Investment Terms Glossary
Before investing in anything, it is essential to know the key terms that apply to the various platforms available. We've prepared this glossary list to provide a consistent reference point.
Updated 7 June 2024
Know this: There is a risk that less user-friendly platforms provide functionality that many investors may be unfamiliar with. We appreciate there is a range of information out there to help investors — however, we to present a New Zealand-specific standard that covers what's important.
We believe that once you have an idea about what each function means, you can optimise and adapt your investment style to make the best investment decisions.
Our Investment Term Glossary covers:
Note: We refer to shares below as stocks, as outside of New Zealand and Australia, shares are referred to as stocks.
Know this: There is a risk that less user-friendly platforms provide functionality that many investors may be unfamiliar with. We appreciate there is a range of information out there to help investors — however, we to present a New Zealand-specific standard that covers what's important.
We believe that once you have an idea about what each function means, you can optimise and adapt your investment style to make the best investment decisions.
Our Investment Term Glossary covers:
Note: We refer to shares below as stocks, as outside of New Zealand and Australia, shares are referred to as stocks.
General Definitions
Day Trading – This is where a company or an individual invests intending to profit off the movements (typically buying and selling stocks within the same day). Many of the recent scandals involving Gamestop, AMC and SPACs will likely have elements of day traders investing in them. You can read more about day trading here.
Swing Trading – This is similar to day trading - however, most stocks will be held overnight or more to price from short term price fluctuations or "swings".
Stock Market Hours – Typically, most major stock markets across the world are open from 9/10am to 4pm in their local time (for example – the New Zealand Stock Exchange is open from 10am to 4:45pm). Some stock markets will have a break in the middle of the day for lunch (for example – Hong Kong takes a ~1 hour break at 12pm). There are also days where stock markets will be closed – typically on public holidays or trading outages.
Pre-Market Hours – This is where orders can be placed before the main stock market session opens, typically in the early hours of the morning. For example – the New York Stock Exchange takes order from 4am local time. However, it's important to note that the number of stocks being traded will be very low, impacting the price you pay. You may risk paying too much for the stock or not get the desired quantity if placing orders during these times.
Post-Market Hours – This is similar to pre-market hours, except from 4pm to 8pm in most markets. This doesn't happen in New Zealand, but is common in US and European markets.
Bull Market / Bullish – This is colloquially referred to a strong stock market where prices rise over time. If people are bullish, they will expect the stock (or stock market index) to go up in future, and there is widespread investor confidence.
Bearish – This is colloquially referred to a weak stock market where prices are dropping over time. If people are bearish, they will expect the stock to go down in future. There is a lack of investor confidence. A bearish market is the opposite of a bull market.
Correction - This occurs when you have a 10% drop in a stock or market from top to bottom. Corrections are typically healthy and occur when stocks have had strong growth and sellers profit from selling off. A correction can also happen when there is news or events that impact the stock.
Recession / Bear Market – This occurs where you have a 20% drop in a stock or market from top to bottom. Bear Markets are less frequent and occur when events occur that were unexpected by markets (for example – Covid 19 had a large, unexpected impact on many different businesses, influencing stocks, driving the stock prices down given the unknown consequences of a super-virus).
Float – This is the overall number of stocks available to trade. For example, a company that goes through an IPO will release stocks. This number is typically the overall number of stocks available to trade (the float). For example, when MyFoodBag had its IPO, it released/issued 242 million stocks - this was the float.
Share/Stock Buyback – This is where a company will use its cash reserves to buy stock off other investors and "remove" them from circulation. This reduces the number of stocks in circulation, increasing the value of existing stocks. A stock buyback does not impact the company's value – only the number of stocks and ownership percentage.
As an example, if there were 100 stocks valued at $10 each, the company would be worth $1,000. If a company decided to buy 10 stock back and "remove" them from circulation, there would be 90 stocks leftover with the company still valued at $1,000. That means each stock would be worth $1,000 / 90 = $11.11 each.
Stock Split – This is where a company will divide the existing number of stocks currently held, impacting the number of stocks in a company and the respective prices. Again, this does NOT impact the value of the company overall. A company may do this for many reasons.
