Glossary · 40 terms
Chart and market terms, A to Z
Short, plain definitions of the terms used across Chartora, each with an example where it helps.
- All-time highThe highest price an asset has ever traded or closed at since it started trading.
- Bear marketA long period of falling prices, often defined for stocks as a decline of 20% or more from a recent peak.
- Bid-ask spreadThe gap between the highest price a buyer is offering (bid) and the lowest price a seller is asking (ask).
- Bull marketA long period of rising prices, often described for stocks as a gain of 20% or more from a recent low.
- CandlestickA chart bar that shows the open, high, low and close of one period, with a body between open and close and wicks to the extremes.
- CPI (Consumer Price Index)A monthly US inflation measure that tracks the average change in prices urban consumers pay for a basket of goods and services.
- DivergenceWhen price and an indicator such as RSI move in different directions, for example price making a higher high while RSI makes a lower high.
- Earnings per share (EPS)A company’s profit divided by its number of shares, showing how much profit is attributable to each share.
- ETF (exchange-traded fund)A fund whose shares trade on a stock exchange like a single stock, usually tracking an index, a sector or one asset such as bitcoin.
- Exponential moving average (EMA)A moving average that gives more weight to recent prices, so it reacts faster than a simple moving average of the same length.
- FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee)The Federal Reserve committee that sets the target range for the US federal funds rate, meeting eight times a year on a published schedule.
- Funding rateA periodic payment between long and short holders of perpetual futures that keeps the contract price close to the spot price.
- GuidanceA company’s own forecast for upcoming results, such as revenue or earnings per share for the next quarter or year.
- Higher highA swing high that sits above the previous swing high, one of the two building blocks of an uptrend.
- Higher lowA swing low that sits above the previous swing low, showing that buyers stepped in sooner on the latest pullback.
- LeverageUsing borrowed funds or margin to control a position larger than the capital put up, which enlarges both gains and losses.
- LiquidationThe forced closing of a leveraged position by an exchange or broker when losses leave too little margin to keep it open.
- LiquidityHow easily an asset can be bought or sold quickly without moving its price much.
- Lower highA swing high that sits below the previous swing high, showing that rallies are running out of strength sooner.
- Lower lowA swing low that sits below the previous swing low, one of the two building blocks of a downtrend.
- Market capitalizationThe total market value of a company or crypto asset: price multiplied by the number of shares or coins in circulation.
- Moving averageThe average price over a fixed number of recent periods, recalculated each period to smooth out short-term noise.
- Net flowThe value of money entering a fund minus the money leaving it over a period, as measured by shares created and redeemed.
- Nonfarm payrollsThe monthly change in the number of paid US workers outside farming, published in the Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report.
- Open interestThe total number of futures or options contracts that are open and not yet closed or settled.
- Perpetual futuresA futures contract with no expiry date, common in crypto, that uses a funding rate to keep its price near the underlying spot market.
- Price targetAn analyst’s estimate of where a stock’s price could be at a future date, usually about 12 months ahead.
- RangeA period when price moves sideways between a ceiling and a floor instead of trending, also called consolidation.
- ResistanceA price area above the current price where rallies have stalled and turned lower before.
- RSI (Relative Strength Index)A momentum indicator from 0 to 100 that compares the size of recent gains with recent losses, usually over 14 periods.
- Simple moving average (SMA)The plain average of the last N closing prices, with every close weighted equally.
- SlippageThe difference between the price a trader expected and the price at which the order was actually filled.
- StablecoinA crypto token designed to hold a steady value, most often pegged one-to-one to the US dollar.
- SupportA price area below the current price where declines have stopped and turned higher before.
- Swing highA local peak on a chart. Chartora defines it as a daily close higher than the four closes on each side of it.
- Swing lowA local trough on a chart. Chartora defines it as a daily close lower than the four closes on each side of it.
- Trend structureThe pattern of recent swing highs and swing lows, used to describe a market as trending up, trending down or ranging.
- VolatilityHow much and how quickly an asset’s price moves, often measured as the standard deviation of its returns.
- VolumeThe number of shares, contracts or coins traded during a period, usually shown as bars beneath the price chart.
- WickThe thin line above or below a candlestick’s body that shows the highest or lowest price reached in the period.