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  • 📋ChartSchool
  • Table of Contents
    • Overview
      • Why Analyze Securities?
      • Technical Analysis
      • Fundamental Analysis
      • Random Walk vs. Non-Random Walk
      • Asset Allocation and Diversification
      • John Murphy's 10 Laws of Technical Trading
      • John Murphy's "Charting Made Easy" eBook
      • Technical Analysis 101
        • TA 101 – Part 1
        • TA 101 – Part 2
        • TA 101 – Part 3
        • TA 101 – Part 4
        • TA 101 – Part 5
        • TA 101 – Part 6
        • TA 101 – Part 7
        • TA 101 – Part 8
        • TA 101 – Part 9
        • TA 101 – Part 10
        • TA 101 – Part 11
        • TA 101 – Part 12
        • TA 101 – Part 13
        • TA 101 – Part 14
        • TA 101 – Part 15
        • TA 101 – Part 16
        • TA 101 – Part 17
      • Irrational Exuberance
      • Cognitive Biases
      • Arthur Hill on Goals, Style and Strategy
      • Arthur Hill on Moving Average Crossovers
      • Multicollinearity
      • "The Trader's Journal" by Gatis Roze
        • Stage 1: Money Management
        • Stage 2: Business of Investing
        • Stage 3: The Investor Self
        • Stage 4: Market Analysis
        • Stage 5: Routines
        • Stage 6: Stalking Your Trade
        • Stage 7: Buying
        • Stage 8: Monitoring Your Investments
        • Stage 9: Selling
        • Stage 10: Re-Examine, Refine, Re-Enhance
        • Additional Reading
      • Bob Farrell's 10 Rules
      • Richard Rhodes' Trading Rules
      • Donchian Trading Guidelines
      • Why and How To Use Correlation
    • Chart Analysis
      • What Are Charts?
      • Support & Resistance
      • Trend Lines
      • Gaps and Gap Analysis
      • Introduction to Chart Patterns
      • Chart Patterns
        • Broadening Top or Megaphone Top
        • Double Top Reversal
        • Double Bottom Reversal
        • Head and Shoulders Top
        • Head and Shoulders Bottom
        • Falling Wedge
        • Rising Wedge
        • Rounding Bottom
        • Triple Top Reversal
        • Triple Bottom Reversal
        • Bump and Run Reversal
        • Flag, Pennant
        • Symmetrical Triangle
        • Ascending Triangle
        • Descending Triangle
        • Rectangle
        • Price Channel
        • Measured Move—Bullish
        • Measured Move—Bearish
        • Cup With Handle
      • Chart Types
        • Arms CandleVolume
        • CandleVolume
        • Elder Impulse System
        • EquiVolume
        • Heikin-Ashi Candlesticks
        • Kagi Charts
        • Renko Charts
        • Three Line Break Charts
        • MarketCarpets
        • Relative Rotation Graphs (RRG Charts)
        • Seasonality Charts
        • Yield Curve
      • Candlestick Charts
        • Introduction to Candlesticks
        • Candlesticks and Traditional Chart Analysis
        • Candlesticks and Support
        • Candlesticks and Resistance
        • Candlestick Bullish Reversal Patterns
        • Candlestick Bearish Reversal Patterns
        • Candlestick Pattern Dictionary
      • Point and Figure Charts
        • Point and Figure Basics
          • Introduction to Point & Figure Charts
          • Point & Figure Scaling and Timeframes
          • P&F Trend Lines
        • Classic Patterns
          • P&F Bullish Breakouts
          • P&F Bearish Breakdowns
          • P&F Signal Reversed
          • P&F Catapults
          • P&F Triangles
          • P&F Bull & Bear Traps
        • P&F Price Objectives
          • P&F Price Objectives: Breakout and Reversal Method
          • P&F Price Objectives: Horizontal Counts
          • P&F Price Objectives: Vertical Counts
        • Point & Figure Indicators
        • P&F Scans and Alerts
          • P&F Pattern Alerts
      • Chart Annotation Tools
        • Andrews' Pitchfork
        • Stock Market Cycles
        • Fibonacci Retracements
        • Fibonacci Arcs
        • Fibonacci Fans
        • Fibonacci Time Zones
        • Quadrant Lines
        • Raff Regression Channel
        • Speed Resistance Lines
    • Technical Indicators & Overlays
