the number of outstanding shares. This usually means that the company’s management thinks the shares are undervalued.

Shares
Certificate representing one unit of ownership in a corporation or financial asset. The two main types of shares are common shares and preferred shares.

Short (or Short Position)
1. The promise to sell a certain quantity of a good at a particular price in the future.
2. In the context of options, it is the sale (also known as "writing") of an options contract.

Short Covering
The purchase of securities or commodities by a short seller to close out a short sale. This is done by buying the same type and number of securities that were sold short. Most often, traders cover their shorts whenever they speculate that the securities will rise. 

Short Interest
Short interest refers to the number of shares of a stock that have been sold short but have not yet been covered.

Short Sale
Borrowing a security from a broker and selling it, with the understanding that it must later be bought back (hopefully at a lower price) and returned to the broker.

Short Selling
Short selling (or "selling short") is a technique used by investors who try to profit from the falling price of a stock. For example, consider an investor who wants to sell short 100 shares of a company, believing it is overpriced and will fall. The investor’s broker will borrow the shares from someone who owns them with the promise that the investor will return them later. The investor immediately sells the borrowed shares at the current market price. If the price of the shares drops, he/she "covers the short position" by buying back the shares, and his/her broker returns them to the lender.

Small Cap
Refers to stocks with a market capitalization of between $300 million and $2 billion.

Special Dividend
A non-recurring dividend that is exceptional in terms of either size or date issued.

Speculative Stock
A stock with high risk compared to its potential return.

Standard and Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500)
Five hundred widely held common stocks whose average performance serves as a broad-based measurement of changes in stock price. Unlike the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 is market-value weighted vs. price weighted. Considered to be a benchmark of the overall stock market.

Stock
Stock represents ownership in a corporation. It may be represented by a certificate and can be common or preferred, voting or non-voting, redeemable, convertible, etc. The classifications and special designations, if any, of the stock are set forth in the articles of incorporation.

Stock Dividend
Payment of a corporate dividend in form of stock rather than cash. The stock dividend may be additional shares in the company, or it may be shares in a subsidiary being spun off to shareholders.

Stock Market
A generic term representing the organized trading of securities on the various exchanges and the Over-The-Counter (OTC) market. The various types of securities that are traded include: stocks, preferred stocks, options, convertibles, rights, warrants, and bonds.

Stock Quote
The price of a stock at which a broker is willing to buy or sell a specific number of shares.

Stock Split
The division of a company’s outstanding common shares into a larger number of common shares. A three for one split by a company with one million shares outstanding results in three million shares outstanding. Each holder of 100 shares before the split would have 300 shares after the split, but his or her proportionate equity in the company would remain the same – each unit would just be smaller.

Stock Symbol
A unique lettering system assigned to a particular stock or mutual fund. For US securities, one, two and three letter symbols indicate that the security is listed and trades on an exchange. NASDAQ traded securities have a four or five letters assigned to them. If a fifth letter appears on a NASDAQ security, it identifies the issue as other than a single issue of common stock or capital stock. They are also known as "ticker symbols".

Stop-Loss Order
Order type whereby an open position is automatically liquidated at a specific price. Often used to minimize exposure to losses if the market moves against an investor’s position.

Also known as a "stop order" or "stop-market order".

Street Expectation
The average earnings estimates made by brokers and securities analysts.

Swing
1. The fluctuation in the value of an asset, liability or account. This term is most commonly used when referring to a situation in which the price of an asset experiences a significant change over a short period.
2. A short-term strategy in which a trader attempts to capture gains by holding a security for only a few days. Also known as "swing trading".

Takeover
A change in a corporation’s controlling interest through either a friendly acquisition or a hostile bid. Hostile takeovers aim to replace the target company’s existing management and are usually attempted through a public tender offer. Other takeover methods are unsolicited merger proposals to directors, accumulation of shares in the open market, or proxy fights.

Technical Correction
A decrease in the market price of an asset or entire market after extensive price increases. Often caused when the market slows down the purchasing of securities which leads to a pullback to support levels.

Technology Sector
A group of stocks revolving around the manufacturing of electronics, creation of software, computers or products and services relating to information technology.

Tenbagger
A stock whose value increases ten times over its purchase price. This expression was coined by Peter Lynch, one of the greatest investors of all time.

Tender Offer
An offer to purchase some or all of shareholders’ shares in a corporation. typically refers to a public, open offer (usually announced in a newspaper advertisement) by an entity to all stockholders of a  publicly traded companyThe price offered is usually at a premium to the market price.

Tick
The minimum change in price, up or down.

Ticker Symbol
The lettering system used to identify a stock, mutual fund, or ETF on an exchange.

