Terms starting with numbers
- 10-K
- An annual report that U.S. public companies file with the SEC, containing audited financial statements, a business description, risk factors, and management's discussion of results. It is the most comprehensive public filing a company produces each year.
- 10-Q
- A quarterly report that U.S. public companies file with the SEC for each of the first three fiscal quarters, containing unaudited financial statements and management discussion. It keeps investors updated between annual 10-K filings.
Terms starting with A
Terms starting with B
- Balance sheet
- A balance sheet is a financial statement showing what a company owns, owes, and what is left for shareholders at a point in time.
- Bear market
- A bear market is a prolonged broad price decline, commonly defined as a drop of 20 percent or more from recent highs.
- Benchmark
- A benchmark is a standard, usually a market index, used to judge the performance of an investment or portfolio.
- Beta
- Beta measures how much an investment's price moves relative to the overall market, where the market's beta is 1.0.
- Bid-ask spread
- The bid-ask spread is the gap between the highest price buyers will pay and the lowest price sellers will accept.
- Blue chip
- A blue-chip company is a large, well-established business with a long record of stable earnings and reliable performance.
- Book value
- Book value is a company's net worth on its accounting records, and book value per share divides that by shares outstanding.
- Brokerage account
- A brokerage account is an account with a licensed broker that lets you buy and sell stocks, ETFs, and other securities.
- Bull market
- A bull market is a prolonged broad price advance, commonly defined as a gain of 20 percent or more from recent lows.
Terms starting with C
- Candlestick chart
- A candlestick chart shows each period's open, high, low, and close prices in a single candle-shaped bar.
- Capital gains tax
- Capital gains tax is the tax on profits from selling an asset for more than its purchase price.
- Cash flow statement
- A cash flow statement tracks the cash entering and leaving a company, split into operating, investing, and financing activities.
- Circuit breaker
- A circuit breaker is an automatic market-wide trading pause triggered when the S&P 500 drops 7%, 13%, or 20% in a session.
- Common stock
- Common stock is the standard company share, carrying voting rights and a residual claim on profits after debt and preferred stock.
Terms starting with D
- Dark pool
- A dark pool is a private trading venue where large orders are matched without publicly displaying bids and offers.
- Day trading
- Day trading means opening and closing positions within the same trading session, profiting from small intraday price moves.
- Dilution
- Dilution is the shrinking of existing shareholders' ownership percentage when a company issues new shares.
- Direct listing
- A direct listing lets a company go public by listing existing shares directly, with no new shares issued and no IPO price.
- Diversification
- Diversification means spreading investments across assets, sectors, or regions so no single holding dominates the outcome.
- Dividend reinvestment plan
- A dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) automatically uses dividend payments to buy more shares of the same stock.
- Dividend yield
- Dividend yield is a stock's annual dividend payments divided by its share price, expressed as a percentage.
Terms starting with E
- Earnings call
- An earnings call is a quarterly conference call where company executives discuss results and answer analysts' questions.
- Earnings season
- Earnings season is the weeks each quarter when most public companies report results and markets react to surprises.
- ETF
- An ETF is a basket of securities that trades on an exchange like a single stock, often tracking an index at low cost.
- Ex-dividend date
- The ex-dividend date is the first day a stock trades without the right to receive its declared dividend.
- Exchange
- A stock exchange is a regulated marketplace, like the NYSE or Nasdaq, where buyers and sellers trade securities.
- Expense ratio
- The expense ratio is the annual fee a fund charges investors, expressed as a percentage of assets.
Terms starting with F
- Free cash flow
- Free cash flow is the cash a company generates after capital spending, available for dividends, buybacks, or debt repayment.
- Futures contract
- A futures contract is a standardized exchange-traded agreement to buy or sell an asset at a set price on a future date.
Terms starting with G
- Growth stock
- A growth stock is a share of a company expected to grow faster than average, usually reinvesting profits instead of paying dividends.
Terms starting with I
- Income statement
- An income statement shows a company's revenue, expenses, and profit over a quarter or year, ending with net income.
- Index
- An index is a statistical measure tracking a group of securities that represents a market segment, like the S&P 500.
- Institutional investor
- An institutional investor is a large organization, like a pension fund or mutual fund, that invests pooled money at scale.
- IPO
- An IPO is the process by which a private company sells shares to the public for the first time and lists on an exchange.
Terms starting with L
- Limit order
- A limit order is an instruction to buy or sell a stock only at a specified price or better.
- Liquidity
- Liquidity is how easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price; liquid markets have high volume and tight spreads.
- Lockup period
- A lockup period is the post-IPO window, usually several months, during which insiders cannot sell their shares.