      • Introduction to Technical Indicators and Oscillators
      • Technical Indicators
        • Accumulation/Distribution Line
        • Alligator Indicator
        • Aroon
        • Aroon Oscillator
        • ATR Bands
        • ATR Trailing Stops
        • Average Directional Index (ADX)
        • Average True Range (ATR) and Average True Range Percent (ATRP)
        • Balance of Power (BOP)
        • Bollinger BandWidth
        • %B Indicator
        • Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)
        • Chaikin Oscillator
        • Chande Trend Meter (CTM)
        • CMB Composite Index
        • Commodity Channel Index (CCI)
        • ConnorsRSI
        • Coppock Curve
        • Correlation Coefficient
        • DecisionPoint Price Momentum Oscillator (PMO)
        • Detrended Price Oscillator (DPO)
        • Distance From Highs
        • Distance From Lows
        • Distance To Highs
        • Distance To Lows
        • Distance From Moving Average
        • Ease of Movement (EMV)
        • Force Index
        • Gopalakrishnan Range Index
        • High Low Bands
        • High Minus Low
        • Highest High Value
        • Linear Regression R2
        • Lowest Low Value
        • Mass Index
        • MACD (Moving Average Convergence/Divergence) Oscillator
        • MACD-Histogram
        • MACD-V
        • MACD-V Histogram
        • Median Price
        • Money Flow Index (MFI)
        • Negative Volume Index (NVI)
        • On Balance Volume (OBV)
        • Percentage Price Oscillator (PPO)
        • Percentage Volume Oscillator (PVO)
        • Performance Spread
        • Price Relative/Relative Strength
        • Pring's Know Sure Thing (KST)
        • Pring's Special K
        • Rate of Change (ROC)
        • Relative Strength Index (RSI)
        • Relative Volume (RVOL)
        • RRG Relative Strength
        • StockCharts Technical Rank
        • Slope
        • Standard Deviation (Volatility)
        • Stochastic Oscillator (Fast, Slow, and Full)
        • StochRSI
        • Traffic Light
        • TRIX
        • True Range
        • True Strength Index
        • TTM Squeeze
        • Typical Price
        • Ulcer Index
        • Ultimate Oscillator
        • Vortex Indicator
        • Weighted Close
        • Williams %R
      • Technical Overlays
        • Anchored VWAP
        • Bollinger Bands
        • Chandelier Exit
        • Double Exponential Moving Average (DEMA)
        • Hull Moving Average (HMA)
        • Ichimoku Cloud
        • Kaufman's Adaptive Moving Average (KAMA)
        • Keltner Channels
        • Linear Regression Forecast
        • Linear Regression Intercept
        • Moving Averages—Simple and Exponential
        • Moving Average Ribbon
        • Moving Average Envelopes
        • Parabolic SAR
        • Pivot Points
        • Price Channels
        • Triple Exponential Moving Average (TEMA)
        • Volume-by-Price
        • Volume-Weighted Average Price (VWAP)
        • ZigZag
    • Market Indicators
      • Introduction to Market Indicators
        • Market Indicator Dictionary
      • Advance-Decline Line
      • Advance-Decline Percent
      • Advance-Decline Volume Line
      • Advance-Decline Volume Percent
      • Arms Index (TRIN)
      • Bullish Percent Index (BPI)
      • DecisionPoint Intermediate-Term Breadth Momentum Oscillator (ITBM)
      • DecisionPoint Intermediate-Term Volume Momentum Oscillator (ITVM)
      • DecisionPoint Swenlin Trading Oscillator (STO)
      • High-Low Index
      • High-Low Percent
      • McClellan Oscillator
      • McClellan Summation Index
      • Net New 52-Week Highs
      • Percent Above Moving Average
      • Pring's Bottom Fisher
      • Pring's Diffusion Indicators
      • Pring's Inflation and Deflation Indexes
      • Pring's Net New High Indicators
      • Put/Call Ratio
      • Record High Percent
      • Volatility Indices
    • Market Analysis
      • Dow Theory
      • Sector Rotation Analysis
      • Intermarket Analysis
      • The DecisionPoint Chart Gallery
      • DecisionPoint Rydex Asset Analysis
