Glossary

RSI (Relative Strength Index)

A momentum gauge from 0 to 100. Below 30 = oversold (people sold too aggressively, often a buying setup). Above 70 = overbought (the stock has run too hot, may pull back).

EXAMPLERSI of 25 on a beaten-down stock = potential bounce setup. RSI of 85 after a 30% run = caution, may be due for a pullback.

Moving Average Crossover (50/200)

A classic Wall-Street trend signal. When the 50-day average price crosses ABOVE the 200-day average, it's a 'golden cross' — a long-term bullish signal. When it crosses BELOW, it's a 'death cross' — bearish.

EXAMPLEGolden cross on NVDA in 2023 preceded a multi-year rally. Death cross on retail stocks in 2022 preceded the sector slump.

52-week high / low

The highest and lowest price in the past year. Stocks near 52-week highs are often in strong uptrends; near 52-week lows can be value plays or signaling trouble.

Volume + volume surge

How many shares trade hands. Unusual volume (2x+ the 20-day average) often signals something is happening — news, earnings, or big-money activity.

Revenue growth

How fast the company's TOP-LINE sales are growing year-over-year. The fuel for everything else.

EXAMPLE30% revenue growth means the company sold 30% more in dollars than last year. Tech companies often have 20-50% growth; mature companies 5-10%.

Earnings growth

How fast PROFITS are growing year-over-year. Better than revenue growth if you want to know the business is actually getting more profitable.

Profit margin

What percentage of revenue ends up as profit. Higher = more efficient business. Software companies have 20-40% margins; supermarkets 2-3%.

Analyst rating

Wall Street equity analysts' consensus opinion. Aggregated as 'Strong Buy / Buy / Hold / Sell / Strong Sell.' Take with a grain of salt — analysts are often late.

Price target

Where Wall Street analysts think the stock will trade 12 months out. We show the AVERAGE of all analyst targets. If price is below the average target, there's 'upside' to the consensus view.

Earnings calendar / earnings date

Public companies report quarterly. The earnings date is the day. Big stock moves are common on earnings (5-15%+ either way). 'Beat earnings' = beat the Wall Street estimate.

Insider trading (the legal kind)

Executives + board members are REQUIRED to disclose when they buy or sell their company's stock. Insider BUYS are often bullish; insider sells are noisy (often diversification / vesting).

Sector

A category of similar businesses (Technology, Healthcare, Financials, Energy, etc.). Sectors rotate in and out of favor — money flows from one to another based on the economic cycle.

ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund)

A basket of many stocks you can buy as one ticker. SPY tracks the S&P 500. QQQ tracks Nasdaq-100. Cheaper + simpler than picking individual stocks.

Bid-ask spread

The tiny gap between what buyers will pay (bid) and what sellers want (ask). On big stocks like AAPL, it's 1 penny; on illiquid small-caps, it can be much wider.

Drawdown

The drop from a recent peak. Used to size up risk. A 'max drawdown' of 25% means at some point you'd have been down 25% from your best result.

Watchlist

A list of tickers you want to keep an eye on. Doesn't mean you own them — just that you're watching.

Price alerts

A future notification when a stock reaches a chosen price. Price alerts are not available in TraderCove today.

Not investment advice

Everything here is INFORMATION, not advice. We're not licensed advisors. You're responsible for your own trades and your own risk.

R / R-multiple

How many times your risk you made or lost on a trade.

IN DEPTHR is one unit of risk — the distance from your entry price to your stop. If a stock is bought at $100 with a stop at $95, one R is $5. The R-multiple then measures the outcome in those units: closing at $110 is +2R (you made twice what you risked); getting stopped out at $95 is about −1R. It lets wins and losses of different dollar sizes be compared on one honest scale.

Hit rate

The share of our graded ideas that reached their target.

IN DEPTHHit rate is the fraction of resolved signals that ended as wins (target reached before the stop) out of all that resolved. A 55% hit rate means a little over half of the closed ideas hit their target. It is descriptive — a record of what happened to our own published ideas so far — not a prediction, and it says nothing on its own about profit, which also depends on how big the wins and losses were (see R).

Expectancy

The average R outcome across graded buy signals that have a realized R.

IN DEPTHExpectancy is the arithmetic average of the R-multiples on resolved buy signals that carry a realized R. Positive and negative outcomes both count; untriggered watch ideas and rows without an R do not. It describes this published sample so far, not what a future signal will earn.

Excess return

How much an idea beat (or trailed) the S&P 500 over the same window.

IN DEPTHExcess return is a pick's return minus the S&P 500's return over the identical holding window. If a pick made +5% while the S&P made +2%, the excess return is +3% — the part that came from the pick rather than from the whole market rising. A negative number means the pick trailed the index. It is the fair way to judge stock-picking skill, because it strips out the market tide that lifts or sinks everything.