For example, Tesla did a stock split in 2019, which made the stock significantly more affordable for retail investors. On the other end of the spectrum, a company like Berkshire Hathaway has only done one stock split in its lifetime, even though its stock currently trades around $400,000 NZD. Warren Buffett has not split the stock as he is afraid doing so will encourage people to day trade.
Retail Investors – This is an individual, non-professional investor that buys and sells securities that are typically simple in nature (stocks or ETFs for example). New Zealand retail investors use platforms like Sharesies, their share broker, Hatch, Stake and ASB Securities etc.
Institutional Investors – These are entities that pools money together to buy various investments (for example, stocks, bonds, property etc), including other high-risk options such as Private Equity, Venture Capital and derivatives.
Derivative – These are contracts that are dependent on an underlying asset (could be a stock or bond). For example – a future contract to buy a Tesla at $500 in 3 weeks is a derivative. These are typically higher risk than buying the stock standalone.
High-Frequency Trading – This is where an institution will automatically make a large number of trades using large computing power. This is typically done at incredibly high speeds, with thousands of trades occurring every second.
Market Capitalisation – This is effectively the company's total size. It's calculated by multiplying the total number of stocks with the current stock price. For example, if the stock price of Microsoft was $100 and there are one billion stocks floated, the market capitalisation would be $100 X 1 billion = $100 billion.
Companies are typically bucketed into small, medium and large capitalisation companies. General estimates are:
Swing Trading – This is similar to day trading - however, most stocks will be held overnight or more to price from short term price fluctuations or "swings".
Stock Market Hours – Typically, most major stock markets across the world are open from 9/10am to 4pm in their local time (for example – the New Zealand Stock Exchange is open from 10am to 4:45pm). Some stock markets will have a break in the middle of the day for lunch (for example – Hong Kong takes a ~1 hour break at 12pm). There are also days where stock markets will be closed – typically on public holidays or trading outages.
Pre-Market Hours – This is where orders can be placed before the main stock market session opens, typically in the early hours of the morning. For example – the New York Stock Exchange takes order from 4am local time. However, it's important to note that the number of stocks being traded will be very low, impacting the price you pay. You may risk paying too much for the stock or not get the desired quantity if placing orders during these times.
Post-Market Hours – This is similar to pre-market hours, except from 4pm to 8pm in most markets. This doesn't happen in New Zealand, but is common in US and European markets.
Bull Market / Bullish – This is colloquially referred to a strong stock market where prices rise over time. If people are bullish, they will expect the stock (or stock market index) to go up in future, and there is widespread investor confidence.
Bearish – This is colloquially referred to a weak stock market where prices are dropping over time. If people are bearish, they will expect the stock to go down in future. There is a lack of investor confidence. A bearish market is the opposite of a bull market.
Correction - This occurs when you have a 10% drop in a stock or market from top to bottom. Corrections are typically healthy and occur when stocks have had strong growth and sellers profit from selling off. A correction can also happen when there is news or events that impact the stock.
Recession / Bear Market – This occurs where you have a 20% drop in a stock or market from top to bottom. Bear Markets are less frequent and occur when events occur that were unexpected by markets (for example – Covid 19 had a large, unexpected impact on many different businesses, influencing stocks, driving the stock prices down given the unknown consequences of a super-virus).
Float – This is the overall number of stocks available to trade. For example, a company that goes through an IPO will release stocks. This number is typically the overall number of stocks available to trade (the float). For example, when MyFoodBag had its IPO, it released/issued 242 million stocks - this was the float.
Share/Stock Buyback – This is where a company will use its cash reserves to buy stock off other investors and "remove" them from circulation. This reduces the number of stocks in circulation, increasing the value of existing stocks. A stock buyback does not impact the company's value – only the number of stocks and ownership percentage.
As an example, if there were 100 stocks valued at $10 each, the company would be worth $1,000. If a company decided to buy 10 stock back and "remove" them from circulation, there would be 90 stocks leftover with the company still valued at $1,000. That means each stock would be worth $1,000 / 90 = $11.11 each.
Stock Split – This is where a company will divide the existing number of stocks currently held, impacting the number of stocks in a company and the respective prices. Again, this does NOT impact the value of the company overall. A company may do this for many reasons.
