Stock Education

A long-term debt security with a stated interest rate and fixed due dates, issued by a corporation or a government, when interest and principal must be paid. There are many variations.

The cost of a given share or group of stock shares.

An accumulation pattern observed on bar charts. The pattern lasts from seven to 65 weeks; the cup is in the shape of a "U" and the handle is usually more than one or two weeks in duration. The handle is a slight downward drift with low trading volume from the right-hand side of the formation.

Stockholder payment of a share of a company's profits.

Using the same amount of funds to regularly invest (often quarterly or monthly) and not take into consideration whether the securities being purchased are high or low in price. By using this method, an investor will see an average between their investment costs and the market's up and down movements.

A declaration that market conditions in the futures pit are so disorderly temporarily to the extent that floor brokers are not held responsible for the execution of orders.

An order to buy or sell when a price is fixed.

In stock trading, an account in which purchase of stock may be financed with borrowed money; in futures trading, the deposit placed with the clearinghouse to assure fulfillment of the contract. This amount varies daily and is settled in cash.

A mathematical procedure to smooth or eliminate the fluctuations in data and to assist in determin ing when to buy and sell. Moving averages emphasize the direction of a trend, confirm trend reversals and smooth out price and volume fluctuations or "noise" that can confuse interpretation of the market; the sum of a value plus a selected number of previous values divided by the total number of values.

A contract that provides the right but not the obligation to buy or sell a specified amount of a security within a specified time period.