Quarterly results that often drive sharp volatility and volume surges—key events that traders monitor closely.

ECN (Electronic Communications Networks) are electronic stock markets which anonymously match buy and sell orders. One example is Island, the ECN associated with NASDAQ. During the pre and after markets for equities, ECN are the only exchanges offering quotes.

A tool used to monitor important economic events and indicators such as GDP Reports or interest rate decisions scheduled to be released at specific times. An economic calendar allows investors to anticipate market movements and make informed financial decisions accordingly.

A trading mechanism where orders are submitted to a centralized book, visible to all market participants, enabling matching based on price and time.

When suppliers and consumers are satisfied with a price such that supply and demand are in balance while production and consumption occur smoothly.

Represents ownership in a stock—central to price action tracking, liquidity availability, and hedging strategies.

A process used by the EU to determine whether non-EU countries have financial regulations that are “equivalent” to EU standards.

A marketplace where securities, options, futures, or commodities are traded. The primary functions of an exchange are to ensure fair and orderly trading, and distribute price information for any securities trading on the exchange. An exchange can be a physical location or an electronic platform. Increasingly, trading is done on electronic exchanges as markets have become more advanced and the exchanges are able to ensure fair trading without requiring members to be on the same trading floor. There are many exchanges around the world, such as the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, CME, the London Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange. For more information on exchanges, see our Exchanges Around the World pages.

An Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund that is traded on stock exchanges, just like individual stocks. ETFs are designed to track the performance of a specific index, sector, commodity, or asset class.

A trading service where a firm executes orders on behalf of a client without offering advice or assessing suitability.
Example: A retail investor uses an online brokerage to buy a stock without speaking to an advisor.