For example, Tesla did a stock split in 2019, which made the stock significantly more affordable for retail investors. On the other end of the spectrum, a company like Berkshire Hathaway has only done one stock split in its lifetime, even though its stock currently trades around $400,000 NZD. Warren Buffett has not split the stock as he is afraid doing so will encourage people to day trade.
Retail Investors – This is an individual, non-professional investor that buys and sells securities that are typically simple in nature (stocks or ETFs for example). New Zealand retail investors use platforms like Sharesies, their share broker, Hatch, Stake and ASB Securities etc.
Institutional Investors – These are entities that pools money together to buy various investments (for example, stocks, bonds, property etc), including other high-risk options such as Private Equity, Venture Capital and derivatives.
Derivative – These are contracts that are dependent on an underlying asset (could be a stock or bond). For example – a future contract to buy a Tesla at $500 in 3 weeks is a derivative. These are typically higher risk than buying the stock standalone.
High-Frequency Trading – This is where an institution will automatically make a large number of trades using large computing power. This is typically done at incredibly high speeds, with thousands of trades occurring every second.
Market Capitalisation – This is effectively the company's total size. It's calculated by multiplying the total number of stocks with the current stock price. For example, if the stock price of Microsoft was $100 and there are one billion stocks floated, the market capitalisation would be $100 X 1 billion = $100 billion.
Companies are typically bucketed into small, medium and large capitalisation companies. General estimates are:
- Small cap = <$1 billion
- Medium cap = $2-10 billion
- Large cap = $10 billion+
Characteristics
Volume – This is a measure of the number of stocks that have traded. For example, if 1 million Tesla stocks have been bought or sold in the day, the 1-day volume for Tesla will be 1 million stocks.
Liquidity –This is defined as how easily a stock can be converted to cash and whether converting a stock will influence its market price. Liquidity is highly influenced by "volume". The less a stock is traded, the lower its liquidity. Highly liquid New Zealand companies include Spark, Auckland Airport and a2 Milk - all of these companies are frequently bought and sold. Companies with less liquidity include the small-cap NZX-listed PaySauce, Blis Technology and Wellington Drive Technologies.
Candlesticks – A Candlestick chart is what most day traders use as guidance before making a trade. A candlestick will show the open price, the close or current market price, the high price and the low price (typically during the day). This gives traders a rough idea of where the stock is, whether it's been going up or down in price during the day and whether it will continue to go up or down depending on highs and lows. You can see an example of a Candlestick chart on our Tesla Stock guide.
Liquidity –This is defined as how easily a stock can be converted to cash and whether converting a stock will influence its market price. Liquidity is highly influenced by "volume". The less a stock is traded, the lower its liquidity. Highly liquid New Zealand companies include Spark, Auckland Airport and a2 Milk - all of these companies are frequently bought and sold. Companies with less liquidity include the small-cap NZX-listed PaySauce, Blis Technology and Wellington Drive Technologies.
Candlesticks – A Candlestick chart is what most day traders use as guidance before making a trade. A candlestick will show the open price, the close or current market price, the high price and the low price (typically during the day). This gives traders a rough idea of where the stock is, whether it's been going up or down in price during the day and whether it will continue to go up or down depending on highs and lows. You can see an example of a Candlestick chart on our Tesla Stock guide.
Types of Orders
Limit Order – This is where you tell your broker the exact price at which you are willing to pay to buy a stock. If the price does not reach this "limit", your order will not be filled. For example, if you had placed a limit order to buy 1 Tesla stock at $1,000, and the current price dropped to $1,005, your order would not be executed as the current price did not hit your limit order price.
Market Order – This is a type of order that allows you to quickly buy or sell stocks at whatever the current market rate is going at. For example, buyers and sellers are meeting at a price of $100, when you place a market order you will purchase or sell at the current price of $100. This is quicker than using limit or stop orders, but may result in less favourable prices.
Stop Order – This is a versatile order that allows you to be prudent when investing. When you place a stop order, it allows you to buy or sell a stock when it hits a certain level. Once it hits this level, the order will take place. For example, you may want to reduce the amount of money you lose on Tesla if the stock drops from $1,000 to $800. You could place a stop order at $900, which would sell your Tesla stock once the price hits $900. This would mean you end up selling at $900 instead of $800 if it continued to fall, limiting the potential loss you make.
Stop Limit – This combines the "Limit order" and the "Stop order" above.
