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Securities that represent part ownership in a company and generally carry voting privileges. Common shareholders may be paid dividends, but only after preferred shareholders are paid. Common shareholders are last in line after creditors, debt holders and preferred shareholders to claim any of a company’s assets in the event of liquidation.

Orders placed before the market opens to buy or sell shares of stocks when their options expire. These orders are guaranteed a complete fill at the opening price to offset expiring options. They must be ordered between 4:15 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday before the third Friday of each month.

Shares of a publicly held corporation, usually includes voting rights. Common stock has lower priority in event of liquidation than preferred shares.

A seller of an option contract who does not own a position in the underlying security.

When an order trades all of its specified volume.

The difference between the previous day’s closing price and the last traded price.

A multi-party telephone call hosted by a company, primarily for analysts, shortly after making an earnings announcement. 

The difference between a company’s or individual’s total assets and its total liabilities. Also known as shareholders’ equity for a company.

Investors buy shares from other share holders, and sell shares to other investors. Share price is determined by supply and demand for fund shares (as opposed to Net Asset Value for open-end Funds). 

The average closing price of a stock over a specified period. For instance, the 10-day MA is the average closing price for the past 10 days. Stocks are said to be in an uptrend when above their MA and in a downtrend when below. The most widely followed MAs are 50 days and 200 days. Long-term investors tend to look at the 200-day MA while active traders are more likely to pay attention to the 50-day MA. Many investors look at both. As a general rule, it’s best to avoid stocks trading below both their 50- and 200-day MAs.