      • Wyckoff Analysis Articles
        • Wyckoff Market Analysis
        • Wyckoff Stock Analysis
        • The Wyckoff Method: A Tutorial
      • Elliott Wave Analysis Articles
        • Introduction to Elliott Wave Theory
        • Identifying Elliott Wave Patterns
        • Guidelines for Applying Elliott Wave Theory
    • Trading Strategies & Models
      • DecisionPoint Trend Model
      • Trading Strategies
        • Bollinger Band Squeeze
        • CCI Correction
        • CVR3 VIX Market Timing
        • Faber's Sector Rotation Trading Strategy
        • Gap Trading Strategies
        • Harmonic Patterns
        • Hindenburg Omen
        • Ichimoku Cloud Trading Strategies
        • The 'Last' Stochastic Technique
        • MACD Zero-Line Crosses With Swing Points
        • Moving Average Trading Strategies
          • Finding Support and Resistance in Moving Averages
          • Guppy Multiple Moving Average: An MA Ribbon Designed to Tip the Market’s Hand
          • How To Trade Price-to-Moving Average Crossovers
          • Trading the Bounce: Finding Support and Resistance in Moving Averages
          • Trading the Death Cross
          • Trading Using the Golden Cross
          • Using the 5-8-13 EMA Crossover for Short-Term Trades
        • Moving Momentum
        • Narrow Range Day NR7
        • Percent Above 50-day SMA
        • Percent B Money Flow
        • The Pre-Holiday Effect
        • RSI(2)
        • Six-Month Cycle MACD
        • Slope Performance Trend
        • Stochastic Pop and Drop
        • Swing Charting
        • Trend Quantification and Asset Allocation
    • Index & Market Indicator Catalog
      • Advance-Decline Indicators
      • Cboe Indices and Indicators
      • CME Futures and Spot Prices
      • DecisionPoint Sentiment Indicators
      • Dow Jones Breadth Indicators
      • Dow Jones Global Indices
      • Dow Jones Select Indices
      • Dow Jones Titans Indices
      • Dow Jones US Indices
      • Economic Indicators
      • ICE Futures and Spot Prices
      • Intellidex Indices
      • MSCI Indices
      • New 52-week Highs and Lows for Exchanges
      • NYSE Arca Equity Indices
      • NYSE Equity Indices
      • Philadelphia Indices
      • S&P 500 Sector and Industry Groups
      • S&P GSCI Indices
      • StockCharts AD Percent
      • StockCharts AD Volume Percent
      • StockCharts Bullish Percent Index
      • StockCharts High-Low Index
      • StockCharts High-Low Percent
      • StockCharts Percent Above Moving Average
      • StockCharts Pseudo Symbols
      • StockCharts Record High Percent
      • StockCharts Theoretical Indices
      • US Treasury Yields
    • 📖Glossary
      • 📖Glossary - A
      • 📖Glossary - B
      • 📖Glossary - C
      • 📖Glossary - D
      • 📖Glossary - E
      • 📖Glossary - F
      • 📖Glossary - G
      • 📖Glossary - H
      • 📖Glossary - I
      • 📖Glossary - J
      • 📖Glossary - K
      • 📖Glossary - L
      • 📖Glossary - M
      • 📖Glossary - N
      • 📖Glossary - O
      • 📖Glossary - P
      • 📖Glossary - Q
      • 📖Glossary - R
      • 📖Glossary - S
      • 📖Glossary - T
      • 📖Glossary - U
      • 📖Glossary - V
      • 📖Glossary - W
      • 📖Glossary - X, Y, Z
    • Options Glossary
    • Educational Resources
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On this page
  • S&P 100 Index ($OEX)
  • S&P Large Cap 500 Index ($SPX)
  • S&P Mid Cap 400 Index ($MID)
  • S&P Small Cap 600 Index ($SML)
  • Scan
  • Sector
  • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
  • Sell Signal
  • Selling Climax
  • Semi-Logarithmic (Percentage) Scaling
  • Sentiment Indicators
  • Shakeout
  • Shooting Star
  • Short Selling
  • Signal Line
  • Simple Moving Average
  • Six-Month Cycle
  • Size
  • Slope
  • SPDR
  • Spinning Top
  • Split
  • Spread
  • Spring
  • Standard Deviation (Volatility)
  • Stochastic Oscillator
  • StochRSI
  • Stocks Above Their 200-day Moving Average
  • Stocks Above Their 50-day Moving Average
  • Stop Loss Order
  • Stop-And-Reversal Indicator
  • Summation Index
  • Support
  • Swing Charting
  • Symmetrical Triangle