Market on Close – This is a type of market order that is triggered as close to the closing price as possible at the end of the trading day.
Limit on Close – This is a similar type of order defined above in "Limit Order", but it is executed at the end of the day and will execute if the limit price is at or better than the closing price.
Market Order – This is a type of order that allows you to quickly buy or sell stocks at whatever the current market rate is going at. For example, buyers and sellers are meeting at a price of $100, when you place a market order you will purchase or sell at the current price of $100. This is quicker than using limit or stop orders, but may result in less favourable prices.
Stop Order – This is a versatile order that allows you to be prudent when investing. When you place a stop order, it allows you to buy or sell a stock when it hits a certain level. Once it hits this level, the order will take place. For example, you may want to reduce the amount of money you lose on Tesla if the stock drops from $1,000 to $800. You could place a stop order at $900, which would sell your Tesla stock once the price hits $900. This would mean you end up selling at $900 instead of $800 if it continued to fall, limiting the potential loss you make.
Stop Limit – This combines the "Limit order" and the "Stop order" above.
Market on Close – This is a type of market order that is triggered as close to the closing price as possible at the end of the trading day.
Limit on Close – This is a similar type of order defined above in "Limit Order", but it is executed at the end of the day and will execute if the limit price is at or better than the closing price.
Execution Timing
Good Till Cancel – This type of order means your order that you have placed will be active and valid on the brokerage servers until you cancel it.
At the Opening – This type of order will place the buy or sell order at the very start of the trading day. If it is not done in the opening, it will be cancelled.
Day – This type of order will be placed and remain valid during the trading day, but cancelled after this.
At the Opening – This type of order will place the buy or sell order at the very start of the trading day. If it is not done in the opening, it will be cancelled.
Day – This type of order will be placed and remain valid during the trading day, but cancelled after this.
Common Terms
Initial Public Offering – An IPO is where a company sells a certain number of stocks on a public exchange (eg the New York Stock Exchange or the NZX). The company is typically valued by an investment bank that will "underwrite" the deal (meaning the bank will buy the stock from the company and sell to investors on the public exchange). If the stock does not sell, the investment bank will be the ones on the hook, so are incentivised to accurately price the stock.
Margin – This is a form of leverage that allows investors and traders to trade more than they would be allowed to buy or sell if they just used cash alone. For example, If you have $100,000 NZD and traded 2X on Margin, you would be able to purchase $200,000 NZD of assets. Note that margin is typically considered risky and will have interest rates associated with borrowing on margin.
SPAC – In some share trading platforms (such as Interactive Brokers), there is an ability to participate in IPO or SPAC issuances. A Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) is a company with no existing operations that looks to raise money in order to acquire another company. For example, investors may contribute money towards a $5 billion fund and list this on the NASDAQ. The SPAC owner would then seek to find a suitable company that it wants to acquire (Rocket Lab is one example). Once both the company and SPAC owner have agreed, the $5 billion SPAC on the NASDAQ will effectively transform Rocket Lab into the publicly listed company.
In recent years, SPACs have become a popular way for investors to get access to the latest innovation and technology. Examples of SPACs in 2020/2021 have included Social Capital’s SPAC with Virgin Galactic, and Churchill Capital’s SPAC with Lucid Motors.
Margin – This is a form of leverage that allows investors and traders to trade more than they would be allowed to buy or sell if they just used cash alone. For example, If you have $100,000 NZD and traded 2X on Margin, you would be able to purchase $200,000 NZD of assets. Note that margin is typically considered risky and will have interest rates associated with borrowing on margin.
SPAC – In some share trading platforms (such as Interactive Brokers), there is an ability to participate in IPO or SPAC issuances. A Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) is a company with no existing operations that looks to raise money in order to acquire another company. For example, investors may contribute money towards a $5 billion fund and list this on the NASDAQ. The SPAC owner would then seek to find a suitable company that it wants to acquire (Rocket Lab is one example). Once both the company and SPAC owner have agreed, the $5 billion SPAC on the NASDAQ will effectively transform Rocket Lab into the publicly listed company.
In recent years, SPACs have become a popular way for investors to get access to the latest innovation and technology. Examples of SPACs in 2020/2021 have included Social Capital’s SPAC with Virgin Galactic, and Churchill Capital’s SPAC with Lucid Motors.