Alignment

How much the different signals agree with each other on a stock.

IN DEPTHAlignment measures whether the separate signal families — the fundamentals, the technicals (trend/momentum), and the catalysts (news, insiders, analysts) — are pointing the same way. High alignment means several independent reasons agree, which is a sturdier setup than one loud signal fighting the others. Low alignment flags a conflicted, lower-confidence picture.

Composite score

One blended number combining every signal into a single ranking.

IN DEPTHThe composite score rolls the individual signal scores (fundamentals, technicals, catalysts) into a single weighted number used to rank names against each other. A higher composite means more of the model's signals line up favorably. It is a relative ranking tool, not a price target or a guarantee — it says 'this looks stronger than that today' by the model's own rules.

Conviction

How strongly the model believes in an idea — it sizes bigger when higher.

IN DEPTHConviction is the strength of belief behind an idea, driven by how high its score is and how well its signals align. Higher-conviction ideas get more weight (a larger intended position); lower-conviction ones get a smaller footprint or only a watch. It is how the model concentrates into what it likes most instead of spreading evenly.

Regime

The market's current weather — calm-and-rising vs stormy-and-falling.

IN DEPTHThe market regime is the prevailing backdrop, read from breadth, volatility (like the VIX), the yield curve, and trend. A 'risk-on' regime is calm and rising and favors offense; a 'risk-off' regime is volatile and falling and calls for defense. The same stock setup is treated differently depending on the regime — it's the weather the boat is sailing in, not the boat.

Posture

How aggressive or defensive the agent is being right now.

IN DEPTHPosture is the agent's chosen stance for current conditions — how much risk it is willing to take, how many names it will hold, how big each position can be. It ranges from aggressive (leaning into strength in a healthy regime) to defensive (smaller, fewer, tighter when the regime turns hostile). Posture is the response; regime is the condition it responds to.

Horizon

The expected holding period for an idea — how long it needs to play out.

IN DEPTHThe horizon is the time window an idea is designed for — for these short-swing setups, typically a few weeks. Targets, stops, and the grading window are all measured over that horizon. It sets expectations: a 21-day-horizon idea should be judged over about three weeks, not by tomorrow's tick.

R:R (reward-to-risk)

How much you aim to make versus what you'd lose if wrong.

IN DEPTHReward-to-risk compares the distance from entry to target (the reward) against the distance from entry to stop (the risk). A 3:1 R:R means the target is three times as far away as the stop — you aim to make three units for each one you'd lose. A higher R:R means an idea can be right less than half the time and still come out ahead.

Invalidation

The price level that proves the idea wrong and says 'get out'.

IN DEPTHThe invalidation is the level at which the reason for the trade no longer holds — the setup has broken and the thesis is wrong. It is the logical basis for the stop: if price trades there, the idea is invalidated and the position should be exited rather than hoped on. It's the pre-decided 'I was wrong' line, set before emotion enters.

Stop (stop-loss)

The exit price that caps the loss if a trade goes against you.

IN DEPTHA stop is the price at which a losing position is closed to limit the damage, usually placed just past the invalidation level. It defines the risk (one R) up front and enforces discipline — the loss is capped at a known amount instead of being left open-ended. In this agent the stop also trails upward as a winner runs, locking in gains.

Target

The planned price to take profit on a winning trade.

IN DEPTHThe target is the price where the idea is designed to be right and profit is taken (often partially, letting the rest run behind a trailing stop). It is derived from structure — a resistance level, a projection, or the play-card's objective — and together with the stop it sets the reward-to-risk. Reaching the target is what counts as a 'win' when an idea is graded.

Buy-now vs wait

Whether an idea is actionable today or waiting for a better entry.

IN DEPTHThis verdict says whether to act now or be patient. 'Buy now' means the setup is live at the current price. 'Wait' means the name is attractive but extended or not yet at a clean entry, so it becomes a watch with a better-entry price to wait for. It keeps a good company from turning into a bad trade just because it was chased too high.

Fair value

An independent estimate of what the stock is roughly worth.

IN DEPTHFair value is a model-based estimate of a stock's underlying worth, computed independently from fundamentals rather than taken from the current quote. Comparing price to fair value shows whether a name looks cheap, rich, or about right. It is an estimate with real uncertainty — a compass heading, not a precise price the market owes.

σ-band (sigma band)

The range the stock is statistically likely to stay within.

IN DEPTHA sigma band is a probability range around the price based on the stock's own volatility (sigma, σ, is one standard deviation of returns). A ±1σ band is the zone the stock is most likely to stay within over the horizon; moves outside it are progressively less likely. It frames targets and stops in terms of what is a normal wiggle versus a genuinely notable move.