The Wiley Business Unusual Stock Market Simulation!
A Guide To Using
WallStreetSurvivor.com
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Introduction
Welcome to the Wiley Business Unusual Stock Market Simulation
at Wall Street Survivor!
Basic financial planning reminds us to “save early and save often” and “save it for a rainy day.”
Our grandparents usually kick things off with giving us our first $100 U.S. Savings Bond. Mom
and dad then follow that a few years later with that first pink piggy bank and then the $1.00 a
week allowance to “do our chores.”
Yet despite all that our family and other teacher instill in us, by the time we grow up the vast
majority of us fails at managing our money and has little understanding of the how to manage
the little money that we do have.
Studies have shown that over the long-term, the best place for individuals to save and increase
their net worth is to invest in the stock market. We all have seen the advertisements from the
brokers to open an account and get 50 free trades, the buy-sell software programs that “only
require 15 minutes a day” to analyze stocks, and the many get-rich-quick schemes and scams
that populate our email inboxes.
With all of that promotion, it is increasingly critical that young investors be informed and
educated about how the stock markets work, how to invest in stocks, how to manage a stock
portfolio, and the potential risks and rewards of investing. The Wily Business Unusual Stock
Market Simulation at WallStreetSurvivor.com offers an educational, exciting and potentially
rewarding solution to this growing problem.
With your Wall Street Survivor Wiley Business Unusual Stock Market Simulation account, you
will be given $100,000 in virtual cash to buy and sell U.S. stocks and ETFs, experience the ups
and downs of the world economy and the U.S. markets, and compete with your classmates in
our real-time virtual environment. Take this opportunity to strengthen your financial skills ,
learn how news influences the markets, and this will be an exercise that will last you a
LIFETIME!
Good Luck!
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Let’s Get Started – What Do I Do Next!
Now that you have successfully completed your registration at
Wall Street Survivor for your free Wiley Business Unusual
Stock Market Simulation account, it’s time to start building
your portfolio.
If you are asking yourself “How do I get started trading?” you
are not alone. Building a portfolio begins with setting a goal
for your portfolio, researching different industries and stocks,
looking up stock ticker symbols, and then placing your orders.
The actual buying and selling of stocks is not as complicated
as you might think, but picking stocks that allow your
portfolio to consistently outperform the overall stock market
is.
As you start trading stocks on Wall Street Survivor, feel free
to test your strategies or to chase your hunches and the “hot
stock tips” you hear about. You might get lucky and have a
stock rocket up 50% after your buy it, but odds are you will
also have a few losing stocks too. The point of Wall Street
Survivor and the Wiley Business Unusual Stock Market
Simulation are to allow you to learn and practice on our stateof-the-art virtual trading platform. But please keep in mind
that this is a fun and educational opportunity, and just because
your portfolio might do well over the short term, it takes years
of practice and experience to consistently outperform the
market for the long term. Investment firms on Wall Street
don’t make investments on a hunches or hot tips. They are
investing other people’s money and make decisions based a
numerous factors and complicated mathematical models,
always balancing the risk/reward tradeoff.
The ultimate objective of Wall Street Survivor is to help you
learn the basics of researching stocks and building a portfolio,
and provide a realistic and fun platform for you to practice,
practice and practice some more before you risk your real
money.
Here’s How it Works
By virtue of your registration at Wall Street Survivor, you now
have a Permanent portfolio for you to try a long term strategy,
and you have a Contest portfolio for you to practice trading,
try different ideas, and compete for the prizes that Wall Street
Survivor offers. Each of your portfolios has $100,000 of
virtual dollars for you to invest.
Before trading, begin by just looking over the site and make
yourself familiar with each section of the site and what
function it performs.
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Once you make your first trade on Wall Street Survivor, your
portfolio will show up on the rankings. You will notice
several types of rankings. We divide users into Investors and
Traders. If you make more than 15 trades a month you are
Trader, if you make less than 15 you are an Investor. Also on
the rankings page, you can see how you rank versus the Wiley
Group Rankings, and you can see how you rank against ALL
users of Wall Street Survivor.
The weekly and monthly rankings are based on percentage
return for that time period, and not by overall portfolio values.
