Glossary & beginner’s dictionary
451 stock market terms in plain English, A to Z. Search for any word; "Learn →" opens the full lesson.
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A
- Absolute return
- Total % gain or loss without adjusting for time.
- Acceptance ratio
- In a buyback, the share of tendered shares the company actually buys.
- Account aggregator
- An RBI-regulated system for sharing your financial data with your consent.
- Active fund
- A mutual fund where a manager picks stocks to try to beat an index.Learn →
- AGM
- Annual General Meeting, the yearly meeting where shareholders vote on key matters.
- AIS
- Annual Information Statement on the income tax portal showing your reported income and trades.
- Algo trading
- Trading using computer programs that place orders automatically.
- Allotment
- When IPO shares are given to applicants.Learn →
- Alpha
- Return earned above a benchmark.
- AMC (Annual Maintenance Charge)
- A yearly fee some brokers charge to keep a demat account.
- AMC (Asset Management Company)
- The company that runs mutual fund schemes.Learn →
- AMFI
- Association of Mutual Funds in India, the mutual fund industry body that publishes NAVs and market-cap lists.
- Anchor investor
- A large institution allotted IPO shares a day before the issue opens, with a lock-in.Learn →
- Annual report
- A company’s yearly audited report on its business and finances.Learn →
- Annualised return
- Return expressed as a yearly rate.
- Arbitrage
- Profiting from a price difference of the same thing in two places at once.
- Arbitrage fund
- A fund earning from price differences between cash and futures markets; low risk.
- ASBA
- Application Supported by Blocked Amount: IPO money is blocked, not debited, until allotment.
- Ask price
- The lowest price a seller is willing to accept right now.
- Asset
- Anything a company or person owns that has value.Learn →
- Asset allocation
- Splitting money between equity, debt, gold and cash.Learn →
- ATM (At the Money)
- An option whose strike is closest to the current price.Learn →
- Auction (exchange)
- A process to buy shares for a seller who failed to deliver; often costly for the defaulter.
- Auditor
- An independent accountant who checks a company’s financial statements.
- AUM
- Assets Under Management, the total money a fund manages.Learn →
- Average price
- Your average cost per share across all purchases.
- Averaging down
- Buying more of a falling stock to lower your average cost; risky if the business is weak.
B
- Balance sheet
- A snapshot of assets, liabilities and equity on a date.Learn →
- Balanced advantage fund
- A hybrid fund that changes its equity/debt mix dynamically.
- Bank Nifty
- NSE index of the most liquid large banking stocks.
- Basis
- The difference between a futures price and the spot price.
- Basis point
- One hundredth of a percent (0.01%).
- Bear
- Someone who expects prices to fall.
- Bear market
- A long period of falling prices, often 20%+ from a high.Learn →
- Bear put spread
- Buy a higher-strike put, sell a lower-strike put; profits from a moderate fall.Learn →
- Benchmark
- An index used to measure a fund’s performance.Learn →
- Beta
- How much a stock tends to move relative to the market (1 = same as market).
- Bid price
- The highest price a buyer is willing to pay right now.
- Bid-ask spread
- The gap between the best bid and best ask.Learn →
- Block deal
- A single large trade (₹10 crore+) done in a special window.
- Blue chip
- A large, well-established, financially strong company.
- Board of directors
- People elected by shareholders to oversee the company’s management.
- Bollinger Bands
- A moving average with bands 2 standard deviations above and below.Learn →
- Bond
- A loan you give to a government or company that pays interest.
- Bonus shares
- Free extra shares given to shareholders from reserves.Learn →
- Book building
- An IPO method where the final price is discovered from bids within a band.
- Book value
- Assets minus liabilities: net worth on paper.Learn →
- Book value per share
- Book value divided by number of shares.Learn →
- Bottom line
- Net profit, the last line of the P&L.
- Bracket order
- An order with an entry, a target and a stop-loss attached.
