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Market language, plainly explained

Market glossary

A quick reference for the terms behind index weighting, stock movement, and the Market Watch 360 desktop views.

76 terms

A

Advancers
Securities whose price increased over the period being measured. Read the full guide
Annualized volatility
A volatility estimate expressed as an equivalent yearly standard deviation; it does not turn a shorter forecast horizon into a one-year promise. Read the full guide
Ask
A quoted price at which a seller is willing to sell, subject to size and venue conditions.

B

Basis points
One hundredth of a percentage point; 100 basis points equal 1%.
Bid
A quoted price at which a buyer is willing to buy, subject to size and venue conditions.
Breadth
A summary of how many securities advanced, declined, or stayed unchanged in a chosen group.
Breakout
A price move through a defined prior level under a chosen rule; crossing the level alone does not guarantee that the move will persist. Read the full guide

C

Candle
A chart mark that summarizes open, high, low, and close prices for a chosen interval.
Candlestick
A chart style using candle bodies and wicks to show an interval's open, high, low, and close.
Capitalization
A company's market value, commonly estimated as share price times shares outstanding.
Closing price
A price associated with a defined session close; its meaning depends on the instrument and source.
Completed bar
A candle or bar whose defined time interval has ended, so its final open, high, low, and close are established under that data source. Read the full guide
Constituent
A security included in an index under that index's rules. Read the full guide
Contribution
An estimate of how much a security's return adds to or subtracts from an index return. Read the full guide

D

Decliners
Securities whose price decreased over the period being measured.
Divisor
A scaling factor used in some index formulas and adjusted under methodology rules to maintain continuity.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
A 30-stock, price-weighted U.S. equity index commonly called the Dow. Read the full guide

E

Early Rally
In the approved four-EMA Trend Matrix design, EMA 9 and 20 rise while EMA 50 and 200 fall. Read the full guide
Effective contribution
A product display estimate of a selected security's contribution using available price, weight, and reference data.
EMA
An exponential moving average that assigns more weight to recent observations within its calculation window. Read the full guide
EMA direction
Whether an EMA rises, falls or remains within its defined minimum-movement threshold over the comparison interval. Read the full guide
ES
The common symbol for CME E-mini S&P 500 futures; a futures contract, not the SPX cash index.
ETF
An exchange-traded fund whose shares trade on an exchange and whose portfolio follows its stated objective. Read the full guide
Expected volatility
A forward-looking volatility estimate implied by option prices for a stated period; actual future volatility can differ. Read the full guide
Extended hours
Equity trading sessions outside an exchange's regular market hours; liquidity, venue access, and feed coverage may differ.

F

Fixed candle
A Candle Pulse candle built inside a scheduled time bucket; the current bucket develops until its interval ends. Read the full guide
Flat
An EMA movement that does not exceed its applicable directional threshold; distinct from missing history. Read the full guide
Float adjustment
An index-provider adjustment to share counts that reflects the portion considered available to public investors under its rules.
Float-adjusted market capitalization
Market value calculated using shares considered available to public investors under an index provider's float rules. Read the full guide
Forming bar
A candle whose interval is still open; its high, low, and closing value can continue to change.
Forming candle
A candle that is still developing; new eligible observations can change its close and observed range. Read the full guide
Free float
The portion of a company's shares considered publicly available for trading under a stated index or data-provider convention.
Futures
Standardized exchange-traded contracts linked to an underlying asset, rate, or index; they are not the cash index itself.

H

Historical backfill
Earlier provider minute bars used to seed a candle view before later live basket observations arrive; it does not recreate every tick. Read the full guide

I

IEX
The Investors Exchange, one U.S. exchange whose equity trades may be included in an exchange-specific data feed. Read the full guide
Implied volatility
A volatility estimate implied by option prices, rather than calculated from the subsequent realized movement of the underlying market. Read the full guide
Index
A rules-based measure of the performance of a defined group of securities or assets. Read the full guide
Index contribution
The estimated addition to or subtraction from an index return attributable to a constituent over a specified interval and methodology.
Index divisor
A factor in an index formula that scales its numerator into an index level and can be maintained through specified changes. Read the full guide
Index points
The numerical units used to express a change in an index level.
Index weight
A constituent's proportional influence under a specific index methodology at a particular measurement time. Read the full guide

L

Last price
The price of the latest reported trade available from a particular feed; it is not necessarily the current bid or ask.