This means that you could literally be in last place in the
overall rankings but have the highest portfolio % gain for a
particular week making you our weekly winner.
The rankings and especially our Top 10 leaderboard moves up
and down with a great deal of volatility because these traders
are usually taking risky trades. Notice that these rankings
show the ticker symbol of everyone’s last trade, so if you are
looking for ideas of stocks to trade it always helps to see what
the top traders are trading.
How to Find Your Group or Class Ranking!
If you want to find the rankings for your particular Wiley
Business Unusual Stock Market Simulation it simple. From
the “My Portfolio” tab on the menu bar begin by selecting
“My Rankings”. Once you are in My Rankings you will
notice sub menu items for Weekly, Monthly, Lifetime and
finally your Group or My Group rankings appear as the 4th tab.
If you are part of a class that your instructor set up, you will
see your class name appear below the tabs. If you’re are just a
student and are not participating as a part of a structured class.
You will see the WileyBusinessUnusual code appear in its
place.
Trade the News - Your Best Source of Stock
Tips-Researching a Company or Market
For other trading ideas, look at the Most Actives and Biggest
Gainers and Losers on the site in our “Research” section. The
Most Actives will give you an idea of what the big traders on
Wall Street are trading. Keep this list in mind and also
consider the current news. Select and research industries that
seem to be popular to invest in such as package goods,
transportation, telecommunications, food services, mining,
industrials , financial services industries, or any other industry
that interests you. Remember to choose some different and
complementary industries so that you are well diversified.
For your convenience, we have listed some of the most
popular industries. A bit later on we also list stock symbols to
aid in your search by category.
Consumer Goods
-Apparel
-Automotive
-Beverages
-Food / Food & Drug Services
-General Merchandise
Specialty Retailers
-Personal/Household Products
Non-Consumer Goods
-Aerospace
-Chemical, Rubber & Plastics
-Industrial Equipment
-Metals
-Paper Goods
-Textiles
Technology
-Computer Equipment
-Semiconductors
-Computer Services Network
Communications
-Computer Software
-Electronics
-Internet
-Telecommunications
Services
-Advertising / Marketing
-Entertainment
-Hotel, Casino & Resort
-Publishing & Printing
Health Care
Transportation
-Health Care
-Airlines
-Medical Products Equipment -Railroads
-Pharmaceuticals
-Trucking
Energy
Finance
-Energy / Utilities
-Banking
-Financial Services /
Insurance
Each stock considered for investment should be evaluated by
looking at its historical pricing over the last 60 days. The
“Quotes” page is an excellent starting point for researching a
company. If you are unsure of your stock’s ticker symbol,
click on the “Symbol Lookup” icon located next to the “get
quote” button.
Go ahead and type in the company’s name and click on the
“Search” button. A one to five character ticker symbol will be
displayed. Record this symbol, as you must input the ticker
symbol to make a trade.
Type the stock’s ticker symbol in the “Symbol” dialog box
and click on the “get quote” button. Information such as the
last price, today’s high and today’s low prices as well as a 52
week high and low will be displayed. Additionally, important
financial information such as the Earning per Share (EPS) and
the Price to Earnings Ratio (P/E) are listed.
Stock Market Basics
The stock markets are open Monday through Friday from 9:30
am to 4:00 pm EDT. If you place an order when the markets
are closed, then you will receive the next opening price for
that security. Please use the Wall Street Survivor ticker
symbol lookup feature to find the ticker symbols of the stocks
you want to trade. Sometimes ticker symbols vary from one
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provider to the next, so you must use the ticker symbols that
we use.
Major Market Indices: Professional money managers
are evaluated on how their stock selections performed
compared to certain stock market averages or indices. The
three most popular “benchmark” indices are the Standard &
Poor’s 500 Index (S&P 500), Dow Jones Industrial Average
(DJIA), and the NASDAQ Composite Index.
The S&P 500 is the standard for most account managers and
contains 500 large cap stocks. The S&P 500 accounts for 80%
of the value of the U.S. equity market. Professional money
managers use this index when they refer to the “stock market.”