- Breakdown
- Price falling convincingly below support.Learn →
- Breakeven
- The price at which you neither gain nor lose.
- Breakout
- Price rising convincingly above resistance.Learn →
- Broker
- A SEBI-registered firm that places your orders on the exchange.Learn →
- Brokerage
- The fee a broker charges per trade.Learn →
- BSE
- Asia’s oldest stock exchange (1875), which runs the Sensex.Learn →
- BTST
- Buy Today Sell Tomorrow: selling shares before they are credited to demat.
- Bull
- Someone who expects prices to rise.
- Bull call spread
- Buy a lower-strike call, sell a higher-strike call; profits from a moderate rise.Learn →
- Bull market
- A long period of rising prices.Learn →
- Buy-and-hold
- A strategy of holding good investments for many years.
- Buyback
- A company buying its own shares from shareholders.Learn →
C
- CAGR
- Compound Annual Growth Rate: the steady yearly growth rate between two values.Learn →
- Call option
- The right to buy at a fixed price before/at expiry.Learn →
- Capex
- Capital expenditure: money spent on long-term assets like factories.
- Capital
- Money used to start or grow a business, or to invest.
- Capital appreciation
- Rise in the value of an investment.Learn →
- Capital gains
- Profit from selling an investment for more than you paid.Learn →
- Capitulation
- Panic selling on very high volume, often near a bottom.
- CAS
- Consolidated Account Statement of all your demat and fund holdings.
- Cash flow statement
- Shows actual cash in and out from operations, investing and financing.Learn →
- Cash market
- The segment where shares are bought and sold for delivery or intraday (not derivatives).
- Cash-settled
- A derivative settled in cash rather than delivery.
- CDSL
- Central Depository Services (India) Ltd, one of India’s two depositories.Learn →
- Circuit breaker
- A market-wide trading halt when an index moves 10/15/20%.
- Circuit filter
- Another name for price band/circuit limit.
- Circuit limit
- The maximum a stock can rise or fall in a day.Learn →
- Clearing corporation
- An exchange entity that settles trades and guarantees both sides.
- Closing price
- The official price at the end of the day (NSE: weighted average of the last 30 minutes).Learn →
- CNC
- Cash and Carry, the product type for delivery trades.
- Collateral
- An asset pledged as security for a loan or margin.
- Commodity
- Raw goods like gold, crude oil or wheat that can be traded.
- Compounding
- Earning returns on your returns over time.Learn →
- Consolidated results
- Financial results including the company and all its subsidiaries.
- Consolidation
- A sideways period where price moves in a range.
- Contract note
- The legal record of your trades and charges for the day.Learn →
- Contrarian
- An investor who goes against the crowd.
- Corporate action
- A company decision affecting shares: dividend, split, bonus, rights, buyback.
- Corpus
- The total amount accumulated in an investment.
- Correction
- A fall of about 10% or more from a recent high.
- Cost of carry
- The cost (mainly interest) of holding a position until a future date.
- Coupon
- The interest rate paid on a bond.
- Covered call
- Owning a stock and selling a call on it for income.Learn →
- Credit rating
- A grade showing how likely a borrower is to repay (AAA is highest).
- Credit risk
- The risk that a borrower fails to repay.
- Crore
- 1,00,00,000 (ten million).
- Cum-dividend
- A share that still carries the right to an upcoming dividend.
- Current assets
- Assets that turn into cash within a year.
- Current liabilities
- Obligations due within a year.
- Current ratio
- Current assets ÷ current liabilities.Learn →
- Cut-off price
- The final IPO price; retail investors can bid "at cut-off".Learn →
- Cyclical stock
- A company whose profits rise and fall with the economic cycle (steel, autos).
D
- Dalal Street
- The street in Mumbai where BSE is located; slang for the Indian market.
- Day order
- An order valid only for the current trading day.
