What is Exponential Moving Average: Definition & Meaning Explained

Indices

Indices are a collection of financial instruments that measure the performance of those very instruments.

For example, stock market indices like Nifty 50 and Sensex measure the top 50 and 30 stocks by market capitalization.

If indices go up, it generally means that the underlying stocks are performing well. The opposite is true when indices plummet.

By the way, there’s no limit to how many instruments an index can track. The Nifty Smallcap 250 tracks 250 stocks whereas Nifty Bank tracks 12 stocks.

Equities

The term equities can be used to describe two different things. First, equities refers to stocks held by shareholders. Equities of this type represent residual ownership or stake in a company.

Second, equities are the amount of money shareholders shall receive in the event that a company is liquidated. In such a case, the equities will be calculated by subtracting the total debt from total assets.

Delivery Trading

Delivery trading refers to buying a stock or ETF and holding it for more than one day. In such a scenario, the buyer take delivery of the asset instead of squaring off their position in the same trading session. Delivery trading is applicable for short term and long term trades and can last overnight to a decade or more.

Cash Conversion Cycle

A Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) tells you how many days it will take to convert a company’s inventory or resources into cash. The formula for Cash Conversion Cycle is:

Cash Conversion Cycle = (DIO + DSO) – DPO

DIO: Days Inventory Outstanding is the average number of days it takes for a company to turn inventory into cash through sales
DSO: Days Sales Outstanding is the average number of days it takes for a company to collect its receivables
DPO: Days Payable Outstanding is the average number of days it takes fo a company to fulfil its obligations or payables

Diversification

Diversification is the act of investing in more than one asset class, sector, industry, or country to mitigate risk. It is an investment strategy designed to reduce risk by pairing a volatile asset class like equities with a fixed income asset class like fixed deposits. Or, by investing in equities in one country and complementing it by investing a portfolio in stocks from another country.

European Option

A European Option allows a trader to exercise the contract only on the day of expiry. For example, let’s say an options trader bought a European Call Option that expires on 01-01-2023.

The options trader can only exercise the call option, that is, buy the underlying assets on the day of expiry which is 01-01-2023. In India, traders can only engage in European options.

Exponential Moving Average