The DJIA contains 30 large companies (large market
capitalization or “large cap”) stocks that represent about 30%
of the value of the U.S. equity market. The oldest index, the
DJIA, started in 1896 when twelve stocks were selected by
Charles Dow to track the emerging industrial sector of the
American economy. Today, the editor and owner of the Wall
Street Journal determine the stocks in the DJIA.
The NASDAQ Composite Index was created in 1971. It is a
computerized network of stockbrokers attempting to buy or
sell stocks. It is commonly referred to as the “technology
laden” index because 70% of its market value is technology
stocks versus 28% for the S&P 500 index. There are
approximately 3800 stocks in this index.
Trading Stocks
Securities That Can be Traded: You may buy, sell,
sell short, and cover almost all NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX
stocks and ETFs. Most bulletin board stocks are included, and
pink sheet stocks are excluded. IPOs are usually available the
afternoon that the new stock starts trading on the exchanges.
You can never get the IPO price from Wall Street Survivor.
Trade Types: There are four basic ways to trade stocks:
buy (BO), sell (SC), short sell (SS), and short cover (CO).
When buying a security, you are taking a "long position" with
the hope that the price per share will increase. When you sell a
security, you close that long position. Selling short is selling a
security that you don't own (you actually borrow the security
from the broker) with the hope that you can later buy the
security back at a lower price. When you buy the security to
pay back what you borrowed, it is called "covering" your short
position. To buy or short sell a security, specify how many
shares you want, rather than how much money you wish to
spend. You may not be long and short in the same security at
the same time. You many place market, limit and stop orders.
Trading Times and Prices Received: Stocks: U.S.
equity trades made via the web page will receive real time
bid/ask prices if placed while the market is open (generally
9:30 am – 4:00 pm ET) for stocks. Trades placed when the
markets are closed will receive the next day’s open price.
Commissions: There will be a $ 10.00 flat fee commission
on all stock trades, regardless of the number of shares or the
price traded. Since this simulation involves “online trading”
this fee approximates a real online trading commission.
Splits and Dividends: All stock splits and all dividend
payments over $0.10 will be credited to your portfolio. Splits
that have been credited to your portfolio have the appearance
of a buy or short sell, but the price per share is $0.00.
Dividends will appear in your portfolio with a “-DIV”
attached to the ticker symbol to alert you to a dividend
payment.
Trading Restrictions
There are trading restrictions with Wall Street Survivor to help
encourage better trading practices.
Position Limits: Position limits are put in place to limit
the amount of money a user can invest in one stock, currently
25% of their portfolio value. With this restriction in place it
prevents participants from losing all their money in one
security and it also forces diversification.
Price Limits : Please review your Account Summary at
Wall Street Survivor to review the minimum price for buying,
the minimum price for shorting, etc.
Popular Industries and Stocks
To help you begin the process of planning out your fantasy
portfolio we have categorized a number of the most frequently
traded stocks by industry to help you become a winner. Good
luck trading!
Consumer Goods
Apparel
Company Name
Active Apparel Group Inc.
Benetton Group
Burlington Industries
Fruit of the Loom
Haggar Corporation
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Ticker
AAGP
BNG
BUR
FTL
HGGR
Jones Apparel Group
Liz Claiborne
Mossimo Inc.
Nike
OshKosh B'Gosh Inc.
Polo Ralph Lauren
Reebok International
Automotive
JNY
LIZ
MGX
NKE
GOSHA
RL
RBK
Company Name
American Technologies Group
Champion Parts Inc.
DaimlerChrysler AG
Delphi Automotive Systems
Ford Motor Co.
General Motors Corporation
Genuine Parts Co.
Johnson Controls
Motorcar Parts & Accessories
Navistar International
Standard Products Co.
Tower Automotive
TRW Inc.
Beverages
Ticker
ATEG
CREB
DCX
DPH
F
GM
GPC
JCI
MPAA
NAV
SPD
TWR
TRW
Company Name
Adolph Coors Co.
Anheuser-Busch Inc.
Cadbury Schwepps
Coca-Cola
Hansen Natural Corporation
Odwalla Inc.