Terms starting with M
- Margin
- Margin is money borrowed from a broker to buy securities, with the purchased assets serving as collateral.
- Market capitalization
- Market capitalization is the total market value of a company's shares: share price multiplied by shares outstanding.
- Market correction
- A market correction is a decline of about 10% or more from a recent peak, milder than a bear market.
- Market maker
- A market maker is a firm that continuously quotes buy and sell prices, providing the liquidity other investors trade against.
- Market order
- A market order is an instruction to buy or sell a stock immediately at the best available current price.
- Merger
- A merger is a transaction in which two companies combine into one, often to gain scale, cut costs, or enter new markets.
- Moving average
- A moving average is the average price over a set number of periods, smoothing noise to reveal the trend; the 50-day and 200-day are classics.
- Mutual fund
- A mutual fund pools money from many investors to buy a diversified portfolio, priced once daily after the market closes.
Terms starting with N
- Nasdaq
- A major U.S. stock exchange known for listing technology and growth companies, and also the name of its flagship index, the Nasdaq Composite. Nasdaq is an electronic dealer market with no physical trading floor.
- NYSE
- The New York Stock Exchange, the largest U.S. stock exchange by market value of listed companies. Founded in 1792, it operates a hybrid market with both electronic trading and a physical trading floor.
Terms starting with O
- Options contract
- An options contract gives the buyer the right to buy (call) or sell (put) an asset at a set strike price before expiration.
- Order book
- An order book is the live list of buy and sell orders for a security, showing price and size at each level of supply and demand.
Terms starting with P
- P/E ratio
- The P/E ratio is a stock's share price divided by its earnings per share, showing what investors pay per dollar of earnings.
- Payment date
- The payment date is the day a declared dividend is actually paid out to shareholders of record.
- Penny stock
- A penny stock is a low-priced share, usually under $5 and traded over the counter, known for thin volume and high risk.
- Portfolio
- A portfolio is the complete collection of investments owned by an individual or institution.
- Preferred stock
- Preferred stock pays a fixed dividend ahead of common stock, with priority in liquidation but usually no voting rights.
- Price target
- A price target is an analyst's forecast of a stock's price, usually 12 months out, based on earnings and valuation models.
- Proxy statement
- A proxy statement (SEC Form DEF 14A) discloses board nominees, executive pay, and shareholder proposals ahead of the annual meeting.
Terms starting with Q
- Quantitative easing
- Quantitative easing is central bank bond-buying aimed at lowering long-term rates and stimulating the economy when rate cuts are exhausted.
Terms starting with R
- Record date
- The record date is the day a company checks its shareholder register to decide who receives a declared dividend.
- Resistance level
- A resistance level is a price where selling pressure has repeatedly stopped rallies, acting as a ceiling until broken.
- Revenue
- Revenue is the total money a company brings in from selling goods or services, before any costs are subtracted.
Terms starting with S
- SEC
- The SEC is the U.S. federal agency that regulates securities markets and enforces disclosure rules.
- Sector
- A sector is a grouping of companies by business type, like technology or energy; the GICS standard defines 11 of them.
- Settlement date
- The settlement date is when a trade officially completes; U.S. stocks settle one business day after the trade (T+1).
- Short selling
- Short selling means borrowing shares and selling them, betting the price will fall so they can be repurchased cheaper.
- Spin-off
- A spin-off separates part of a company into an independent, publicly traded company, with shares given to existing holders.
- Stock buyback
- A stock buyback is a program in which a company repurchases its own shares, reducing the number outstanding.
- Stock split
- A stock split increases the share count while proportionally lowering the price per share; total market value is unchanged.
- Stop-loss order
- A stop-loss order becomes a market order to sell once a stock falls to a set trigger price, automating loss control.
- Support level
- A support level is a price where buying pressure has repeatedly stopped declines, acting as a floor until broken.
Terms starting with T
- Ticker symbol
- A ticker symbol is the short code of letters identifying a security on an exchange, used in quotes and filings.
- Trading halt
- A trading halt is a temporary pause in a single stock's trading, usually pending major news or extreme volatility.
Terms starting with V
- Value stock
- A value stock trades cheaply relative to earnings or book value, often a mature dividend-paying company the market overlooks.
- Volatility
- Volatility is the degree to which a security's price moves up and down over time, often measured by standard deviation.
- Volume
- Volume is the number of shares traded in a security over a given period, usually one trading day.
StockEyes provides informational research organization and transparent calculations, not personalized investment advice, valuation conclusions, trade instructions, or predictions. Definitions on this page describe standard market usage and do not recommend any security or strategy. Consult a qualified professional for advice about your own situation.
Terms starting with Y
- Year-to-date
- Year-to-date (YTD) measures performance from January 1 of the current year to the present day.