Basic Stock Market Vocabulary

Last Updated on March 7, 2019 by Sultan Beardsley

Here are some basic stock market terms to help better your vocabulary and stock market acumen. Hope this helps you along your journey into the financial world!

Share: A portion of the total equity offered by a publicly traded company.

Volume: The number of share’s that have changed possession in a given day.

Market Cap: The value of a company that is publicly traded. (Total Shares X Price)

Initial Public Offering (IPO): The first offering of a company’s equity to the public at a set share price.

Index: A composite of publicly traded companies you can buy in to.

Bull Market: When the total average of the stock market is increasing.

Bear Market: When the total average of the stock market is decreasing.

Dividend: If a publicly traded company is cash positive, they pay their shareholders when a dip in their share price occurs.

Bid: The price a trader wants to buy a stock for in correlation the price that a seller wants to sell said stock for.

Ask: The price the seller of the stock wants the buyer to pay per share.

Retail Investor: An individual investor not buying or selling equity (stock) for any institution. An everyday investor.

Broker: An individual who buys and sells an investment for you, in exchange for the commission.

Open: The time that the stock market opens. The United States Market opens at 9:30 am EST (Mon-Fri).

Close: The time that the stock market closes. The United States Market closes at 4:00 pm EST (Mon-Fri).

High: A milestone that a stock or fund reaches (the highest its share price has reached).

Low: The ultimate low that a stock has reached its recorded history.

Margin: When you borrow money from a broker for the sake of an invest.

Moving Average: A stock’s average price per share over a given time.

Portfolio: The collection of investments that an investor owns.

Volatility: The amount that a stock has fluctuated over a given period.

Ticker (or Symbol): The abbreviation attributed to a publicly traded company.

Sector: The categories of companies in the stock market. (Ex. Apple (APPL) is part of the Technology sector.