National Beverage Corporation
Pepsico
Whitman Corporation
Ticker
RKY
BUD
CSG
KO
HANS
ODWA
FIZ
PEP
WH
Food / Food & Drug Services
Company Name
Albertson's
American Stores
Best Foods
Campbell Soup
Conagra Inc.
Del Monte Foods
Fred Meyer
General Mills
General Nutrition companies
H.J. Heinz
Kellogg Co.
Ticker
ABS
ASC
BFO
CPB
CAG
FDP
FMY
GIS
GNCI
HNZ
K
Kroger Co.
McDonald's Corporation
Rite Aid
RJR Nabisco Holdings
Safeway Inc.
Sara Lee Corporation
Starbucks
Tricon Global Restaurants
Tyson Foods
Walgreen Co.
Wendy's International
Winn-Dixie Stores
KR
MCD
RAD
RN
SWY
SLE
SBUX
YUM
TSN
WAG
WEN
WIN
General Merchandise / Specialty Retailers
Company Name
Ticker
AutoZone
AZO
Best Buy Co.
BBY
Circuit City Stores
CC
Comcast Corporation
CMCSA
Costco Companies
COST
Dayton-Hudson Corporation
DH
Dillard's Inc.
DDS
Fingerhut Companies
FHT
Gap Inc.
GPS
Home Base
HBI
Home Depot
HD
J.C. Penney Co.
JCP
KMart Corporation
KM
Lands' End
LE
Limited Inc.
LTD
Lowe's Companies
LOW
May Department Stores
MAY
Musicland Stores
MLG
Office Depot
ODP
Payless Shoe Source
PSS
Sears Roebuck & Co.
S
Saks Inc.
SKS
Service Merchandise
SME
Staples
SPLS
Toy's 'R' Us
TOY
Value City Department Stores
VCD
Wal-Mart Stores
WMT
Personal / Household Products
Company Name
Ticker
Alberto-Culver Co.
ACV/A
Avon Products
AVP
Clorox Co.
CLX
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Colgate-Palmolive
Dial Corporation
Eastern Co.
Estee` Lauder Companies
Gillette Co.
Home Products International
Lamaur Corporation
Mikasa Inc.
Nu Skin Enterprises
Procter & Gamble
Revlon Inc.
Tupperware Corporation
Waterford Wedgwood PLC
CL
DL
EML
EL
G
HPII
LMAR
MKS
NUS
PG
REV
TUP
WATFZ
Energy
Energy / Utilities
Company Name
Chevron Corporation
CMS Energy
Columbia Energy Corporation
DTE Energy Corporation
Duke Energy
Edison International
Exxon Corporation
Mobil Corporation
Occidental Petroleum
Pacificorp
PG&E Corporation
Texaco Corporation
Texas Utilities
Tosco Corporation
Unicom Corporation
Union Pacific Resources Group
Unocal Corporation
Ticker
CHV
CMS
CG
DTE
DUK
EIX
XON
MOB
OXY
PPW
PCG
TX
TXU
TOS
UCM
UPR
UCL
Finance
Banking
Company Name
Bank America Corporation
Bank One Corporation
Bankers Trust Corporation
Chase Manhattan Corporation
First Union Corporation
Fleet Financial Group
J.P. Morgan & Co.
Mellon Bank Corporation
Ticker
BAC
ONE
BT
CMB
FTU
FLT
JPM
MEL
Wells Fargo & Co.
WFC
Zions Bancorp
ZION
Financial Services / Insurance
Company Name
Ticker
Aflac Inc.
AFL
AG Edwards
AGE
Allstate Corporation
ALL
American Express
AXP
American General
AGC
Charles Schwab
SCH
Citigroup Inc.
C
Conseco Inc.
CNC
Countrywide Credit Industries
CCR
Data Broadcasting Corporation
DBCC
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jen.
DLJ
Fannie Mae
FNM
Freddie Mac
FRE
Lehman Brothers Holdings
LEH
Mercury General
MCY
Merrill Lynch & Co.
MER
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.
MWD
Old Republic Intl.
