Stock catalyst

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A stock catalyst is an event that causes the price of a security to move, often significantly. [1] In a simplified sense, it can be either bad news that unnerves investors or good news to get investors interested in the stock again. [2] Stock catalysts often change investor sentiment and can mark the beginning or end of stock trends. The most common catalysts arise due to unexpected information that triggers the market to re-consider a company's business prospects. [2] Some investors and traders use catalysts in short-term trading strategies to generate a profit. [2]

Contents

Types

A stock catalyst can be either a sudden catalyst or an anticipated catalyst. Sudden catalysts cannot be anticipated and are announced suddenly by the company during a press release. [1] An example of a sudden catalyst is a company partnership since they are announced without prior notice to investors. Anticipated catalysts are catalysts that investors are aware of before the catalyst even happens. [1] They are generally pre-scheduled and can have a strong affect a company's stock price during the days leading up to and including the event.

Examples

The following are examples of stock catalysts:

Trading strategies

Buy the Rumor, Sell the News

The trading strategy around buying the rumor and selling the news revolves around buying or selling the stock during the 3 weeks leading up to the catalyst event, and selling before the event actually occurs. [1] This strategy can be predicable because the stock market will price in rumors around the catalyst in the days leading up to the event. [1] If the catalyst is expected to be positive, then the company stock is also expected to rise in the weeks leading up to the event. [1]

Trade the Catalyst

Another trading strategy related to stock catalysts is buying or selling the stock and maintaining that position during the catalyst event. [1] This is a highly speculative and risky strategy due to the unpredictability of catalyst events such as earnings releases. [1]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Short (finance)</span> Practice of selling securities or other financial instruments that are not currently owned

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Day trading</span> Buying and selling financial instruments within the same trading day

Day trading is a form of speculation in securities in which a trader buys and sells a financial instrument within the same trading day, so that all positions are closed before the market closes for the trading day to avoid unmanageable risks and negative price gaps between one day's close and the next day's price at the open. Traders who trade in this capacity are generally classified as speculators. Day trading contrasts with the long-term trades underlying buy-and-hold and value investing strategies. Day trading may require fast trade execution, sometimes as fast as milli-seconds in scalping, therefore a direct-access day trading software is often needed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hedge (finance)</span> Concept in investing

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CAN SLIM refers to the acronym developed by the American stock research and education company Investor's Business Daily (IBD). IBD claims CANSLIM represents the seven characteristics that top-performing stocks often share before making their biggest price gains. It was developed in the 1950s by Investor's Business Daily founder William O'Neil. The method was named the top-performing investment strategy from 1998-2009 by the American Association of Individual Investors. In 2015, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) was launched focusing on the companies listed on the IBD 50, a computer generated list published by Investors Business Daily that highlights stocks based on the CAN SLIM investment criteria.

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The technology company Facebook, Inc. held its initial public offering (IPO) on Friday, May 18, 2012. The IPO was one of the biggest in technology and Internet history, with a peak market capitalization of over $104 billion.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "What Is a Stock Catalyst?".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. 1 2 3 "What is Catalyst in the Stock Market?".