Some Trading Definitions

Okay, I know that some readers may not be familiar with the terminology I use here. Here are a few definitions.

Scalping = taking advantage of extremely short term fluctuations in price (seconds, minutes, etc), to turn a quick profit. Usually involves a larger number of shares than the next longer timeframe usually referred to as "swing" trading (days to weeks).

Shorting = borrowing shares of stock from your broker and selling it. You keep the cash, but you eventually will need to buy back the stock and return the shares to your broker, known as "covering". Therefore, your goal is to "short" a stock at a higher price, then buy it back cheaper when returning it to your broker, keeping the difference. For example, if I short 100 shares of AAPL at 172, then cover it at 170, I've borrowed 100 shares from my broker which I do not own, sold it out to the open market at 172/share, received cash in the amount of $17,200 in my account, and later bought 100 shares back at 170/share, which only costs $17,000, keeping a $200 profit. The broker receives the 100 shares back which you owed, and all is right with the world.

Covering = buying back shares you shorted to close your short sale and return shares back to broker.

Position = owned shares of stock or cash in lieu of stock sold short

Opening a position = initiating a trade which results in ownage of stock or short selling of stock

Closing a position = when stock has been purchased means to sell, which results in no position, or when short a stock, buying back the shares and "covering"

After Hours = after the market is officially "closed" at 4:00 PM eastern time. Some exchanges remain open until 8:00 PM eastern, but trading is much less liquid (the spread between minimum price for purchase and maximum price for sale can be very wide).

Premarket = as early at 6:00 AM eastern time on some exchanges until the market opens at 9:30 AM eastern.

Long = a stock position which was bought, therefore long trades are profitable when the stock rises.

Short = a stock position which was sold short, therefore short trades are profitable when the stock falls.

Fade = going against an upward (generally) market move - for example if the dow opens higher by 100 points when the market opens and loses the gain within 1 hour, the move has been "faded". A fairly common occurrence during the first hour of trade.

Oversold = a stock drops farther than normally observed based on typical price movements
Overbought = a stock rises farther than normally observed....

Gap Up or Gap Down = generally, when the price at market open is significantly higher or lower than yesterday's closing price. For example, the dow closed at 12,300 yesterday, and this morning it opens down 100 points at 12,200, translated "the dow gapped down 100 points this morning".

Trend day = a day when the market is steadily moving higher or lower throughout the day, with no real recovery

Reversal = a price movement that begins to move opposite the previous trend.

PE = Price to earnings ratio - the simplest ratio out there. Higher PE ratios represent anticipated faster growth, but could also represent that price has moved much higher than future earnings, and could generally represent over expectation on the part of investors. Much more than described here, google it.

as I think of more terms, I'll keep adding them to this list. Please note these are very simplistic definitions...