Updated: May 8, 2026 Key Takeaways Going long means buying a stock and profiting if the price rises. Going short means borrowing shares, selling them, and profiting if the price falls. Both are legitimate trading strategies with different risk profiles. Long positions have limited downside — a stock can only go to zero. Short positions…
Updated: May 8, 2026 Key Takeaways You have to be 18 to open a brokerage account in your own name in the United States. That is the legal age of majority and the point at which you can sign a binding financial contract. Under 18? You can still invest. A parent or guardian opens a…
Updated: May 8, 2026 Key Takeaways A short sale restriction (SSR) is triggered automatically when a stock drops 10 percent or more from the prior day’s closing price. Once active, short sellers can only execute at a price above the current national best bid. SSR is governed by SEC Rule 201 under Regulation SHO, which…
Updated: May 8, 2026 Key Takeaways Tradewins Publishing is a trading education company, not a brokerage. They produce books, e-books, video courses, newsletters, and trade alert services. You need a separate brokerage account to actually execute trades. The content library covers options, futures, forex, and day trading across multiple formats. The depth is real, but…
Updated: May 8, 2026 Key Takeaways Bullish means you expect prices to rise. Bearish means you expect prices to fall. Both terms apply to individual stocks, sectors, and the broader market. A bull market is defined as a sustained rise of 20 percent or more from a recent low. A bear market is a sustained…
Updated: May 8, 2026 Key Takeaways A stock market correction is a decline of 10 to 20 percent from a recent peak. It is a normal and recurring feature of healthy markets, not a signal that something has permanently broken. Corrections differ from bear markets (20 percent or more decline) and crashes (sudden, dramatic drops…
Updated: May 7, 2026 Key Takeaways Liquidity measures how quickly you can buy or sell a stock without significantly moving its price. High liquidity means easy entry and exit. Low liquidity means the opposite. Trading volume is the primary measure of stock liquidity. High-volume stocks like Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL) can absorb large orders…
Updated: May 7, 2026 Key Takeaways A stock’s float is the number of shares actually available for public trading — not the total shares outstanding. Float excludes shares held by insiders, institutions with lockup agreements, and employee stock ownership plans. Low float stocks are more volatile and harder to exit quickly. High float stocks offer…
Updated: May 7, 2026 Key Takeaways A margin account lets you borrow money from your brokerage to buy more securities than your cash balance would otherwise allow. Your deposited cash serves as the collateral for that loan. The Federal Reserve requires a minimum deposit of $2,000 to open a margin account. Most brokerages allow you…
Updated: May 7, 2026 Key Takeaways Day trading means opening and closing all positions within a single market session. No overnight exposure, but smaller profit windows per trade. Swing trading means holding positions for two days to several months to capture larger price moves. More profit potential per trade, but overnight and weekend risk is…