LEARN

A stock is a small sliver of ownership in a company. Buy one share and you own a tiny part of it; the price rises and falls with the company's value. Some companies pay out a share of profits as a 'dividend.'

A ticker is the short alphabetic symbol that identifies a stock on an exchange — AAPL for Apple, TSLA for Tesla. You use it to search and place orders.

An ETF (exchange-traded fund) bundles many stocks and trades like a single one. For example, VOO holds the 500 large U.S. companies of the S&P 500, so one share diversifies you across all 500. With smaller swings than single stocks, it's often cited as a sensible starting point for beginners.

An index combines many stock prices into one figure that shows the state of the market. The S&P 500 represents 500 large U.S. stocks; the Nasdaq-100, 100 tech names. 'The market rose' usually means one of these indices rose.

An index of 500 large U.S. stocks selected by Standard & Poor's. It's the most widely used gauge of the overall U.S. stock market. ETFs like VOO and SPY track it.

A dividend is a regular payout of part of a company's earnings to shareholders. Dividend payers tend to be stable, mature companies; growth stocks often reinvest instead of paying one.

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital asset built on blockchain technology. Unlike a stock it carries no company ownership or earnings, making it hard to value, and its price swings far more than stocks. This dashboard focuses on stocks and does not cover crypto.

Leverage means investing more than your own cash (e.g., a 2x leveraged ETF, or margin). Gains multiply on the way up, but losses multiply on the way down — very risky for beginners. '3x leverage' tracks three times the daily move.

Volatility is the size of a price's up-and-down moves. Highly volatile stocks rise and fall sharply over short periods — more risk and more opportunity. Beginners often start with lower-volatility ETFs.

Price divided by earnings per share. A high P/E suggests high growth expectations (or an expensive stock); a low one suggests it's undervalued (or growth is slowing). What counts as 'normal' varies by industry.

Market cap is the total market value of all a company's shares. Companies are grouped into large-cap (>$200B), mid-cap, and small-cap, with large-caps usually more stable.

The aggregated buy/hold/sell ratings from multiple brokerage analysts. They reflect expected earnings and guidance but are often wrong and slow. Use them as a 'market opinion' — don't take them as gospel.

The price an analyst thinks is fair over the next 12 months. There are mean, high, and low targets — they're opinions and frequently miss.

A signal-strength classification this dashboard assigns from a weighted score: its own statistical model's 12-month estimate (70%) + a fundamentals score from SEC EDGAR filings (revenue, margins — 30%). It's general information, not a buy/sell recommendation or investment advice — the final decision and responsibility are yours.

Placing signals from different sources (the in-house statistical projection and SEC EDGAR-based fundamentals) side by side to see whether they point the same way. For example, if the model says down but fundamentals are improving, it's flagged as a 'conflict' with an explanation.

A statistical estimate that fits past daily prices with log-linear regression and extends them forward. It merely 'assumes' the past trend continues; it can't account for news, earnings, or other future variables, so it's often wrong.

The gain or loss on stocks you hold, at the current price. Until you actually sell, it's just a number on paper; selling makes it a realized gain or loss. This app calculates only unrealized P&L (excluding taxes and realized gains).

Accounts like the 401(k), Roth IRA, and HSA offer tax advantages in exchange for being meant for long-term (retirement) holding. Unlike a regular brokerage account, they come with withdrawal limits and tax rules. See the explainers on the LEARN and Portfolio tabs.