- DDPI
- Demat Debit and Pledge Instruction, which lets your broker debit sold shares.
- Dead cat bounce
- A brief recovery in a falling stock before it falls further.
- Death cross
- 50-day MA crossing below the 200-day MA (seen as bearish).Learn →
- Debenture
- A type of bond issued by a company, often unsecured.
- Debt
- Borrowed money that must be repaid with interest.
- Debt fund
- A mutual fund investing in bonds and money-market instruments.Learn →
- Debt-to-equity
- Total debt ÷ shareholders’ equity.Learn →
- Default
- Failure to pay interest or repay a loan.
- Defensive sector
- Sectors with steady demand: FMCG, pharma, utilities.
- Defensive stock
- A company with steady demand in all conditions (FMCG, pharma).
- Delisting
- Removal of a company’s shares from the exchange.
- Delivery
- Buying shares and holding them in your demat.Learn →
- Delivery percentage
- Share of traded volume actually taken into demat accounts.
- Delta
- How much an option price moves for a 1-point move in the underlying.Learn →
- Demat account
- An account that holds shares electronically.Learn →
- Demerger
- Splitting a company into separate listed companies.
- Depository
- An institution that holds securities electronically (NSDL, CDSL).Learn →
- Depreciation
- Spreading the cost of an asset over its useful life as an expense.
- Derivative
- A contract whose value comes from an underlying asset.Learn →
- DII
- Domestic Institutional Investor such as an Indian mutual fund or insurer.Learn →
- Dilution
- Reduction in ownership % when new shares are issued.
- Direct plan
- A mutual fund plan without distributor commission (lower cost).Learn →
- Discount broker
- A low-cost broker offering trading without advice.Learn →
- Diversification
- Spreading money across many investments to reduce risk.Learn →
- Dividend
- A cash payout from profits to shareholders.Learn →
- Dividend yield
- Annual dividend ÷ share price × 100.Learn →
- Doji
- A candle where open and close are almost equal (indecision).Learn →
- Double bottom
- A "W" pattern suggesting a bullish reversal.Learn →
- Double top
- An "M" pattern suggesting a bearish reversal.Learn →
- Downtrend
- Lower highs and lower lows.Learn →
- DP (Depository Participant)
- An agent (usually your broker) linking you to a depository.
- DP charges
- A fee for debiting shares from demat when you sell.Learn →
- Drawdown
- Fall from a peak to a trough.Learn →
- DRHP
- Draft Red Herring Prospectus, the first IPO document filed with SEBI.Learn →
E
- Earnings call
- A company’s call with analysts to discuss results.
- EBIT
- Earnings Before Interest and Tax (operating profit).Learn →
- EBITDA
- Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation.
- ELSS
- Equity Linked Savings Scheme, a tax-saving equity fund with a 3-year lock-in.Learn →
- EMA
- Exponential Moving Average, which gives more weight to recent prices.
- Emergency fund
- Savings for 3–6 months of expenses, kept safe and accessible.
- EPS
- Earnings Per Share = net profit ÷ shares.Learn →
- Equity
- Ownership in a company; also shareholders’ funds on a balance sheet.Learn →
- Equity curve
- A chart of your account value over time.
- Equity fund
- A mutual fund investing mainly in shares.Learn →
- ESOP
- Employee Stock Option Plan, which gives employees the right to buy company shares.
- ETF
- Exchange Traded Fund, a fund that trades on the exchange like a share.Learn →
- EV/EBITDA
- Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA, a valuation measure that includes debt.
- Event risk
- Risk from specific events like results, budgets or elections.
- Ex-dividend date
- The date from which buyers no longer get the declared dividend.Learn →
- Exchange
- A regulated marketplace for trading securities.Learn →
- Exchange transaction charges
- Fees charged by NSE/BSE on each trade.Learn →
- Exercise
- Using an option’s right to buy or sell.
