Definitions

A volatility measure from J. Welles Wilder that averages each bar's true range, which counts overnight gaps, to show how far a stock typically moves in one bar.

Technical AnalysisChart

Two lines plotted two standard deviations above and below a 20-period simple moving average of price, from John Bollinger, so the gap between them widens and narrows with volatility.

Technical AnalysisChart

A move through a price level that had held, usually resistance above or support below, which traders read as the start of a new leg in the direction of the break.

Technical AnalysisChart

Owning 100 shares of a stock and selling one call option against them, collecting the premium in exchange for giving up any gain above the call's strike price.

OptionsOption chain

How much an option's price changes for a $1 move in the underlying stock: between 0 and 1 for calls, and between 0 and -1 for puts.

OptionsOption chain

A company in the S&P 500 that has raised its dividend every year for at least 25 consecutive years, as defined by the index rules of S&P Dow Jones Indices.

DividendsScreener

A drawdown limit whose floor moves up only with the account's closing balance each day, as against an intraday trailing drawdown that follows the highest balance reached during the session.

Prop TradingProp dashboard

The difference between an ETF's market price and its net asset value per share, shown as a percentage: a premium when the price is higher, a discount when it is lower.

ETFsQuote page

A moving average that gives recent closing prices more weight than older ones, so it turns sooner than a simple moving average of the same length when price changes direction.

Technical AnalysisChart

Horizontal lines drawn at fixed percentages of a completed price swing, most often 38.2%, 50% and 61.8%, where traders watch for a pullback to stall before the trend resumes.

Technical AnalysisChart

The age at which Social Security pays your full retirement benefit, called the primary insurance amount: 67 for people whose birth year is 1960 or later, and lower for earlier birth years.

RetirementSocial Security statement

A golden cross is the 50-day moving average crossing above the 200-day moving average; a death cross is the 50-day crossing below it. Both are read as a change in the long trend.

Technical AnalysisChart

A pattern of swing points in which each peak tops the one before and each trough holds above the one before; it defines an uptrend, and lower highs with lower lows define a downtrend.

Swing TradingChart

The sharp fall in an option's implied volatility once an expected event, usually an earnings report, has passed and the uncertainty priced into the option is gone.

EarningsOption chain

An indicator made of the gap between a 12-period and a 26-period exponential moving average, a 9-period average of that gap called the signal line, and a histogram of the difference.

Technical AnalysisChart

The high and low a stock trades in the first minutes of the regular session, commonly the first 5, 15 or 30 minutes, used as a reference for the rest of the day.

Swing TradingChart

A momentum oscillator from J. Welles Wilder that scales recent average gains against recent average losses into a reading from 0 to 100, usually over 14 periods.

Technical AnalysisChart

The amount the IRS requires you to withdraw each year from traditional IRAs and most workplace retirement plans once you reach the required beginning age.

RetirementTax form

A sharp price rise driven by short sellers buying back shares to cut their losses, where each wave of buying pushes the price higher and forces more short sellers to buy.

Swing TradingQuote page

The variability of the gap between a fund's return and its index's return over time, usually measured as the standard deviation of that gap.

ETFsFund fact sheet

The drag on a daily-reset leveraged or inverse fund when its index moves up and down, because each day's percentage move is applied to a new base.

ETFsFund fact sheet

The annual dividend per share divided by the price you originally paid for the share, as opposed to current yield, which divides the same dividend by today's price.

DividendsBrokerage statement