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Market Basics

Spread

The difference between the bid (buy) and ask (sell) price.

Tight spreads ($0.01) mean high liquidity — easy to enter and exit. Wide spreads ($0.10+) add hidden costs to every trade. Always check the spread before trading. ETFs like SPY have the tightest spreads. Penny stocks often have wide spreads that eat into profits.

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More in Market Basics
Candlestick
A bar showing open, high, low, close for a time period.
OHLCV
Open, High, Low, Close, Volume — the 5 data points per candle.
Timeframe
The duration each candlestick represents.
Volume
The number of shares traded in a given period.
Relative Volume (RVOL)
Today's volume compared to the 20-day average.
Slippage
The difference between your expected price and the actual fill.