ORI
Paine Webber Group
PWJ
Progressive Corporation
PGR
TIG Holdings
TIG
Transamerica Corporation
TA
Unum Corporation
UNM
Waddell & Reed Financial
WDR
Health Care
Health Care Providers
Company Name
Aetna Inc.
Cigna Corporation
Columbia/HCA Healthcare
Humana Inc.
Sun Healthcare Group
United Healthcare Corporation
Medical Products / Equipment
Company Name
Bausch & Lomb Inc.
Baxter International
Medtronic Inc.
Pharmaceuticals
Company Name
7|Page
Ticker
AET
CI
COL
HUM
SHG
UNH
Ticker
BOL
BAX
MDT
Ticker
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Eli Lilly & Co.
Johnson & Johnson
Merck & Co.
Pfizer Inc.
BMY
LLY
JNJ
MRK
PFE
Industrials
Aerospace
Company Name
Aerosonic Corporation
Allied-Signal
B.F. Goodrich
Boeing Co.
Coltec Industries, Inc.
Cordant Technologies
DRS Technologies
General Dynamics
Hawk Corporation
Lockheed Martin
Northrop Grumman
Precision Standard
Scott Technologies
Sundstrand Corporation
Textron
Triumph Group
United Technologies Corporation
Chemical, Rubber & Plastics
Ticker
AIM
ALD
GR
BA
COT
CDD
DRS
GD
HWK
LMT
NOC
PCSN
SCTT
SNS
TXT
TGI
UTX
Company Name
Air Products & Chemicals
AT Plastics, Inc.
Benjamin Moore & Co.
B.F. Goodrich Corporation
Chem First, Inc.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.
Dexter Corporation
Dow Chemical Co.
E.I. Du Pont De Nemours & Co.
Eastman Chemical
Foamex International
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Lubrizol Corporation
Morton International
Nalco Chemical
PPG Industries
Rogers Corporation
Rubbermaid
Ticker
APD
ATJ
MBEN
GR
CEM
CTB
DEX
DOW
DD
EMN
FMXI
GT
LZ
MII
NCL
PPG
ROG
RBD
Sherwin-Williams
Union Carbide
Valspar Corporation
Wellman, Inc.
SHW
UK
VAL
WLM
Industrial Equipment
Company Name
Allied Products Corporation
American Standard Companies
Black & Decker
Case Corporation
Caterpillar, Inc.
Deere & Co.
Gencor Industries
Gehl Co.
Harnischfeger Industries
Manitowoc Co.
Thermadyne Holdings Corporation
Ticker
ADP
ASD
BDK
CSE
CAT
DE
GX
GEHL
HPH
MTW
TDHC
Metals
Company Name
Alcan Aluminum Ltd.
Alcoa, Inc.
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Brush Wellman, Inc.
INCO Limited
Kaiser Aluminum Corporation
Phelps Dodge Corporation
Reynolds Metals Co.
Titanium Metals Corporation
Paper Products
Company Name
Ticker
AL
AA
BS
BW
N
KLU
PD
RLM
TIE
Ticker
Boise Cascade
BCC
Bowater, Inc.
Consolidated Papers
Crown Vantage, Inc.
BOW
CDP
CVAN
Georgia-Pacific Group
GP
International Paper Co.
IP
Kimberly -Clark Corporation
KMB
Mead Corporation
MEA
Sonoco Products Co.
SON
Union Camp
UCC
Willamette Industries
WLL
Textiles
Company Name
Burlington Industries
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Ticker
BUR
Chemfab Corporation
Dixie Group
Interface
Mohawk Industries
Shaw Industries
Springs Industries
Westpoint Stevens, Inc.
CFA
DXYN
IFSIA
MHK
SHX
SMI
WPSN
Services
Advertising / Marketing
Company Name
Equity Marketing
Grey Advertising
Interpublic Group
Lamar Advertising Company
Omnicom Group
THINK New Ideas, Inc.
True North Communications
Young & Rubicam Inc.
Entertainment
Ticker
EMAK
GREY
IPG
LAMR
OMC
THNK
TNO
YNR
Company Name
Bally Total Fitness Holdings
Bowl America Inc.
Carnival Corporation
CBS Corporation
Celebrity Entertainment
Discovery Zone Inc.