M

Market capitalization
Share price multiplied by shares outstanding, subject to the share-count convention being used.
Market concentration
The degree to which a small number of constituents account for a large share of an index's weight or movement. Read the full guide
Market weight
A constituent's proportional influence under a particular index or ETF weighting method.
Market-cap weighted
A method in which constituent influence is based on market value, subject to the index's actual adjustment rules.
Modified market-cap weighting
A market-cap-based method that applies additional rules or constraints to raw market-cap weights. Read the full guide

N

Nasdaq-100
A Nasdaq-listed, non-financial company index using modified market-cap weighting; the official methodology defines its composition and calculation. Read the full guide
NDX
The Nasdaq-100's index ticker symbol.
NQ
The common symbol for CME E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures; it is distinct from the NDX cash index.

O

OHLC
Open, High, Low and Close: the starting value, highest and lowest observed values, and latest value for a defined candle window. Read the full guide

P

Points per $1
A sensitivity estimate of index points associated with a hypothetical one-dollar stock-price change. Read the full guide
Price-weighted
An index method in which relative constituent influence follows share price, with a divisor used for the index level. Read the full guide
Price-weighted index
An index in which constituent share prices, rather than market capitalizations, determine relative weights.
Pullback
A move opposite a preceding price direction. In the approved Trend Matrix expansion, the named condition means EMA 20 and 50 fall while EMA 200 rises, regardless of EMA 9. Read the full guide

R

Realized volatility
A measure of how much prices actually varied over a past period, calculated from observed market returns. Read the full guide
Rebalancing
An index process that resets constituent weights according to its methodology.
Reconstitution
An index review that can change which securities are included.
Regular trading hours
The exchange-defined core equity session on a trading day, distinct from pre-market and after-hours activity.
Rolling candle
A Candle Pulse candle built from a trailing window ending at the latest available observation on the data clock. Read the full guide

S

S&P 500
An index designed to measure the large-cap U.S. equity market, weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization.
Selected basket
The particular securities included in an analytical view; it may cover only a fraction of the complete index.
SIP
A Securities Information Processor that consolidates specified exchange quotations and trade reports under U.S. market rules. Read the full guide
Sliding time window
A trailing interval whose start and end advance with new observations, allowing older values to expire. Read the full guide
SMA
Simple moving average: the arithmetic mean of the chosen number of observations, with equal weight on each observation. Read the full guide
Spread
The difference between a quoted ask and bid at a given time and source.
SPX options
Options on the S&P 500 Index; Cboe uses eligible SPX option quotations as inputs to its VIX calculation. Read the full guide
Stock basket
A selected group of securities used for a particular analysis; it may cover only part of a broader index.
Swing high
A local price peak defined by surrounding price action and the rules of a particular analysis method. Read the full guide
Swing low
A local price trough defined by surrounding price action and the rules of a particular analysis method.

T

Timeframe
The interval represented by one chart bar or by a calculation, such as five minutes or one trading day.
Trading session
A defined market period, such as regular hours or an extended-hours session. Read the full guide

V

VIX
The Cboe Volatility Index, a non-directional, annualized estimate of expected S&P 500 volatility over a constant 30-day horizon, derived from SPX option prices. Read the full guide

W

Weighted basket
A group of selected securities analyzed with specified weights rather than treating every member as equally influential. Read the full guide
Weighted return
A sum of constituent returns multiplied by their applicable weights, subject to the index's actual calculation methodology.

Y

YM
The common symbol for CME E-mini Dow futures; it is distinct from the DJIA cash index.
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