Glossary

Trading glossary

73 terms in plain English. Each one links to the TraderMatrix tool that shows it live.

Candles · Chart patterns · Dark Pools · Dealer positioning · Indicators · Market basics · Options · Options flow · Psychology · Risk

Candles

Candle: A single bar showing open, high, low, and close for a period. The body spans open to close; the wicks extend to the high and low. Read candles on live charts
Doji: A candle where open and close are nearly equal, leaving a tiny body. It signals indecision and often precedes a reversal or pause. Spot doji setups live
Engulfing: A two-candle pattern where the second body fully covers the first. A bullish engulfing after a decline often signals a reversal. Find engulfing patterns live
Hammer: A candle with a long lower wick and small body near the top. After a downtrend it suggests buyers firmly rejected lower prices. Find hammer reversals live
Hanging man: A candle shaped like a hammer but appearing after an uptrend. The long lower wick hints that sellers briefly took control. Spot hanging man setups live

Chart patterns

Breakout: Price moving decisively above resistance or below support. Volume should confirm the move; low-volume breakouts often fail. Catch breakouts as they happen
Bull flag: A tight downward drift after a sharp rally, on falling volume. A break above the channel in the rally's direction is the typical entry. Scan for bull flags live
Continuation: A pattern that resolves in the same direction as the prior trend. Flags and pennants are the most common examples. Scan for continuation setups
Double bottom: Two troughs at roughly the same level. A close above the peak between them suggests the downtrend has reversed. Spot double bottoms live
Double top: Two price peaks at roughly the same level with a trough between them. A close below the trough confirms the bearish reversal. Spot double tops on live charts
Head and shoulders: Three peaks, the middle one tallest. A close below the neckline connecting the two troughs is the classic reversal signal. Find head and shoulders live
Pennant: Converging trendlines form a small triangle after a strong move. It is a continuation signal; the breakout target equals the pole's length. Scan for pennants live
Reversal: A sustained change in trend direction. Not every pullback qualifies; a confirming candle or volume spike raises the odds. Find reversal setups live
Triangle: Converging trendlines compress price into a wedge. Symmetrical, ascending, and descending triangles each have a directional lean. Scan for triangle breakouts

Dark Pools

Dark pool: A private venue where institutions trade large blocks without showing orders on the public book. See today's dark pool prints
Dark pool print: A single dark pool trade reported after execution. Clusters at a price level mark where institutions have been active. Filter prints by size
Institution: A large organization trading for its own account or clients, such as a fund or pension. Their size requires dark pools or block trades to avoid moving price. See institutional print clusters

Dealer positioning

Call wall: The strike with the most call gamma. Dealers are assumed long those calls, so they sell into rallies near it, which often turns it into resistance. See today's call wall
Gamma flip: The estimated price level where dealer gamma exposure crosses from positive to negative. Below it, moves tend to accelerate rather than dampen. Find today's gamma flip level
Gex: Gamma exposure: a model estimate of the total gamma dealers hold, usually assuming they are long calls and short puts. Positive GEX dampens price moves; negative GEX amplifies them. Open the GEX calculator
Market maker: A firm that quotes both bid and ask to provide liquidity. They hedge the options they hold, and that hedging moves the underlying stock. See how dealers hedge live
Pinning: Price gravitating toward a strike near expiration because dealer hedging converges there. Common on large-open-interest strikes at monthly expiry. Check pinning levels today
Put wall: The strike with the most put gamma. It often draws a reaction, but it is not guaranteed support: dealers short puts sell into weakness, so a break can accelerate. See today's put wall

Indicators

Bollinger bands: A moving average with bands two standard deviations above and below. Band squeezes often precede breakouts; wide bands signal high volatility. Screen by Bollinger squeeze
Ema: Exponential moving average: recent periods get more weight. Reacts faster than the SMA and is common in short-term setups. Screen by EMA crossover
Macd: Moving average convergence/divergence: the gap between two EMAs. Crossovers and histogram direction signal momentum shifts. Screen by MACD crossover
Moving average: The average closing price over N periods, updated each bar. It smooths noise and shows the directional bias of recent price action. Screen by moving average slope
Rsi: Relative strength index, scaled 0-100. Above 70 is overbought and below 30 is oversold, but in strong trends those extremes can persist. Screen by RSI level
Sma: Simple moving average: each period is equally weighted. Slower to react to recent changes than the EMA. Screen above or below the SMA
Volume: How many shares or contracts traded. It confirms whether a move has participation behind it. Find volume-confirmed breakouts
Vwap: Volume-weighted average price. Institutions use it as an intraday fair-value benchmark; price above it is often bullish intraday. Screen around VWAP