Family Golf Centers
Hollywood Entertainment
International Speedway
Metro-Goldwin-Mayer
Thousand Trails Inc.
Time Warner Inc.
Viacom Inc.
Walt Disney
Ticker
BFT
BWLA
CCL
CBS
CLEB
DVZN
FGCI
HLYW
ISCA
MGM
TRV
TWX
VIA
DIS
Hotel, Casino & Resort
Company Name
Aztar Corporation
Choice Hotels International
Harrah's Entertainment
Hilton Hotels Corporation
ILX Resorts
Jackpot Enterprises Inc.
Mandalay Resort Group
Marriott International
Ticker
AZR
CHH
HET
HLT
ILX
J
MBG
MAR
MGM Grand Inc.
Red Roof Inns Inc.
Signature Inns
Trump Hotel & Casino Resorts
MGG
RRI
SGNS
DJT
Publishing & Printing
Company Name
American Greetings
Central Newspapers
Dow Jones & Co.
Gannett Co.
Houghton Mifflin Co.
McGraw-Hill Companies
Meredith Corporation
New York Times Co.
Primedia Inc.
Reader's Digest Assoc.
R.R. Donnelley & Sons
Standard Register
Tribune Co.
Ziff-Davis Inc.
Ticker
AM
ECP
DJ
GCI
HTN
MHP
MDP
NYT
PRM
RDA
DNY
SR
TRB
ZD
Transportation
Airlines
Company Name
Airborne Freight
Alaska Air Group
America West Holdings
American Airlines
Comair Holdings
Continental Airlines
Delta Air Lines
FDX Corporation
Frontier Airlines
Northwest Airlines Corporation
9|Page
Ticker
ABF
ALK
AWA
AMR
COMR
CAI/A
DAL
FDX
FRNT
NWAC
Southwest Airlines
Trans World Airlines
United Airlines
US Airways Group
Virgin Express Holdings
Railroads
Company Name
CSX Corporation
First American Railways
Motive Power Industries
Norfolk Southern Railway
Rail America Inc.
Tranz Rail Holding Ltd.
Union Pacific
Trucking
Company Name
American Freightways Corporation
Boyd Bros. Transportation
CNF Transportation
Consolidated Freightways
Knight Transportation
Landstar System
Roadway Express
Simon Transportation
Swift Transportation Co.
US Freightways
LUV
TWA
UAL
U
VIRGY
Ticker
CSX
FTRN
MPO
NSC
RAIL
TNZR
UNP
Ticker
AFWY
BOYD
CNF
CFWY
KNGT
LSTR
ROAD
SIMN
SWFT
USFC
Stock Market Glossary
American Stock Exchange-AMEX
An open auction market similar to the NYSE where buyers
and sellers compete in a centralized marketplace. The
AMEX typically lists small to medium cap stocks of
younger or smaller companies.
Ask
The price at which someone who owns a security offers to
sell it; also known as the asked price.
Average Daily Share Volume
The number of shares traded per day, averaged over a
period of time, usually one year.
Bear Market
A market where the dominating trend is one of falling
prices.
Bid
The price a prospective buyer is prepared to pay at a
particular time for trading a unit of a given security.
Bond
A long-term promissory note in which the issuer agrees to
pay the owner the amount of the face value on a future date
and to pay interest at a specified rate at regular intervals.
Bull Market
A market where the dominating trend is one of rising
prices.
Buying Power
The amount of additional securities that a customer may
purchase using the existing equity in his account.
Change
The difference between the last close price and the last
reported trade price.
Common Stock
An equity security holding that affords the possessor to
have ownership in the company which provides benefits
such as voting rights and dividend sharing. In the event of
liquidation, the rights of common stock holders come after
all other holders, such as bond, debt and preferred stock.
Date of Record
The date on which a shareholder must officially own shares
in order to be entitled to receive a dividend.
Day Trading
The practice of buying and selling a security on the same
day.
Delayed Opening
An intentional delay in the start of trading in a stock until a
large imbalance in buy and sell orders is eliminated.
Diversification
The acquisition of a variety of stocks whose returns are not
directly related over time. Proper investment diversification
is intended to reduce the risk inherent in stock ownership.