- Exit load
- A fee for redeeming a fund before a set period.Learn →
- Expense ratio
- A mutual fund’s yearly fee as a % of assets.Learn →
- Expiry
- The last day of a derivative contract.Learn →
F
- F&O
- Futures and Options, the derivatives segment.Learn →
- Face value
- The nominal value of a share in company records.Learn →
- Factsheet
- A monthly summary of a mutual fund’s holdings, returns and risk.
- FD (Fixed Deposit)
- A bank deposit with a fixed interest rate for a fixed period.
- FII / FPI
- Foreign Institutional / Portfolio Investor.Learn →
- Finfluencer
- A social-media personality giving financial content; check SEBI registration before trusting advice.
- Flexi-cap fund
- An equity fund free to invest across all company sizes.Learn →
- Float
- Shares available for public trading.
- FMCG
- Fast-Moving Consumer Goods: everyday products like soap and biscuits.
- FOMO
- Fear Of Missing Out.Learn →
- Forward P/E
- Price ÷ expected next-year EPS.
- Free cash flow
- Operating cash flow minus capex.Learn →
- Free-float market cap
- Market value of only freely tradable shares.Learn →
- Fresh issue
- New shares issued by a company; money goes to the company.Learn →
- Front running
- Illegally trading ahead of a known large client order.
- Fund manager
- The professional who makes a mutual fund’s investment decisions.
- Fund of funds
- A mutual fund that invests in other mutual funds.
- Fundamental analysis
- Studying a company’s business and financials to judge its value.Learn →
- Futures
- A contract to buy/sell at a fixed price on a future date.Learn →
G
- G-Sec
- Government Security, a bond issued by the Government of India.
- Gamma
- How fast an option’s delta changes.Learn →
- Gap down
- Opening well below the previous close.Learn →
- Gap up
- Opening well above the previous close.Learn →
- GDP
- Gross Domestic Product, the total value of goods and services produced in a country.
- Gilt fund
- A debt fund investing in government securities.
- GMP
- Grey Market Premium, an unofficial and unreliable pre-listing price indicator.Learn →
- Gold ETF
- An ETF tracking the price of gold.Learn →
- Golden cross
- 50-day MA crossing above the 200-day MA (seen as bullish).Learn →
- Growth option
- A fund option where profits stay invested.Learn →
- Growth stock
- A company expected to grow faster than average.
- GST
- Goods and Services Tax; 18% on brokerage and exchange fees.Learn →
- GTT
- Good Till Triggered, an order that waits until a trigger price is hit.Learn →
H
- Haircut
- The % deducted from collateral value for margin purposes.Learn →
- Hammer
- A candle with a long lower wick near a low; possible bullish reversal.
- Head and shoulders
- A three-peak reversal pattern.Learn →
- Hedging
- Reducing risk by taking an offsetting position.Learn →
- HNI
- High Net-worth Individual.
- Holding
- A security you own in your demat.
- Holding company
- A company that owns shares in other companies.
- Hybrid fund
- A fund mixing equity and debt.Learn →
I
- IDCW
- Income Distribution cum Capital Withdrawal (formerly dividend option).Learn →
- Illiquid
- Hard to buy or sell without moving the price.
- Implied volatility
- Market-expected volatility worked out from option prices.Learn →
- Index
- A number tracking the performance of a group of stocks.Learn →
- Index fund
- A fund that copies an index.Learn →
- India VIX
- Index of expected Nifty volatility; the "fear gauge".Learn →
- Inflation
- The rise in prices over time, reducing money’s buying power.Learn →
- Insider trading
- Illegally trading on unpublished price-sensitive information.Learn →
- Institutional investor
- An organisation investing large pools of money.Learn →
- Interest coverage
- EBIT ÷ interest expense.Learn →
- Interest rate risk
- The risk that bond prices fall when interest rates rise.
