Investing glossary

52-week high / low Stocks

The highest and lowest price a security has traded at over the past year. It frames where the current price sits within its recent range, but says nothing about where it will go next.

All-time high (ATH) Crypto

The highest price an asset has ever reached. A price far below its ATH is not automatically a bargain — the previous high may never return.

Altcoin Crypto

Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. The term spans thousands of very different projects, from large established networks to tiny speculative tokens.

Ask / Bid General

The bid is the highest price a buyer is currently willing to pay; the ask is the lowest price a seller will accept. The gap between them is the spread.

Bear market General

A sustained period of falling prices and pessimistic sentiment, commonly defined as a decline of 20% or more from recent highs.

Beta Stocks

A measure of how much an asset tends to move relative to the broader market. A beta above 1 implies larger swings than the market; below 1, smaller.

Blockchain Crypto

A shared, append-only ledger maintained across many computers. It records transactions in linked "blocks" that are very difficult to alter after the fact.

Bull market General

A sustained period of rising prices and optimistic sentiment. The opposite of a bear market.

Circulating supply Crypto

The number of coins or tokens currently available and in public hands. Market cap is calculated from circulating supply, not total or maximum supply.

Cold wallet Crypto

A cryptocurrency wallet kept offline (for example on a hardware device), reducing exposure to online theft. The opposite of a hot wallet.

Compound interest General

Interest earned on both your original capital and on previously accumulated interest. Over long periods it is the main driver of investment growth.

Cost basis General

The original amount you paid for an asset, including fees. It is the figure against which a gain or loss is measured when you sell.

Dividend Stocks

A share of a company's profits paid out to shareholders, usually in cash and on a regular schedule. Not all companies pay dividends.

Dividend yield Stocks

A company's annual dividend per share divided by its share price, expressed as a percentage. It shows the income return at the current price.

Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) General

Investing a fixed amount of money on a regular schedule regardless of price, so you buy more units when prices are low and fewer when high.

Earnings per share (EPS) Stocks

A company's profit divided by its number of outstanding shares. It is the "E" in the P/E ratio.

ETF (exchange-traded fund) Stocks

A fund holding a basket of assets — such as stocks tracking an index — that trades on an exchange like a single stock.

Fear & Greed Index General

A sentiment gauge that scores market mood from 0 (extreme fear) to 100 (extreme greed) using inputs such as volatility and momentum. It is a mood reading, not a forecast.

Fiat currency General

Government-issued money such as the US dollar or euro, not backed by a physical commodity. Crypto prices are usually quoted against fiat.

Fork Crypto

A change to a blockchain's rules. A "hard fork" creates an incompatible new version, sometimes splitting one network into two.

Fully-diluted valuation (FDV) Crypto

What a crypto project would be worth if its maximum supply were all in circulation at today's price. A large gap between market cap and FDV signals heavy future supply.

Gas fee Crypto

The cost paid to have a transaction processed on a blockchain such as Ethereum. Fees rise and fall with network demand.

Halving Crypto

A scheduled event that cuts the rate of new Bitcoin issuance in half, roughly every four years, slowing the growth of supply.

HODL Crypto

Crypto slang for holding an asset through volatility rather than selling. It originated as a misspelling of "hold".

Index fund Stocks

A fund designed to track the performance of a market index, such as the S&P 500, rather than trying to beat it.

Liquidity General

How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price much. Highly liquid markets have many buyers and sellers and tight spreads.

Market capitalization General

The total value of an asset: price multiplied by the number of units in circulation (shares for a stock, circulating supply for a coin).

Market order General

An instruction to buy or sell immediately at the best price currently available, as opposed to a limit order at a chosen price.

Maximum supply Crypto

The hard cap on how many units of a cryptocurrency can ever exist. Some coins have a fixed maximum; others have none.

Mining Crypto

The process by which proof-of-work networks like Bitcoin validate transactions and create new coins, using computing power to solve cryptographic puzzles.

P/E ratio Stocks

Price-to-earnings: a stock's price divided by its earnings per share. A rough gauge of how much investors pay for each dollar of profit.

Portfolio General

The full collection of assets a person or fund holds. Diversification spreads a portfolio across different assets to manage risk.

Private key Crypto

The secret cryptographic code that controls a crypto wallet. Anyone with the private key controls the funds, so it must never be shared.

Proof of stake Crypto

A method of securing a blockchain in which validators lock up ("stake") coins for the right to confirm transactions, using far less energy than mining.

Proof of work Crypto

A method of securing a blockchain in which miners expend computing power to validate transactions, used by Bitcoin.

Realized vs unrealized gain General

An unrealized gain exists on paper while you still hold the asset; it becomes realized — and usually taxable — only when you sell.

Risk/reward ratio General

A comparison of how much you stand to lose against how much you stand to gain on a position. A 1:3 ratio risks one unit to make three.

Slippage General

The difference between the price you expected on a trade and the price actually filled, common in fast-moving or thin markets.

Smart contract Crypto

Self-executing code on a blockchain that runs automatically when conditions are met, underpinning applications such as DeFi.

Spot price General

The current price to buy or sell an asset for immediate delivery, as opposed to a futures or contract price.

Stablecoin Crypto

A cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value, usually pegged to a fiat currency such as the US dollar.

Staking Crypto

Locking up crypto to help secure a proof-of-stake network, typically earning rewards in return. Rewards are not guaranteed and capital is at risk.

Stock split Stocks

A division of a company's existing shares into more units, lowering the per-share price without changing the total value held.

Stop-loss General

A standing order to sell once an asset falls to a set price, used to cap a loss. It does not guarantee the exact exit price in fast markets.

Ticker symbol General

The short code identifying a security or coin on an exchange — AAPL for Apple, BTC for Bitcoin.

Tokenomics Crypto

The economic design of a crypto token: its supply schedule, distribution, incentives and uses. Weak tokenomics can undermine an otherwise good project.

Volatility General

The degree to which a price swings up and down over time. Higher volatility means larger and faster moves in both directions.

Volume (24h) General

The total value of an asset traded over the past 24 hours. Higher volume generally means more liquidity and more reliable prices.

Wallet Crypto

Software or hardware that stores the keys used to access and move cryptocurrency. A wallet holds keys, not the coins themselves.

Yield General

The income an investment produces, expressed as a percentage of its price — for example a dividend yield on a stock or staking yield on a coin.