An investor seeking diversification for a securities portfolio
would purchase securities of firms that are not similarly
affected by the same variables. For example, an investor
would not want to combine large investment positions in
airlines, trucking and automobile manufacturing because
each industry is significantly affected by oil prices and
interest rates.
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Dividend
The payment of accumulated earnings (usually cash) that is
paid to shareholders. The amount is decided by the Board
of Directors and is usually paid quarterly.
Dow Jones Industrial Average - DJIA
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index - (DJIA) is a
price-weighted average of 30 actively traded blue chip
stocks, primarily industrials but including American
Express Co. and AT&T. Prepared and published by Dow
Jones & Co., it is the oldest and most widely quoted of all
the market indicators. The components, which change from
time to time, represent between 15% and 20% of the
market value of NYSE stocks. The average is quoted in
points, not in dollars.
Earnings Per Share (EPS)
EPS represents the portion of a company's profit allocated
to each outstanding share of common stock. Net income
(reported or estimated) for a period of time is divided by
the total number of shares outstanding during that period;
See growth rate measures for EPS.
Ex-dividend
A security which will trade without the inclusion of a
pending dividend. Therefore, the seller will be receiving the
dividend, not the buyer.
Ex-dividend Date
The date at which the Ex-Dividend period begins. Usually
two days before the record date.
Index
A select sampling of stocks used to reflect the basic trends
of the market. Indexes are derived from a broader number
of stocks than Averages.
Index Fund
A mutual fund that tries to mirror the performance of a
specific index.
Initial Public offering (IPO)
The first issue and sale of stock by a company to the public.
Interest Charged
Interest will be charged on all loan balances and will be
debited at the close of each day. During the simulation,
loan balances will charge 8% interest. ( (available cash *
.08)/365 = Interest Charged)
Interest Earned
Interest will be earned on all available cash balances and
credited at the close of each day. During the simulation,
cash balances will earn about 3% interest, compounded
daily. ( (available cash * .03)/365 = Interest Earned)
Limit Order
A Limit Order is an order to buy or sell a stock at a
customer specified price or better.
Listed Stock
A stock that is traded on a major exchange.
Load Fund
Mutual Fund that is sold for a sales charge by a brokerage
firm or other sales representative. Such funds may be stock,
bond or commodity funds, with conservative or aggressive
objectives.
Loan Balance
The amount of money that has been borrowed. Amount
borrowed should not exceed the portfolio value.
Long Position
A long position is when you buy a stock anticipating the
price to rise.
Margin
The amount of money that a customer must deposit with a
broker to secure a loan from that broker.
Margin account
A brokerage account that permits an investor to purchase
securities on credit and to borrow on securities already in
the account.
Margin Call
If the listed prices of shares or units fall below a level that
would cover a lender's loan to you, then the lender will ask
you to contribute the difference.
Margin Requirement
The margin requirement for the simulation is 50%. Initially,
this means that since you are starting with $100,000, you
may borrow another $100,000, making your total buying
power $200,000. You may buy and short sell stocks on
margin.
Market Order
A Market Order is an order to buy or sell a stock at the
market's current best price.
Market Value
The current market price of a security, or the securities in a
portfolio, as indicated by the latest trade recorded.
Market Value of Long Positions
Sum of the market value of every long stock position held
in the portfolio.
Market Value of Short Positions
Sum of the market value of every short stock position held
in the portfolio.
NASDAQ Composite Index
The NASDAQ Composite Index measures all NASDAQ
domestic and non-U.S. based common stocks listed on The
NASDAQ Stock Market. The Index is market-value
weighted. This means that each company's stock price
affects the Index in proportion to its market value.
National Association of Securities Dealers
A self regulated securities industry organization responsible
for the operation and regulation of the NASDAQ stock
market and over the counter markets.
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations
(HASDAQ)
A computerized system by which NASD members can
communicate bids and offers on over the counter stocks
and some listed stocks.
Net Change
The difference between today's last trade and the previous
day's closing price.
Net Income
Income after all expenses and taxes have been deducted,
and used in calculating a variety of profitability and stock
performance measures.