- Intraday
- Buying and selling on the same day.Learn →
- Intrinsic value (option)
- The value of an option if exercised now.Learn →
- Intrinsic value (stock)
- An estimate of what a business is truly worth.
- Inventory
- Goods a company holds for sale.
- Investment
- Putting money into an asset expecting it to grow over time.
- Investor Protection Fund
- An exchange fund that compensates eligible investors if a broker defaults.Learn →
- IOC
- Immediate or Cancel: an order that fills immediately or is cancelled.
- IPO
- Initial Public Offering, a company’s first sale of shares to the public.Learn →
- Iron condor
- A four-leg options strategy that profits in a range.Learn →
- ISIN
- A 12-character unique code for a security.Learn →
- ITM (In the Money)
- An option with intrinsic value.Learn →
- ITR
- Income Tax Return.
K
- KYC
- Know Your Customer, mandatory identity verification.Learn →
L
- Lakh
- 1,00,000 (one hundred thousand).
- Large and mid-cap fund
- An equity fund with at least 35% each in large and mid caps.
- Large cap
- One of the top 100 companies by market cap.Learn →
- Leverage
- Using borrowed money or margin to increase position size.Learn →
- Liability
- Something a company owes.Learn →
- Limit order
- An order at your price or better.Learn →
- Liquid fund
- A debt fund holding securities up to 91 days.Learn →
- Liquidity
- Ease of buying or selling without moving the price.Learn →
- Listing
- When a company’s shares start trading on an exchange.
- Listing gain
- Profit from the issue price to the listing price.Learn →
- Lock-in period
- Time during which shares or units cannot be sold.
- Long
- Owning or buying a position that profits from a price rise.
- Long call
- Buying a call option.Learn →
- Long put
- Buying a put option.Learn →
- Lot size
- A fixed number of units per F&O contract or IPO application.Learn →
- Lower circuit
- A stock’s maximum allowed daily fall.Learn →
- LTCG
- Long-term capital gains (equity held more than 12 months).Learn →
- LTP
- Last Traded Price.Learn →
- Lump sum
- Investing a large amount at once.Learn →
M
- MACD
- An indicator: EMA(12) minus EMA(26), with a signal line.Learn →
- Margin
- Your own money deposited to take a larger position.Learn →
- Margin call
- A demand to add funds when margin falls short.Learn →
- Mark-to-market
- Daily settlement of futures profits and losses.Learn →
- Market breadth
- How many stocks are rising vs falling.
- Market cap
- Share price × total shares.Learn →
- Market maker
- A participant who continuously quotes buy and sell prices.
- Market order
- An order filled immediately at the best available price.Learn →
- Market sentiment
- The overall mood of investors.
- Max pain
- The strike where option buyers lose the most at expiry.Learn →
- Maximum drawdown
- The largest peak-to-trough fall.Learn →
- MD&A
- Management Discussion and Analysis section of an annual report.
- Merger
- Two companies combining into one.
- Mid cap
- Companies ranked 101–250 by market cap.Learn →
- MIS
- Margin Intraday Square-off, the intraday product type.
- Moat
- A lasting competitive advantage.Learn →
- Momentum
- The tendency of rising (or falling) prices to keep moving that way for a while.
- Moving average
- Average closing price over a set number of periods.Learn →
- MTF
- Margin Trading Facility, which lets you buy delivery shares with a broker loan.Learn →
- Multi-cap fund
- An equity fund with at least 25% each in large, mid and small caps.Learn →
- Multibagger
- A stock that rises many times in value; rare, often hyped.
- Mutual fund
- Pooled money professionally invested.Learn →
N
- Naked option
- An option sold without a hedge; high risk.
- NAV
- Net Asset Value per mutual fund unit.Learn →
- Neckline
- The support or resistance line in a reversal pattern.
- Net interest income
- A bank’s interest earned minus interest paid.
- Net profit
- Profit after all expenses, interest and tax.Learn →
- Net profit margin
- Net profit ÷ revenue × 100.Learn →
- Net worth
- Assets minus liabilities.
