The Alpha Blog
Decoding Alpha: Where Data Science Meets Wall Street.
What Is a Robo-Advisor?
A robo-advisor is a financial advisory firm that delivers its services through software systems. Robo-advisors provide financial advice and investment management based on mathematical and statistical models with little to no human intervention. Robo-advisors have transformed the industry even though …
What Is Insider Trading?
Insider trading is the buying and selling public securities using material, nonpublic information. For such a short answer, it raises a lot of questions. What constitutes material information? Does it matter how you came to access the data? Why is …
What Are Bonds & How Do They Work?
A bond is a loan to a company or government. Bond investors lend money for a set period, with the promise of repayment of that money plus interest. The most common types of bonds include corporate bonds and municipal bonds. …
What Is Futures Trading?
Futures trading is the buying and selling of futures contracts. Futures contracts are standardized legal agreements where a buyer and seller agree to exchange a commodity at a specific price at a particular future date. While this may sound simple …
How Many Trading Days in a Year?
The average number of trading days for U.S. markets is about 252 days, but not every year has 252 trading days. For example, the 2020 trading year consists of 253 trading days. In the United States, the New York Stock …
Active vs. Passive Management
There are two types of portfolio management: active and passive. Which is better is a hotly contested question within the field of investment management. Like most hotly-contested questions, the answer is complicated. Each type of portfolio management has its advantages …
What Is Pre-Market & After-Hours Trading?
Pre-market and after-hours trading occurs before and after regular stock market hours. Pre-market can occur between 4:00 am and 9:30 am, with most trade volume between 8:00 am, and 9:30 am. After-hours trading runs from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. …
Can You Sell A Stock Right After You Buy It?
You can sell a stock right after you buy it, but there are limitations. In a regular retail brokerage account, you can not execute more than three same-day trades within five business days. Once you cross that threshold, you are …
Is Stock Trading Gambling?
Is stock trading gambling? Yes and no. Stock trading is gambling in the sense that certainty is not guaranteed. At the same time, assuming you’re investing in a financially savvy way, stock trading is nothing like gambling since, unlike gambling, …