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  1. Table of Contents
  2. Glossary

Glossary - S

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Last updated 11 months ago

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S&P 100 Index ($OEX)

The S&P 100 Index ($OEX) is a market-capitalization weighted index consisting of 100 large blue chip stocks across various industries. Many fund managers use this index as a benchmark to measure the performance of large-cap stocks overall. The market capitalization of the companies in the S&P 100 varies considerably, but in general, large companies have a market cap greater than $5 billion dollars.

S&P Large Cap 500 Index ($SPX)

The Standard and Poors (S&P) Large Cap 500 Index ($SPX) lists the 500 largest “large-cap” stocks (stocks from major companies in various industries). In 1999, companies in the Index ranged from $500 million to $400 billion in market capitalization.

S&P Mid Cap 400 Index ($MID)

The Standard and Poors (S&P) Mid Cap 400 Index ($MID) lists 400 mid-size companies in various industries. According to S&P, it is a market-value weighted index. In 1999, the companies listed in the S&P 400 ranged from around $200 million to $10 billion in market capitalization.

S&P Small Cap 600 Index ($SML)

The Standard and Poors (S&P) Small Cap 600 Index ($SML) lists 600 small-cap stocks, chosen for market size, liquidity and ability to represent various industry groups. In 1999, the companies listed in the S&P 600 ranged from around $40 million to $2 billion in market capitalization.

Scan

Sector

A group of companies that generate revenue in similar ways; this revenue tends to rise and fall with the economic cycle. Sectors are commonly broken down into smaller groups called industries. The sectors tracked by S&P are Materials, Energy, Financials, Industrials, Technology, Consumer Staples, Utilities, Healthcare, Consumer Discretionary, Real Estate, and Communication Services.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

A federal agency created to regulate and monitor the securities industry. All U.S. companies with stock must abide by the SEC rules and regulations and are required to file quarterly status reports.

Sell Signal

Selling Climax

Semi-Logarithmic (Percentage) Scaling

Sentiment Indicators

Psychological indicators that attempt to measure the degree of bullishness or bearishness in a market. These are contrary indicators and are used in much the same fashion as overbought or oversold oscillators. Their greatest value is when they reach upper or lower extremes.

Shakeout

A situation where many scared investors exit their positions due to unfavorable news or uncertainty regarding the stock or industry. The dot-com bust was characterized by numerous shakeouts causing many to abandon their dot-com positions, often at great losses.

Shooting Star

A single day pattern that can appear in an uptrend. It opens higher, trades much higher, then closes near its open. It looks just like the Inverted Hammer; however, it is bearish, rather than bullish.

Short Selling

The process of selling a stock with the hope of buying it back at a lower price (sell high, buy low). Short sellers are bearish and believe the price will decline. Short selling involves borrowing stock (usually from the broker) to sell short and using margin to finance the borrowing. If the price of the stock in question advances too far, the short seller will receive a margin call and be required to put up more money. A short squeeze occurs when the price advances so fast that short sellers are forced to cover their positions (buy the stock back), which drives prices even higher.

Signal Line

Simple Moving Average

A moving average that gives equal weight to each day's price data.

Six-Month Cycle

A bullish cycle that extends from November to April and a bearish cycle that extends from May to October. Yale Hirsch, founder of the Stock Trader's Almanac, discovered the six-month cycle in 1986.

Size

The number of shares immediately available to buy (bid) or sell (ask). A bid of $54 with a size of 500 would indicate an order to buy 500 shares at $54. An ask of $55 with a size of 1000 would indicate an order to sell 1000 shares at $55.

Slope

The rise-over-run of an invisible line that is the “best fit” line through the previous n data points.

SPDR

Referred to as “spider,” it stands for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipt. SPDRs have three letter symbols (e.g. SPY) and trade just like stocks on the AMEX. They offer a convenient means to buy and sell the S&P 500, S&P 400 and select S&P sectors.

Spinning Top

Candlestick lines that have small bodies with upper and lower shadows that exceed the length of the body. Spinning tops signal indecision.

