Stock Market Definitions

Wilshire 5000

The Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index measures the performance of all U.S. headquartered equity securities with readily available price data. The Index is a capitalization-weighted Index. The Index includes all of the stocks contained in the S&P 500 Composite S

Whisper Number

A Whisper Number is the unofficial estimate of a company’s earnings per share.

Warrant Arbitrage

Warrant values can differ from the underlying stock that they represent, presenting an opportunity for an arbitrageur.

NMS

NMS is an acronym for National Market System, and refers to stocks trading on NASDAQ. NMS companies are required to meet set criteria for size, profitability and trading volume to be listed. Trading in NMS stocks is more transparent than listed stocks in that bid and offer, high and low, last sale a

Nifty Fifty

Nifty Fifty refers to a group of large cap NYSE stocks that were popular among institutional investors in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s. The group included names such as General Electric, Coca Cola and IBM (which continued to perform over the long term) and recently challenged compani

Nasdaq Composite Index

Launched in 1971, the Nasdaq Composite Index is a market capitalization-weighted index of over 3,000 securities. The index includes many leading technology stocks, such as Dell, Intel and Microsoft. See also: Nasdaq, Nasdaq-100 Index, Market Indices Relat

Ultra Cap

Ultra cap is a category used to describe stocks that have a market capitalization of over $25 billion. Stocks in this category are also referred to as ‘mega caps’ and represent the largest companies such as Wal Mart and General Electric. See also: Micro Cap, Small cap, Mid Cap, Large Cap

Nasdaq

Nasdaq stands for the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System. Unlike the New York Stock Exchange where trades take place on an exchange, Nasdaq is an electronic stock market that uses a computerized system to

Triple Witching Hour

The Triple Witching Hour refers to the  four time annually that the S&P Futures contract, the S&P 100 index option and options on individual stocks expire simulateously. The Triple Witching Hour is the final trading hour on the third Friday of March, June, September and December. The co

NASD

NASD is an acronym for National Association of Securities Dealers.