TradeWize · Blog
Investing, explained in plain English.
Everything you need to understand investing and keep up with the markets.
What Is a Broker?
Every article about investing tells you to open a brokerage account. Almost none of them says what a broker is, whose name your shares end up in, or how a company that charges nothing to trade stays in business.
Read the article →What Is the Stock Market?
It isn't a place, and nobody sets the price. Here's what's actually on the other side of your order.
Read the article →What Is a Bond?
You lend. They pay you to wait. Then you get it back. Here's what that's actually worth, and why the price on your screen may not be your problem.
Read the article →What Is an ETF?
One share, hundreds of holdings. Here's what you actually own, what it costs, and why the price you pay is close to what it's worth.
Read the article →What Is a Stock?
A stock is a share of ownership in a company. Here's what that gets you, how you make money from it, and how you buy one.
Read the article →What Is Volatility? Why Your Average Return Isn't What You Got
A fund gains 50%, then loses 50%. The average return is zero. You're down a quarter.
Read the article →Market vs Limit vs Stop Orders: The One That Feels Safest Isn't
You set a stop at $90 to cap the loss at $1,000. It opens at $71 and you are filled at $71. Nothing malfunctioned.
Read the article →What Is Market Cap? The Number That Says How Big, Not How Expensive
A share of the largest company on earth costs $217. A share of a company one-fifth its size costs $750,170. Neither number is a mistake.
Read the article →What Is MACD? The Two Moving Averages in Disguise
It sits in its own panel, on its own scale, looking like independent evidence. It is a subtraction of two lines that were already on your chart.
Read the article →What Is Dividend Yield? The Number That Moves When the Price Does
It looks like a measure of how generously a company pays you. It is a fraction, and the half that moves is the one underneath.
Read the article →SGOV vs BND vs AGG: Cash, Core, and the Difference That Matters
Their yields are within half a point of each other. What separates them is how easily that income can be taken away.
Read the article →What Is an Expense Ratio? The One Fund Number You Know in Advance
Every other number on a fund page is a guess about the future. This one is a price, it is published, and it is the only part of the deal you control.
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