Learn About Stocks

A calm, beginner-friendly starting point. The guides below explain how TickerPosts works, how to read a ticker page, how to research a stock before buying, and how to recognise the most common forms of stock-tip fraud. The glossary at the end covers the terms you will hit first.

Avoiding stock scams

Stock-tip fraud has a recognisable shape, and most of it can be avoided by slowing down and asking a few questions. These guides walk through how promotion and spam work, the warning signs to look for, and how to use a discussion community without getting burned. The Investor Safety hub gathers these guides, the key terms, and how moderation works in one place.

For official guidance, see the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at investor.gov and FINRA at finra.org.

Explore stock-market basics

Key terms · Explore stock examples · Investor safety

All 171 guides in this topic

Start Here

New to TickerPosts or new to stocks. These two short reads explain what the site does and how the watchlist works.

How TickerPosts Works
The short version of using the site: searching for a ticker, building a watchlist, joining the discussion, how sources and labels work, and staying safe.
Welcome to TickerPosts
A short tour of the site: ticker pages, discussion, the watchlist, and what makes TickerPosts different from louder forums.
Getting the Most Out of Your Watchlist
How to turn the tickers you are tracking into a focused, scannable list instead of a noisy hundred-name pile.
How to Use Stock Forums Without Getting Burned
How to get the upside of a discussion community (faster news, the bear case, a place to test ideas) without absorbing the hype, the herd behaviour, and the noise.

Market Basics

Plain-English explainers for the building blocks every beginner runs into: what an ETF is, how dividends and stock splits work, the two basic order types, and how to read a price chart.

What Is an ETF?
What an exchange-traded fund is, how it differs from a single stock, the main types you will meet, and what to check before buying one.
What Is a Dividend?
How dividends work, the dates that decide who gets paid, what dividend yield really tells you, and why a very high yield can be a warning.
What Is a Stock Split?
What a stock split does to the share count and price, why companies do it, and why a reverse split deserves a closer look.
Market Orders vs. Limit Orders
The difference between a market order and a limit order, the trade-off between speed and price control, and when it matters most.
How to Read a Stock Chart
How to read the axes, candlesticks, volume bars, trend, and indicators on a price chart, plus the one thing a chart can never tell you.

Research The Basics

Beginner-friendly guides for understanding what a ticker page is telling you, how to size up a stock before placing a trade, and how to read the primary-source SEC filings the rest of the research framework relies on. Start with the complete guide for the whole picture.

The Complete Guide to Fundamental Stock Research for Beginners
The long-form overview that ties the research steps together: what the company does, its filings and earnings, size and liquidity, and writing down the bear case.
Understanding Market Movers: Gainers, Losers, and Volume
What the daily highlight cards on the homepage actually mean, and how to read price and volume changes together rather than separately.
How to Read Stock Volume
Volume is a confirmation read, not a direction read. What the bars under the chart actually measure, what unusual volume can signal, and how to read price and volume together.
What Does Unusual Volume Mean?
How to read an unusual-volume spike: what counts as unusual relative to a stock’s baseline, scheduled versus unscheduled spikes, and when a spike on a small stock is a warning sign.
How to Research a Stock Before You Buy
A plain-English framework for sizing up a stock: what the company does, the basic numbers, float and volume, insider activity, the bear case, and position size before clicking buy.
How to Read SEC Filings Without Getting Lost
A short tour of the four filings beginners hit most often: the 10-K, the 10-Q, the 8-K, and Form 4. Which sections actually matter and how to find them on EDGAR for free.
How to Read an Earnings Report
How the press release, conference call, and 10-Q come together on earnings day, which six numbers actually move the stock, and the common traps that make a headline beat read very differently once you check the detail.

Spot Fraud And Hype

Stock-tip fraud has a recognisable shape. Start with the complete guide, then dig into the focused pieces: what coordinated promotion and spam look like from the outside, and the short checklists you can run before acting on any tip.

The Complete Guide to Spotting Stock Fraud and Pump Schemes
The long-form overview: how pump schemes work, the stocks they target, where the promotion shows up, every warning sign in one place, and how to check a tip before you act.
The Complete Guide to Using Stock Discussion Forums Safely
How to get the upside of a discussion community (faster news, the bear case) without absorbing the promotion, spam, and herd behaviour.
Why Social Media Stock Tips Can Be Risky
What FINRA and Investor.gov have documented about social-media stock promotion, why a tip in a feed is different from research, and the questions to ask before acting on one.
How to Spot Stock Spam
The recognisable patterns of stock spam: copy-paste talking points, links that hide their destination, walls of cashtags, and clusters of brand-new accounts pushing one thinly traded name.
How to Spot Red Flags Before You Follow a Stock Tip
A short checklist for telling thoughtful investor posts apart from coordinated promotions: guaranteed-gain language, urgency, missing risk side, and more.
What Is a Pump-and-Dump?
How the four-stage scheme works, the kinds of stocks promoters target, what the pump looks like online, and how to recognise one before putting money behind it.
Common Stock Market Myths, Fact-Checked
A plain-English fact-check of four myths beginners hear most, including the lines promoters use: the 52-week-high trap, the penny-stock "more room to grow" claim, and the "due for a bounce" fallacy.

Reference

A growing glossary of the stock-market terms you will hit first on TickerPosts, in plain English. Each entry has its own anchor so you can link directly to a definition.

Stock Market Glossary
Ticker, market cap, float, volume, P/E ratio, EPS, dividend, short interest, RSI, MACD, penny stock, ETF, IPO, OTC, stock split, and more.
Stock Market Hours
When the US stock market opens and closes, plus the premarket and after-hours windows in Eastern Time. Holiday schedule notes from the NYSE and NASDAQ.