If you’re not well-versed in the basics of the stock market, the stock trading information spewing from the media can border on gibberish.

Phrases such as “earnings movers” and “intraday highs” don’t mean much to the average investor, and in many cases, they shouldn’t. If you’re in it for the long term — with, say, a portfolio of mutual funds geared toward retirement — you don’t need to worry about what these words mean, or about the flashes of red or green that cross the bottom of your TV screen. You can get by just fine without understanding the stock market much at all.

If, on the other hand, you want to learn how to trade stocks, you do need to understand the stock market, and at least some basic information about how stock trading works.

Understanding the stock market

When people refer to the stock market being up or down, they’re generally referring to one of the major market indexes.

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A market index tracks the performance of a group of stocks, which either represents the market as a whole or a specific sector of the market, like technology or retail companies. You’re likely to hear most about the S&P 500, the Nasdaq composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average; they are often used as proxies for the performance of the overall market.

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Investors use indexes to benchmark the performance of their own portfolios and, in some cases, to inform their stock trading decisions. You can also invest in an entire index through an index fund or exchange-traded fund, or ETF, which usually tracks a specific index or sector of the market.

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