Split

The division of a stock into multiple shares. In a 2-for-1 split, the stockholder's shares will double in quantity, though the value of each stock will be halved. A stock split is usually an attempt to make high stock prices seem more attractive to investors and generally occurs in the face of new highs.

Spread

Spring

Standard Deviation (Volatility)

Stochastic Oscillator

StochRSI

Stocks Above Their 200-day Moving Average

A market breadth indicator that represents the number of stocks in a given group that have closing prices that are currently above their 200-day simple moving average. Common techniques for using this indicator include locating overbought/oversold levels and finding positive or negative divergences between this indicator and the underlying group's composite index.

Stocks Above Their 50-day Moving Average

A market breadth indicator that represents the number of stocks in a given group that have closing prices that are currently above their 50-day simple moving average. Common techniques for using this indicator include locating overbought/oversold levels and finding positive or negative divergences between this indicator and the underlying group's composite index.

Stop Loss Order

An instruction to the broker to buy or sell stock when it trades beyond a specified price. They serve to either protect your profits or limit your losses.

Stop-And-Reversal Indicator

Summation Index

Support

Swing Charting

Symmetrical Triangle

A list of stocks, sorted and filtered according to criteria that vary with the scan. StockCharts.com has an array of ; users may also create their own custom scans.

A condition that indicates a good time to sell a stock. The exact circumstances of the signal will be determined by the indicator that an analyst is using. For example, it's often considered a sell signal when the crosses down through the 50 level.

See .

See Scaling.

Also known as a “trigger line”, it is a moving average of another indicator that is used to generate simple buy and sell signals. Probably the most used signal line is the one that is built into the Indicator display. The signal line is the exponential moving average of the MACD line. A buy signal is generated when the MACD line crosses above the signal line and a sell signal is generated when the MACD line crosses below the signal line.

The difference between the bid and the ask. Generally speaking, more liquid (heavy volume) stocks usually have smaller bid/ask spreads. Less liquid stocks (light volume) usually have larger spreads. See related: , , and .

A situation that occurs when prices break below but soon reverse course and move back above support. Prices are said to “spring” back from their support break and indicate that the bulls are still alive. A spring can also be referred to as a failed (bearish) signal and is considered bullish. Generally, the reversal should occur within 1-3 days of the support break for the failed signal to be considered valid. This is the opposite of an .

A statistical term that provides a good indication of . It measures how widely values (closing prices for instance) are dispersed from the average. The larger the difference between the closing prices and the average price, the higher the standard deviation will be and the higher the volatility. The closer the closing prices are to the average price, the lower the standard deviation and the lower the volatility. See our ChartSchool article on .

A momentum indicator developed by George Lane that measures the price of a security relative to the high/low range over a set period. The indicator oscillates between 0 and 100, with readings below 20 considered oversold and readings above 80 considered overbought. A 14-period Stochastic Oscillator reading of 30 would indicate that the current price was 30% above the lowest low of the last 14 days and 70% below the highest high. The Stochastic Oscillator can be used like any other oscillator by looking for overbought/oversold readings, positive/negative divergences and centerline crossovers. See our ChartSchool article on .

An oscillator used to identify overbought and oversold readings in . Because RSI can go for extended periods without becoming overbought (above 70) or oversold (below 30), StochRSI provides an alternative means to identify these extremities. StochRSI is found by applying the Stochastics formula to RSI readings – hence its name. As an indicator of RSI, it measures the value of RSI relative to its high/low range over a set number of periods. When RSI records a new low for the set period, StochRSI will be at 0. When RSI records a new high for the set period, StochRSI will be at 100. See our ChartSchool article on .

See .

See .

A price level at which there is sufficient demand for a stock to cause a halt in a downward trend and turn the trend up. Support levels indicate the price at which most investors feel that prices will move higher. See our ChartSchool article on .

A concept based on the use of a filter. Once prices have moved by the distance specified by this filter, a new line is drawn next to the previous one. In a nutshell, it is a chart that shows up and down price movement of a minimum size regardless of the time it takes. See our ChartSchool article on .

A sideways chart pattern between two converging trend lines in which the upper trend line is declining and the lower trend line is rising. This pattern represents an even balance between buyers and sellers, although the prior trend is usually resumed. The breakout through either trend line signals the direction of the price trend. See our ChartSchool article on .

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