- NFO
- New Fund Offer, the launch of a new mutual fund scheme.
- Nifty 50
- NSE’s index of 50 large companies.Learn →
- NII (IPO)
- Non-Institutional Investors applying above ₹2 lakh in an IPO.Learn →
- Nominee
- The person who receives your investments if you die.
- NPA
- Non-Performing Asset, a bank loan not being repaid.
- NSDL
- National Securities Depository Ltd, India’s first depository.Learn →
- NSE
- National Stock Exchange of India.Learn →
O
- OCO
- One Cancels the Other: paired orders where one fill cancels the other.Learn →
- ODR
- Online Dispute Resolution for investor complaints.Learn →
- OFS
- Offer For Sale: existing shareholders sell in an IPO.Learn →
- OHLC
- Open, High, Low, Close.Learn →
- Open interest
- Number of outstanding derivative contracts.Learn →
- Opening price
- The first price of the day from the pre-open session.Learn →
- Operating margin
- Operating profit ÷ revenue × 100.Learn →
- Operating profit
- Profit from the core business before interest and tax.Learn →
- Option
- A right (not obligation) to buy or sell at a strike price.Learn →
- Option chain
- A table of all strikes with call and put data.Learn →
- Option seller (writer)
- One who sells options, receives premium and takes obligation.Learn →
- Order book
- The list of pending buy and sell orders at each price.
- OTM (Out of the Money)
- An option with no intrinsic value.Learn →
- Overbought
- Price has risen fast; RSI above ~70.Learn →
- Overnight fund
- A debt fund holding 1-day securities.Learn →
- Oversold
- Price has fallen fast; RSI below ~30.Learn →
- Oversubscription
- IPO bids exceeding the shares offered.Learn →
- Overtrading
- Trading too often or too big.Learn →
P
- P/B ratio
- Price ÷ book value per share.Learn →
- P/E ratio
- Price ÷ EPS.Learn →
- P&L statement
- Income statement showing revenue, costs and profit over a period.Learn →
- PAN
- Permanent Account Number, the tax ID mandatory for investing.
- Paper trading
- Practising trades with virtual money.
- Passive fund
- A fund that follows an index or rule.Learn →
- PAT
- Profit After Tax.
- Payout ratio
- Share of profit paid as dividends.
- PCR
- Put-Call Ratio = put OI ÷ call OI.Learn →
- PEG ratio
- P/E ÷ EPS growth rate.Learn →
- Penny stock
- A very low-priced, usually tiny and risky stock.
- PFUTP
- SEBI regulations prohibiting fraudulent and unfair trade practices.Learn →
- Pledge
- Offering shares as collateral.Learn →
- Portfolio
- All the investments you own.Learn →
- Portfolio overlap
- Common holdings across different funds.Learn →
- Position sizing
- Deciding how many shares to buy based on risk.Learn →
- Positional trading
- Holding trades for weeks to months.Learn →
- Pre-open session
- 9:00–9:15 a.m. session where the opening price is discovered.
- Preference shares
- Shares with a fixed dividend and priority over equity, usually without voting rights.
- Premium (option)
- The price of an option.Learn →
- Previous close
- Last trading day’s official closing price.Learn →
- Price band (IPO)
- The range within which IPO bids are accepted.Learn →
- Price discovery
- How markets arrive at a fair price through buying and selling.
- Primary market
- Where new securities are issued (IPOs).Learn →
- Profit booking
- Selling to lock in gains.
- Promoter
- The founder or controlling owner of a company.
- Promoter pledge
- Promoter shares pledged as loan collateral.Learn →
- Prospectus
- An offer document describing an IPO.Learn →
- Protective put
- Owning a stock and buying a put to cap losses.Learn →
- Pullback
- A temporary dip within an uptrend.
