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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.

This is a technical indicator that measures moving average convergence/divergence and provides a measurement of the intensity of the trading of a specific stock. It can provide early clues to trend continuation or reversal. The MACD indicator uses three exponential moving averages: a short or fast average, a long or slow average, and an average of the difference between the short and long averages. When the MACD line is rising, the implications are positive for prices: If the indicator is less than zero, the price is potentially bullish. If the indicator is greater than zero, the price is actually bullish. When the MACD line is falling, the implications are negative for prices: If the indicator is less than zero, the price is actually bearish. If the indicator is greater than zero, the price is potentially bearish.The signal line can be used to determine the entry or exit point. The signal line is a moving average of the MACD line. When signal line crosses MACD line and both lines are up, it is a buy signal. When signal line crosses MACD line and both lines are down, it is a sell signal.

When two or more indicators, indexes, or averages, fail to show confirming trends.

A disclosure system that facilitates certain Canadian-U.S. cross-border securities offerings, issuer bids and takeover bids. It is intended to reduce costly duplication of disclosure requirements and other filings when issuers from one country register securities offerings in the other. Under the rules, eligible cross-border offerings are governed by the disclosure requirements of the issuer’s home country.

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.

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

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

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

This is a market order where the investor gives the floor trader the discretion to execute the order when he feels it is best. If the floor trader feels that the market will decline, he may hold the order to try to get a better fill. This order may not get filled.

This is an order to be executed at the market price when the market closes. Institutions frequently use this method to buy or sell large numbers of shares, e.g., when a stock is to be added or deleted from an index and the institution must buy or sell the stock for an index fund. These orders are also used on day trades in order to close a position at the end of the session regardless of the price. It can also be used when you want to exit a position that day, but do not want to cut off a stock that is running during the day-place a market on close order and your trade will be executed at the closing price. As with all market orders, there is risk in that the stock that was rising and hit a target you would be happy at selling at, but then falls right before the close.