Stock Symbol/Ticker Symbol – The combination of letters that represents the publicly traded company.
Stock – Part ownership in a public company.
Bond – A loan that is given out to companies/governments to collect interest on the principal loaned out.
ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) – A collection of stocks that are pooled and can be traded throughout the market day under a single ticker symbol (has management fees).
Mutual Fund – A pool of assets managed by a money manager for a fee that can be bought by individual investors.
Brokerage Firm – A company that allows you to trade in and out of positions and holds/tracks the positions you own in an account.
Margin – Borrowing money to invest.
Shorting – Borrowing shares from a broker to sell with hopes to buy back later at a lower price.
Long – A position that benefits from a stock going up.
Short – A position that benefits from a stock going down.
Bearish – An outlook that feels like the price of an asset or market will go down in value.
Bullish – An outlook that feels like the price of an asset or market will up down in value.
Portfolio – The collection of investments that an individual owns.
Bid – The price someone is willing to pay for a stock.
Ask – The price someone is willing to collect for selling a stock.
Bid/Ask Spread – The difference between the price people want to buy a stock for and what people want to sell the stock for.
Limit Order – A purchase or sale of a stock only at a specific price point.
Market Order – A purchase or sale of a stock as quickly as possible at the present value of the asset.
DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging) – Purchasing stock consistently to lower the cost basis of the position.
Volatility – How fast a stock goes up and down.
Liquidity – How quickly you can get in and out of a position (small bid/ask spread is better).
IPO (Initial Price Offering) – When a private company sells shares in the company and becomes a publicly traded stock.
Secondary Offering – When a public company raises cash by selling additional shares.
Beta – The relationship of an individual’s stock movement with the overall market.
Dividend – A cash payment from a stock to the shareholder.
Yield – This is the % return on investment for a dividend relative to the purchase price ($5 dividend on a $100 stock is a 5% yield).
Sector – A group of stocks that are in a similar business.