- Put option
- The right to sell at a fixed price.Learn →
Q
R
- Rally
- A sharp rise in prices.
- Re-rating
- When the market starts valuing a company at a higher (or lower) multiple.
- Rebalancing
- Restoring your target asset mix.Learn →
- Receivables
- Money customers owe the company.
- Record date
- The date used to decide who receives a dividend or corporate action.
- Red herring prospectus (RHP)
- Final IPO offer document filed before the issue opens.Learn →
- Redemption
- Selling mutual fund units back to the fund.
- Registrar
- An agency maintaining shareholder records and handling IPO allotment.
- Regular plan
- A mutual fund plan with distributor commission.Learn →
- Related-party transaction
- A deal between a company and entities linked to its insiders.Learn →
- Resistance
- A price level where rises tend to stall.Learn →
- Retail investor
- An individual investor.Learn →
- Retained earnings
- Profits kept in the business.
- Return on assets (ROA)
- Net profit ÷ total assets.Learn →
- Revenge trading
- Trading emotionally to win back losses.Learn →
- Revenue
- Total sales.Learn →
- Rights issue
- New shares offered to existing shareholders, usually at a discount.Learn →
- Risk-free rate
- Return on a nearly riskless investment such as government T-bills.
- Risk-reward ratio
- Potential gain ÷ potential loss.Learn →
- Riskometer
- SEBI-mandated label showing a fund’s risk level.
- ROCE
- Return on Capital Employed = EBIT ÷ (equity + debt).Learn →
- ROE
- Return on Equity = net profit ÷ equity.Learn →
- Rolling returns
- Returns measured over every possible window of a fixed length.Learn →
- Rollover
- Moving a futures position to the next expiry.Learn →
- RSI
- Relative Strength Index, a 0–100 momentum gauge.Learn →
- Rupee cost averaging
- Buying more units when prices are low via fixed SIPs.Learn →
S
- SCORES
- SEBI’s online investor complaint system.Learn →
- Scrip
- Another word for a security or stock.
- Scrip code
- BSE’s 6-digit code for a listed security.Learn →
- SEBI
- Securities and Exchange Board of India, the market regulator.Learn →
- Secondary market
- Where existing securities trade between investors.Learn →
- Sector
- A group of companies in the same industry.
- Sectoral fund
- A fund investing in one sector.Learn →
- Sensex
- BSE’s index of 30 large companies.Learn →
- Settlement
- Final exchange of shares and money (T+1 in India).Learn →
- Share
- One unit of ownership in a company.Learn →
- Shareholder
- An owner of a company’s shares.Learn →
- Shareholding pattern
- Breakdown of who owns a company’s shares.
- Sharpe ratio
- Return above risk-free rate per unit of volatility.Learn →
- Short covering
- Buying back shares or contracts previously sold short.
- Short selling
- Selling first to buy back cheaper later.Learn →
- Sideways market
- A market without a clear trend, in a range.Learn →
- SIP
- Systematic Investment Plan: fixed regular investing.Learn →
- SL-M
- Stop-loss market order.Learn →
- Slippage
- Difference between expected and actual fill price.
- SMA
- Simple Moving Average.Learn →
- Small cap
- Companies ranked 251 and below by market cap.Learn →
- Sortino ratio
- Return per unit of downside risk.Learn →
- SPAN margin
- The base margin for F&O calculated from risk scenarios.
- Speculation
- Taking high-risk positions to profit from price moves.Learn →
- Spot price
- The current market price of the underlying.
- Square off
- Close an open position.Learn →
- Stamp duty
- A state levy on the buy side of trades.Learn →
- Standalone results
- Financial results of the company alone, excluding subsidiaries.
