Indicators
Fear & Greed Index
CNN's 0–100 gauge of US market sentiment across seven inputs. Extreme fear often marks opportunity; extreme greed marks danger.
Market Mood Index (MMI)
Tickertape's live 0–100 sentiment gauge for Indian stocks - the desi Fear & Greed, from extreme fear to extreme greed.
Advance-Decline Ratio
Winners divided by losers across the market. Above 1 means broad gains; below 1, broad pain - breadth in one number.
52-Week High / Low
A stock's highest and lowest price over the past year. Breakouts signal strength; breakdowns signal trouble - both demand volume proof.
Investing Basics
ETF
Exchange-traded fund: a basket of stocks, bonds or gold bought like one share. Instant diversification, tiny fees.
Index
A rule-based basket measuring a market slice - Nifty 50, S&P 500, gold prices. The benchmark everything gets judged against.
IPO
Initial public offering: a private company selling shares to the public first. Hype is high, history is short - screen harder.
CASA
Current + savings account deposits - a bank's cheapest funding. Higher CASA means fatter margins and a stronger moat.
Expense Ratio
A fund's yearly fee as % of assets. A 1% fee silently eats a quarter of long-run gains - minimise it.
Order Book
Confirmed-but-unexecuted contracts - future revenue already signed. The visibility metric for rail, defence and EPC stocks.
Bull vs Bear Market
Bull = sustained +20% rise on optimism; bear = −20% fall on pessimism. Regimes decide strategy more than stock picks.
Markets
Nifty 50
India's benchmark: 50 large stocks across 14+ sectors on the NSE. When India 'is up 1%', this is usually the number.
Sensex
BSE's 30-stock benchmark and India's oldest market barometer. Asia's first exchange, still the headline number.
S&P 500
500 large US companies, cap-weighted. The default scoreboard for American equities - and your global benchmark.
Nasdaq
The US tech-heavy exchange and its indices (Composite, Nasdaq 100). Growth's home - faster rallies, harder falls.
FII & DII
Foreign vs domestic institutional investors. Their tug-of-war sets India's market tone - FIIs flee, DIIs absorb.
Circuit Breaker
Exchange price bands that freeze trading after sharp moves - usually 2%, 5%, 10% or 20% per stock.
Ratios
P/E Ratio
Price-to-earnings: what you pay for each rupee or dollar of yearly profit. The starting lens for cheap vs expensive.
ROCE
Return on capital employed: how efficiently a company turns invested money into profit. Above 15–20% signals quality.
ROE
Return on equity: profit earned per rupee of shareholder money. High and stable ROE compounds wealth.
P/B Ratio
Price-to-book: market price versus net asset value per share. The classic yardstick for banks and asset-heavy firms.
Dividend Yield
Annual dividend divided by share price. A 4% yield pays Rs 4 yearly per Rs 100 invested - if the payout lasts.
Market Cap
Price times shares outstanding: the market's price tag for the whole company. Defines large, mid and small caps.
EPS
Earnings per share: the company's yearly profit divided by share count. The 'E' inside P/E.