Category Archives: Beginners

A collection of resources for beginners to get a grip on learning about stocks, mutual funds, and investing on their own

What is the Federal Reserve?

Definition The Federal Reserve Bank, or the “Fed”, is the central banking system of the United States. It serves as the primary regulator of the US dollar, as well as the “lender of last resort” for other banks. Regulating Currency The Federal Reserve works to maintain the interest rates that banks use to lend money to Read More…
Categories: A - G, Beginners, Economics, Glossary

Why Invest In Stocks?

Simply put, when you have money to invest for an extended period of time (like 20 years or more), the stock market historically has provided the greatest return. When most people are able to save money, they usually put it in the bank. Banks usually pay interest on the cash in your account, so if Read More…
Categories: Beginners, Personal Finance

Intro to Stocks

The basics about stocks. What are they? What do they represent? How does Risk figure into stock ownership.
Categories: Stocks

Forex

Live Forex trading includes negotiating of national bills which is performed on a live basis at 24 hour, around-the-clock period. Forex is derived from the words Foreign Exchange which is known as the global market that does business in money trading.
Categories: A - G, Glossary, Specific Types Of Investments

Stop and Limit Orders

Definition A Stop (or stop loss) order and limit order are orders that try to execute (meaning become a market order) when a certain price threshold is reached. Limit and stop orders are mirrors of each other; they have the same mechanics, but have opposite triggers. When creating a limit or stop order, you will select Read More…
Categories: Glossary, Order Types, U - Z

Bond

Promissory notes issued by a corporation or government to its lenders, usually with a specified amount of interest for a specified length of time. This is seen as a loan from the bond holder to the corporation. The value of Bonds traded are greater than the value of stocks traded.
Categories: A - G, Bonds, Glossary, The 10 Terms You Need To Know

Asset

Definition: An asset is anything that has monetary value and can be sold. Assets can be anything from a pencil (though it is not worth much) to a skyscraper to things like Stocks and ETFs. There can also be intangible assets such as the value of a brand name or logo. Details: Assets generally refer Read More…
Categories: A - G, Glossary, The 10 Terms You Need To Know

Asset Allocation

Definition “Asset Allocation” is how you have divided up your investments across different assets. You can have all your assets in one place, or you can use diversification to spread them around to reduce risk. Details Whenever you pick stocks, open a bank account, get paid, buy something, or do anything with any resources, you Read More…
Categories: Beginners

Investment Strategy

An investment strategy is the set of rules and behaviors that you can adopt to reach your financial and investing goals. Choosing an investing strategy can be a daunting task when you are starting to learn about investments and finance. Here we will look at the larger overall strategies rather than very specific strategies. Given Read More…
Categories: Making Your First Investments, Pending

Leveraged ETFs

ETFs are collections of assets into bundles you can invest in all at once, the most popular ones follow indecies (such as SPY following the S&P 500), which is one way for an investor to build a diverse portfolio without holding dozens of individual positions. However, using financial derivatives and debt, there are also “Leveraged ETFs”, Read More…
Categories: ETFs, Glossary, H - M, Popular

S&P 500

The S&P 500, or the Standard & Poor’s 500, is a stock market index based on the common stock prices of 500 top publicly traded American companies, as determined by S&P. It differs from other stock market indices like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite because it tracks a different number of stocks and weights the stocks differently. It is one of the most commonly followed indices and many consider it the best representation of the market and a bellwether for the U.S. economy.
Categories: Glossary, N - T, The 10 Terms You Need To Know

Popular Canadian Stocks

Most Popular Canadian Stocks Looking to trade Canadian stocks in your HowTheMarketWorks portfolio, but not sure where to look? You can find a list of the most popular Canadian companies, their symbol, and quotes here! SYMBOLCOMPANY NAMEQuote And ChartTrade It On HTMW RYRoyal Bank of CanadaGet Quote!Buy It On HTMW! TDToronto-Dominion Bank (The)Get Quote!Buy It Read More…
Categories: Stocks

How To Choose Stocks

The most challenging aspect of starting to invest is picking the first few stocks to add to a portfolio. Every investor has their own techniques and strategies, but we want to give you the tools you need to place your first trades, and get your portfolio off to a running start. Establish Goals Before choosing Read More…
Categories: Stocks

Sharpe Ratio (Beginner)

Sharpe Ratio for Beginners Introduction The Sharpe Ratio is an important tool for evaluating a stock, or a portfolio, based on how risky it is to get a higher return. You can use the Sharpe Ratio to determine how consistent the returns of a stock or portfolio are, so you can determine if the returns Read More…
Categories: Beginners, Glossary, N - T

OTC (Over The Counter) Stocks

Over-The-Counter (OTC) Stocks Most investors are familiar with NASDAQ, the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange), TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange), and most other large national stock exchanges. However, there are also thousands of companies that want to sell shares to the general public, but are not able to sell on these exchanges. Stock traded on these Read More…
Categories: Beginners, Glossary, N - T, Popular, Stocks