Trading Insights

Introduction When you place an order to trade stocks, there are typically two ways in which it can be processed: by a market maker or by an electronic communications network (ECN). Market makers and ECNs are critical for keeping the market running smoothly and play...

Float rotation describes the number of times that a stock’s floating shares turn over in a single trading day. For day traders who focus on low-float stocks, float rotation is an important factor to watch when volatility spikes. In this guide, we’ll explain what float...

Successful trading relies on having good information about the market for a stock. Price information is often visualized through technical charts, but traders can also benefit from data about the outstanding orders for a stock. This type of data is known as Level 1...

Have you ever seen a stock exhibiting normal trading behavior and then all of a sudden the stock price drastically drops out of nowhere? This type of price action could be related to the announcement of a shelf offering or the execution of an “at-the-market” sale from...

Short squeezes can introduce a lot of volatility into stocks and send share prices sharply higher. These squeezes offer opportunities for trading, but they often require different strategies and more caution than traditional breakouts. In this article, we’ll take a...

Introduction For traders who trade on margin, understanding your buying power is essential to staying on the right side of margin requirements. Buying power controls how much money you can deploy at any time. Importantly, buying power changes between market hours and...

There are different chart patterns that stock traders can use to help them make informed trading decisions. In this guide, we will focus on the bearish pennant pattern. This formation often signals a downtrend and can be used to predict price movements. We will...

A head and shoulders chart pattern typically indicates a reversal at the end of an uptrend. It includes three peaks with troughs between them and can be followed by a significant breakdown. In this guide, we’ll highlight what traders need to know about head and...

If you've ever traded stocks, you've probably used a market maker. Market makers are the middlemen of the stock market, and in most cases, these are firms, individuals, and or large corporations that facilitate transactions. For example, if you wanted to buy shares...

Investors can hold onto long positions for years or even decades without running into problems. But most short positions are much shorter in duration – a few months to a few years at most. There are several practical limitations that limit how much time traders can...

Level 2 data is important for traders because it shows the full range of open orders for a stock, not just the current best bid and ask price. Using Level 2 data, you can identify potential trades before they become apparent on technical charts or get additional...

A Doji is a type of candlestick pattern that often indicates a coming price reversal. This pattern consists of a single candlestick with a nearly identical open and close. In this guide, we’ll explain what the doji candlestick is and how traders can interpret it. How...

Inflation can have a big impact on the stock market, leaving unprepared investors in for a bumpy ride. In this article, we’ll explain why inflation impacts the stock market and take a closer look at how the stock market has reacted to inflation in the past. What is...

An ascending triangle chart pattern is a bullish technical pattern that typically signals the continuation of an uptrend. They can signal a coming bullish breakout above an area of resistance after it has been tested several times. In this guide, we’ll explain what...