Reference Shelf · Reference 3 of 8
Quick Reference Cheat Sheets
Order types, Greeks, futures specs, and market hours — one-glance tables.
Some pages you read once. These pages you will come back to hundreds of times. This document collects the facts traders look up constantly — order types, candlestick signals, the options Greeks, futures contract values, loss math, market hours, and account types — into simple tables you can scan in seconds.
You do not need to memorize any of this today. Each table is explained in full in its own chapter elsewhere in Alpha Academy. This is the shortcut version: when you are mid-lesson or mid-trade and think "wait, what does that one do again?" — start here. If a term in a table is new to you, the Alpha Trading Glossary has a plain-language definition for every single one.
Order Types at a Glance
An order is the instruction you give your broker to buy or sell. Choosing the right order type is how you control the price you get and the risk you take.
| Order Type | What It Does | When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | --- |
| Market order | Buys or sells right now at the best available price | When getting in or out matters more than the exact price |
| Limit order | Buys or sells only at your price or better | When you refuse to pay more (or accept less) than a set price |
| Stop order | Sleeps until price hits your stop price, then becomes a market order | To limit a loss automatically, or to enter when price breaks a level |
| Stop-limit order | At the stop price, becomes a limit order instead of a market order | When you want a trigger but will not accept a worse price than your limit |
| Trailing stop | A stop that follows the price by a set amount or percent as it moves in your favor | To lock in gains while giving a winning trade room to run |
Candlestick Signals at a Glance
A candlestick is a picture of one period of trading — a day, an hour, five minutes — showing where price opened, where it closed, and how far it traveled in between. Single candles and small groups of candles form patterns traders watch for clues about what might happen next. A pattern is a clue, never a promise: traders wait to see what the next candles do before acting.
| Signal | What It Looks Like | What Traders Watch Next |
|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hammer | Small body at the top, long tail below, after a fall | A strong candle closing up next — buyers may be stepping in |
| Shooting star | Small body at the bottom, long wick above, after a rise | A weak candle closing down next — buyers may be exhausted |
| Doji | Open and close at almost the same price, like a plus sign | Indecision — the next candle's direction matters more than usual |
| Bullish engulfing | A green candle whose body completely covers the red candle before it | Follow-through buying after the pattern |
| Bearish engulfing | A red candle whose body completely covers the green candle before it | Follow-through selling after the pattern |
| Morning star | Three candles: big red, small pause, big green | A reversal up after a decline, confirmed by rising prices |
| Evening star | Three candles: big green, small pause, big red | A reversal down after a climb, confirmed by falling prices |
| Three white soldiers | Three strong green candles in a row, each closing higher | Strong buying — but also watch for the move getting overheated |
The Greeks at a Glance
Option prices move for several reasons at once, and traders give each reason a name borrowed from the Greek alphabet. These are the Greeks. Each one measures how sensitive an option's price is to one thing changing. You met them in the options chapters; here is the one-line version. Remember that one standard option contract controls 100 shares, so a Greek measured per share gets multiplied by 100 in real dollars.
| Greek | What It Measures | Option Buyers Generally Want | Option Sellers Generally Want |
|---|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Delta | How much the option price moves when the stock moves $1 | The stock to move their way — up for calls, down for puts | The stock to stay still or move against the buyer |
| Gamma | How fast delta itself grows as the stock moves | Big, fast moves — their delta grows in their favor | Calm, slow prices — delta stays small and predictable |
| Theta | How much value the option loses each day just from time passing | A big move soon, before the daily drip eats their premium | Quiet days, one after another — time passing pays them |
| Vega | How much the price moves when expected future swings (implied volatility) change | Implied volatility to rise — options get more valuable | Implied volatility to fall — options get cheaper to buy back |
| Rho | How much the price moves when interest rates change | Matters mainly on options many months out; small either way short term | The same — a minor factor for most everyday trades |
Futures Contracts at a Glance
A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell something — a stock index, gold, oil — at a set price on a future date. Traders mostly use them to bet on price direction. Every contract has a fixed point value: how many dollars you gain or lose when the price moves one full point. The smallest allowed move is a tick. Learn the values for your contract before you trade it — in futures, size mistakes are expensive mistakes.