New York Stock Exchange
The largest and oldest securities exchange in the United
States.
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No Load
A purchase with no commissions charged.
No Load Fund
Mutual Fund offered by an open end investment company
that imposes no sales charge (load) on its shareholders.
NYSE Composite Index - NYSE
The NYSE Composite Index - (NYSE) is a market valueweighted index which relates all NYSE stocks to an
aggregate market value as of Dec. 31, 1965, adjusted for
capitalization changes. The base value of the index is $50
and point changes are expressed in dollars and cents.
Offer Price
The price at which the company’s IPO shares were
originally offered to the public.
Open Order
An order to buy or sell a security that remains in effect until
it is either canceled by the customer or executed.
Opening Price
The price at which a stock starts trading on the open
markets in the morning. The opening price is rarely
yesterday’s closing price.
Payment Date
The date on which a dividend or split will be paid to
stockholders by the issuers' paying agents.
Portfolio
All of the different investments owned by the same
individual or organization.
Portfolio Value
The total ending cash minus loans, plus the market value of
long positions, minus the value of short positions, plus
interest earned, minus interest charged.
Preferred Stock
A stock holding which provides a specific dividend that is
paid before any dividends are paid to common stock
holders. In the event of liquidation, their rights come before
common stock holders, but after other holders, such as
bond and debt.
Previous Day's Close
The previous trading day's last reported trade price.
Price/Earnings Ratio
A ration derived by dividing the market price of a company
by earnings per share. This is thought to gauge the value of
the stock relative to current market conditions.
Short against the Box
A short sell of a security in which the seller still owns a
long position on the same security. Thus, the overall
position on the security is not closed out. This is done to
defer tax liability and is greatly restricted.
Short Interest
The total number of shares of a security that have been sold
short by customers and securities firms that have not been
repurchased to settle short positions in the market.
Short Position
A short position is the result of short selling. These are
shares that you have borrowed from your broker and must
return (buy back) at some point in time. Short selling,
means to sell a stock which you do not actually own so you
may profit from its potential decline in price. The shares of
the stock are borrowed by your broker and then sold in the
open market. The resulting funds are deposited in your
account. The hope is that you can by them back later at a
lower price in order to return them to their rightful owner.
When successful, this will allow you to pocket the
difference in price as a profit.
Short Selling
Short selling, means to sell a stock which you do not
actually own so you may profit from its potential decline in
price. The shares of the stock are borrowed by your broker
and then sold in the open market. The resulting funds are
deposited in your account. The hope is that you can by
them back later at a lower price in order to return them to
their rightful owner. When successful, this will allow you
to pocket the difference in price as a profit.
Split
The division of the outstanding number of shares into a
higher number of shares. The market price per share drops
proportionately. This is generally done to make a stock
with a very high price more affordable to small investors.
Current owners of the stock maintain the same equity by
receiving the proportionate number of additional shares.
Standard and Poor’s 500 - $SPX
The S&P 500 index - ($SPX), more formally known as the
S&P 500 Composite Stock Price Index, is a european-style,
capitalization-weighted index (shares outstanding
multiplied by stock price) of 500 stocks that are traded on
the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange
and NASDAQ National Market. The advantage of "cap-
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weighting" is that each company's influence on index
performance is directly proportional to its relative market
value.
Stock Dividend
Payment of a corporate dividend in the form of stock rather
than cash. The stock dividend may be additional shares in
the company, or it may be shares in a subsidiary being spun
off to shareholders. Stock dividends are often used to
conserve cash needed to operate the business.
Ticker Symbol
A unique one to four letter symbol assigned to a stock. If a
fifth letter appears, it identifies the issue as other than a
single issue of common stock or capital stock.
Trading Halt
The temporary suspension of trading in a security while
material news from the issuer is being disseminated over
the news wires. A trading halt gives all investors equal
opportunity to evaluate news and make buy, sell, or hold
decisions on that basis.
Volatility
The degree of price fluctuation for a given asset, rate, or
index; usually expressed as a variance or standard
deviation.
Volume
Volume is the total number of shares that have traded in a
stock for the trading day.