Today’s High
The intraday high trading price. The highest price at which a stock traded during the course of the day.

Today’s Low
The intraday low trading price. The lowest price at which a stock traded during the course of the day.

Top
The highest price level reached by a security, index of securities, commodity or economic cycle in a given time period.

Toronto Stock Exchange
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) is Canada’s largest stock exchange. A broad range of businesses from Canada, the United States, and other countries are listed on the exchange. The TSX is headquartered in Toronto and maintains offices in Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver. Traditionally home to a large number of natural resource companies.

Trading Curb
Also called a circuit breaker, is a temporary restriction on trading in a particular security or market, usually to reduce dramatic price movements.

Trading Floor
The place on an exchange where trading occurs. Trading floors are found in the buildings of various exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade.

Trading Halt
A trading halt—which typically lasts less than an hour but can be longer—is called during the trading day to allow a company to announce important news or where there is a significant order imbalance between buyers and sellers in a security.

Trading Range
The high and low transaction prices of a given security or commodity during a given period.

Trading Session
Period of trading activity from the time a market opens until it closes.

Transportation Sector
An energy-consuming sector that consists of all vehicles whose primary purpose is transporting people and/or goods from one physical location to another. Included are automobiles; trucks; buses; motorcycles; trains, subways, and other rail vehicles; aircraft; and ships, barges, and other waterborne vehicles.

Trend Trading
A trader who trades in the direction of the prevailing price movement. The trend trader enters into a long position when a stock is trending upward (successively higher highs). Conversely, a short position is taken when the stock is in a down trend (successively lower highs).

Turnaround
Turnaround finance is provided to a company that is experiencing severe financial difficulties. The aim is to provide enough capital to bring a company back from the brink of collapse. Turnaround investments can offer spectacular returns to investors but there are drawbacks: the uncertainty involved means that they are high risk and they take time to implement.

Unchanged
When the price or rate of a security does not change between two periods. This can be over any time frame including a trading day, week, or even as much as a year. Often listed as UNCH.

Underperform
An analyst recommendation that means a stock is expected to do slightly worse than the market return. Also known as market underperform, moderate sell, or weak hold.

Undervalued
A stock or other security that is trading below its true value.

Unrealized Gain
If you own an investment that has increased in value, your gain is unrealized until you sell and take your profit. You typically compute the value of your investment portfolio based on current and unrealized values.

Unrealized Loss
A loss that results from holding onto an asset rather than cashing it in and officially taking the loss. Refers to the write-down of an investment portfolio resulting from applying the lower of cost or market value on an aggregate basis.

Upgrade
A positive change in the rating of a security.

Uptick
Transaction executed at price higher than the preceding transaction in that security.

Utilities Sector
The sector encompasses those companies considered electric, gas or water utilities, or companies that operate as independent producers and/or distributors of power. This sector includes both nuclear and non-nuclear facilities.

Value Investing
A strategy of selecting and purchasing of shares which are believed to be currently undervalued in the hope that over time a higher value will be realized. Value investors actively seek stocks of companies that they believe the market has undervalued.

Value Stock
Value stocks, also known as undervalued stocks, trade at a lower price than the company’s reputation, earnings outlook, or financial situation would seem to merit. Investors who seek them out expect the company’s fortunes to turn around, and the price of the stock to increase accordingly.

Wall of Worry
A phrase used to describe a bullish market trend that occurs in the face of negative uncertainties.

Wall Street
1. The street in lower Manhattan that is the original home of the New York Stock Exchange. The street is the historic headquarters of the largest U.S. brokerages and investment banks, although many have since relocated to other areas of Manhattan and the United States. Wall Street was named after the wooden wall Dutch colonists built in this area in 1653 to defend against the British and Native Americans. 
2. Wall Street is also shorthand for "influential financial interests" in the U.S. 

War Chest
A stash of money set aside to deal with unexpected changes in the business environment.

Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett often called the "Sage of Omaha" or the "Oracle of Omaha" has amassed an enormous fortune from astute investments managed through the holding company Berkshire Hathaway of which he is the largest shareholder and CEO.

Watch List
A list of securities selected for special surveillance by a brokerage, exchange or regulatory organization; firms on the list are often takeover targets, companies planning to issue new securities or stocks showing unusual activity.

Whisper Number
An unofficial earnings estimate for a particular company that a stock analyst shares with clients to supplement the official published estimate.

Whistle Blower
An employee who exposes wrongdoing within an organization in the hope of stopping it.

Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index (TMWX)
Probably the most comprehensive index of the entire US equity market: this index measures the performance of shares in all US based companies with readily available price data. Although it’s called the Wilshire 5000 index, it’s actually calculated using the returns on over 7000 companies, on a capitalization weighted basis.