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Average number of shares traded per day over a specified period.

Option arbitrage in which a profitable position is established with no risk. One spread is established with call options. The other spread is established using put options.

Statistical tools that measure the state of the stock market or the economy, based on the performance of stocks, bonds or other components. Examples are the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index, the S&P/TSX Composite Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Consumer Price Index.

A stock trading below its fair value.

Average price/earnings ratio of stocks owned by a mutual fund.

Any change in the issued and outstanding listed securities of an issuer. This change may involve the issuance, repurchase, or cancellation of listed securities or listed securities that are issuable upon conversion or exchange of other securities of an issuer.

The ratio of a company’s new orders to shipments in the same period. A book to bill ratio greater than 1.0 indicates sales growth. Ratios less than 1.0 reflect shrinking sales. Used mostly in the semiconductor industry.

We often write about stocks that test their breakout prices. Stocks breaking to new highs or out of consolidations often come back to test the breakout point before continuing with the breakout. This is most likely due to certain investors taking profits. If the breakout is a strong one, buyers come back in at some point before the stock falls below the breakout. This starts the stock back up on the next leg. This test can happen the next day, or it can happen after a week of upward movement. That is why we advise those in on the breakout move to watch for a test. If the stock has had a good move, you don?t want to lose profit on a big test-you can always get back in when the stock moves back up. For a small test soon after the break, you can ride it down, but you have to be careful the stock does not fall back within its previous trading range. Good breakout volume is a sign that this is less likely to happen. There are two plays on the breakout test: when the stock turns back up on good volume, or when the stock tops its breakout high. The former is riskier in that the breakout high can act as resistance, but we will play this move if the other indicators are good-volume, money flow, relative strength. The safer play is the break over the recent breakout high as this shows there is no resistance. If the volume is still good, the stock will most likely continue its breakout.

A security not listed on a stock exchange, but traded on the over-the-counter market.

Buying more of a security at a price that is lower than the price paid for the initial investment. The aim of averaging down is to reduce the average cost per unit of the investment.