8 Stock Trading Terms Every Trader Needs to Know

Let’s look at some of the most important stock market terms you’ll encounter as you learn how to trade stocks.
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1. Annual Report 
An annual report is a report prepared by a company that’s intended to impress shareholders. It contains tons of information about the company, from its cash flow to its management strategy. When you read an annual report, you’re judging the company’s solvency and financial situation.

2. Arbitrage 
Arbitrage refers to buying and selling the same security on different markets and at different price points. For instance, if stock XYZ is trading at $10 on one market and $10.50 on another, the trader could buy X shares for $10 and sell them for $10.50 on the other market, pocketing the difference.

3. Averaging Down 
When an investor buys more of a stock as the price goes down. This makes it so your average purchase price decreases. You might use this strategy if you believe that the general consensus about a company is wrong, so you expect the stock price to rebound later.

4. Bear Market 
Trading talk for the stock market being in a downward trend, or a period of falling stock prices. This is the opposite of a bull market. If a stock price plummets, it’s very bearish.

5. Beta 
A measurement of the relationship between the price of a stock and the movement of the whole market. If stock XYZ has a beta of 1.5, that means that for every 1 point move in the market, stock XYZ moves 1.5 points, and vice versa.

6. Blue Chip Stocks 
The stocks behind large, industry-leading companies. Blue chip stocks offer a stable record of significant dividend payments and have a reputation of sound fiscal management. The expression is thought to have been derived from blue gambling chips, which is the highest denomination of chips used in casinos.

7. Bourse 
This stock market term is a little murky. Technically, it’s just another name for the stock market and originates from a house in which wealthy men gathered to trade shares. However, when you hear it in today’s conversations about the stock market, it usually either refers to the Paris stock exchange or to a non-U.S. stock exchange.

8. Bull Market 
When the stock market as a whole is in a prolonged period of increasing stock prices. It’s the opposite of a bear market. A single stock can be bullish or bearish too, as can a sector, which I’ll describe later on.