Market basics

Ask: The lowest price a seller will accept. When you buy at market, you fill at the ask and pay the spread. Watch ask on live setups
Bid: The highest price a buyer is willing to pay right now. It sits below the ask, and the gap between them is the spread. Watch bid/ask on live setups
Gap: A space where price skipped levels on the open, leaving no candles. Gaps often act as support or resistance when price returns to them. Find gap setups at the open
Limit order: An order to buy or sell only at a specified price or better. Controls fill price but may not execute if price does not reach it. See breakout entry types
Liquidity: How easily an asset can be traded without moving its price. Low liquidity means wider spreads and more slippage on entries and exits. Screen by volume and spread
Market order: An order that fills immediately at the best available price. Fast, but you do not control the exact fill. See breakout entry types
Range: A period when price bounces between support and resistance without trending. Different setups work here than in a trending market. Spot range and breakout setups
Resistance: A price level where sellers have previously appeared. A clean break above it can accelerate a move as prior sellers capitulate. Mark resistance on live charts
Spread: The gap between bid and ask. It is the implicit cost of entering a trade; tighter spreads mean cheaper fills. Screen for tight-spread stocks
Stop order: An order that triggers a market order once price hits a set level. Used to enter breakouts or exit losing trades at a defined point. Set stop alerts on your trades
Support: A price level where buyers have previously stepped in and halted a decline. Price often pauses or reverses there again. Mark support on live charts
Timeframe: The period each candle covers, from one minute to one month. Higher timeframes show larger trend context; lower ones show entry detail. Compare timeframes on a setup
Trend: A sustained directional move, up or down. Most setups perform better when traded in the direction of the trend. Find trending stocks live
Volatility: The size of price swings over time. High volatility means bigger moves in both directions, which affects position sizing. Screen by volatility range

Options

Call: The right to buy 100 shares at the strike price before expiration. Screen call activity
Delta: How much an option's price moves per $1 move in the stock. A delta of 0.50 means a $1 stock move shifts the option by $0.50. Screen options by delta
Expiration: The date the option contract expires. Options lose time value faster as expiration approaches, especially in the final week. Filter by expiration date
Gamma: How fast an option's delta changes with price. It drives how much dealers must hedge as price moves. See dealer gamma live
Implied volatility: The market's expectation of future price swings, backed out from option prices. High IV means expensive options. Screen by implied volatility
In the money: An option with intrinsic value: a call below the current price or a put above it. These options move more like the underlying stock. Screen in-the-money options
Intrinsic value: The in-the-money portion of an option's price: how far the strike is already profitable. Out-of-the-money options have zero intrinsic value. Screen in-the-money options
Iv rank: Where implied volatility sits between its one-year low (0) and high (100). High IV rank means options are expensive relative to recent history. Screen by IV rank
Open interest: The number of contracts currently open at a strike. Volume above open interest means new positions are being opened. Compare volume to OI live
Out of the money: An option with no intrinsic value yet. Cheaper than in-the-money options but more likely to expire worthless. Screen options by moneyness
Premium: The price paid for an option. Large premium is how flow tools rank conviction in a print. Sort flow by premium
Put: The right to sell 100 shares at the strike price before expiration. Screen put activity
Strike: The fixed price at which the option holder can buy or sell shares. Strikes closest to current price carry the most gamma. Screen by strike and price
Theta: How much value an option loses each day as expiration nears. Option buyers pay this daily cost; sellers collect it. Screen by theta decay rate
Vega: How much an option's price changes per one percentage point rise in implied volatility. Long options gain when IV rises; short options lose. Screen by IV sensitivity

Options flow

Block: One large print executed as a single trade, often negotiated off-screen. Frequently a hedge rather than a directional bet. Filter block trades live
Conviction: The degree to which a print suggests a genuine directional view. Large sweeps above the ask with high premium rank highest. Score conviction on live prints
Golden sweep: A sweep with over $1M in premium, filled at or above the ask. Paying up at that size suggests urgency over hedging. Filter golden sweeps live
Hedge: A trade that offsets risk in another position. Many large option prints are hedges, not directional views, so context matters. Read conviction vs. hedging
Options flow: The real-time stream of options trades, filtered and sized to show what large participants are doing right now. Open the live tape
Sweep: An order split across several exchanges at once, usually paying the ask. The split shows urgency. See sweeps as they hit

Psychology

Fomo: Fear of missing out. It pushes traders to chase moves already over, entering at the worst possible price. Log FOMO trades to find the pattern
Journal: A record of every trade with entries, exits, and reasoning. Patterns in a journal are where most traders find what is actually working. Start logging trades today
Revenge trading: Taking impulsive trades after a loss to recover quickly. It breaks the plan and usually compounds the original loss. Flag revenge trades in your journal

Risk

Drawdown: The percentage drop from a portfolio's peak to its current low. Recovery requires larger gains than the loss itself, so managing drawdown matters. Track drawdown in your journal
Position size: How many shares or contracts you hold. Correct sizing comes from your risk limit divided by your stop distance, not from confidence. Log position sizes in your journal
Risk reward: The ratio of potential profit to potential loss. A 2:1 ratio means you need to be right fewer than half the time to come out ahead. Track R:R across your trades
Stop loss: A pre-set exit price that limits how much a trade can lose. It works only if placed before the trade opens and honored when hit. Set stop alerts on your trades

Educational content only. Not financial advice.