- Standard deviation
- A measure of how much returns swing.Learn →
- STCG
- Short-term capital gains (equity held 12 months or less).Learn →
- Stock
- Ownership in a company.Learn →
- Stock split
- Dividing shares into more shares with lower face value.Learn →
- Stock symbol
- A short code identifying a stock.Learn →
- Stop-loss
- An order or level to exit a losing position.Learn →
- STP
- Systematic Transfer Plan: moving money gradually between funds.Learn →
- Straddle
- Buying a call and put at the same strike.Learn →
- Strangle
- Buying an OTM call and an OTM put.Learn →
- Strike price
- The price at which an option can be exercised.Learn →
- STT
- Securities Transaction Tax on trade value.Learn →
- Subscription (IPO)
- How many times an IPO’s shares were applied for.Learn →
- Subsidiary
- A company controlled by another (parent) company.
- Support
- A price level where falls tend to stop.Learn →
- Swing trading
- Holding trades for days to weeks.Learn →
- SWP
- Systematic Withdrawal Plan: regular withdrawals from a fund.
- Systematic risk
- Market-wide risk that diversification can’t remove.
T
- T+1
- Settlement on the next working day after the trade.Learn →
- Target price
- The price at which you plan to take profit; or an analyst’s estimate.
- Tax harvesting
- Booking gains or losses to use tax exemptions or set-offs.Learn →
- TDS
- Tax Deducted at Source.
- Technical analysis
- Studying price and volume charts.Learn →
- TER
- Total Expense Ratio of a mutual fund.Learn →
- Thematic fund
- A fund investing around a theme.Learn →
- Theta
- Daily time decay of an option.Learn →
- Tick size
- The minimum price movement of a security (e.g. ₹0.01 or ₹0.05).
- Time frame
- The period each candle represents.Learn →
- Time value
- Option premium above intrinsic value.Learn →
- Top line
- Revenue, the first line of the P&L.
- TPIN
- A PIN from the depository to authorise selling shares from demat.
- Tracking error
- How much an index fund’s return differs from its index.Learn →
- Trading account
- The account used to place orders.Learn →
- Trading journal
- A record of every trade and its lessons.Learn →
- Trading window
- A period when company insiders may not trade.Learn →
- Trend
- The general direction of price.Learn →
- TRI
- Total Return Index, which includes dividends.Learn →
- Triangle pattern
- Converging price swings that often end in a breakout.Learn →
- Trigger price
- The price that activates a stop or GTT order.Learn →
- TTM
- Trailing Twelve Months: the last four quarters.
- Turnover
- Total value of trades in a period.
U
- Underlying
- The asset a derivative is based on.
- Undersubscription
- IPO bids below the shares offered.
- Unit
- One share of a mutual fund.
- Unrealised gain
- Profit on paper that you have not sold yet.Learn →
- Unsystematic risk
- Company-specific risk that diversification can reduce.
- UPI mandate
- UPI authorisation that blocks money for an IPO application.
- Upper circuit
- A stock’s maximum allowed daily rise.Learn →
- UPSI
- Unpublished Price Sensitive Information.Learn →
- Uptrend
- Higher highs and higher lows.Learn →
V
- Valuation
- Estimating what a company or share is worth.
- Value investing
- Buying good businesses below their estimated worth.
- Value trap
- A stock that looks cheap but stays cheap because the business is declining.
- Vega
- Option price sensitivity to implied volatility.Learn →
- Volatility
- How much and how fast prices move.Learn →
- Volume
- Number of shares traded.Learn →
- VWAP
- Volume Weighted Average Price.Learn →
W
- Watchlist
- A list of stocks you are tracking.
- Weekly expiry
- Derivative contracts expiring every week.Learn →
- Wick (shadow)
- Thin line of a candle showing high and low.Learn →
- Window dressing
- Making numbers look better than reality, e.g. before an IPO.Learn →
- Working capital
- Current assets minus current liabilities.
Y
- Yield
- Income from an investment as a % of its price.
- YoY
- Year-on-year comparison.Learn →
Z
- Zero-coupon bond
- A bond sold at a discount that pays no interest, redeemed at face value.