| Contract | Trades On | $ per Point | $ per Tick |
|---|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ES (E-mini S&P 500) | CME | $50 | $12.50 (tick = 0.25) |
| MES (Micro E-mini S&P 500) | CME | $5 | $1.25 (tick = 0.25) |
| NQ (E-mini Nasdaq-100) | CME | $20 | $5.00 (tick = 0.25) |
| MNQ (Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100) | CME | $2 | $0.50 (tick = 0.25) |
| YM (E-mini Dow) | CME | $5 | $5.00 (tick = 1.0) |
| RTY (E-mini Russell 2000) | CME | $50 | $5.00 (tick = 0.10) |
| GC (Gold) | CME | $100 | $10.00 (tick = 0.10) |
| CL (Crude Oil) | CME | $1,000 | $10.00 (tick = 0.01) |
Notice the micro contracts — MES, MNQ — move in the same markets as their big brothers at one-tenth the dollar size. That is exactly why beginners start there.
Options Outcomes at Expiration
Options eventually reach their expiration date — the day the contract ends. The table below shows the best and worst possible results for the four basic positions when a contract expires. The breakeven is the stock price where you neither make nor lose money. Example used everywhere in this school: a $50 strike with a $2.50 premium has a call breakeven of $52.50 and a put breakeven of $47.50.
| Position | Maximum Gain | Maximum Loss | Breakeven at Expiration |
|---|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Long call (you bought a call) | Unlimited — the stock can keep rising | The premium you paid, nothing more | Strike price + premium |
| Long put (you bought a put) | Strike price − premium, if the stock fell all the way to $0 | The premium you paid, nothing more | Strike price − premium |
| Short call (you sold a call) | The premium you received | Unlimited — the stock can keep rising | Strike price + premium |
| Short put (you sold a put) | The premium you received | Strike price − premium, if the stock fell all the way to $0 | Strike price − premium |
Read the pattern in the table: buyers risk only what they paid; sellers collect a small, fixed payment and accept the big risk. That trade-off is the heart of options.
The Loss-Recovery Table
Losing money is mathematically harder to undo than it looks, because percentages do not cancel out. If you lose 50% of your account, a 50% gain does not get you back — you would be applying that gain to a smaller pile of money. This table shows what a loss really costs. Traders keep it nearby for a reason.
| If You Lose | You Need This Gain Just to Break Even |
|---|---|
| --- | --- |
| 5% | 5.3% |
| 10% | 11.1% |
| 20% | 25% |
| 25% | 33.3% |
| 33% | 49.3% |
| 50% | 100% |
| 75% | 300% |
| 90% | 900% |
Work one by hand: an account falls from $1,000 to $500 — a 50% loss. To climb from $500 back to $1,000, the account must double — a 100% gain. Small losses are errands; big losses are expeditions. Protect the account accordingly.
Market Hours at a Glance
Different markets keep different hours. All times below are Eastern Time (ET), the timezone US markets run on. Stock market hours apply Monday through Friday, except market holidays.
| Market | Hours (ET) | Schedule |
|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | --- |
| US stocks — regular session | 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM | Monday–Friday |
| US stocks — pre-market | Commonly 4:00 AM – 9:30 AM | Monday–Friday; exact hours depend on your broker |
| US stocks — after hours | 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM | Monday–Friday; exact hours depend on your broker |
| Futures (CME Globex) | 6:00 PM – 5:00 PM the next day, with a daily break from 5:00–6:00 PM | Sunday evening through Friday — nearly 24 hours |
| Forex (currencies) | Opens Sunday ~5:00 PM, closes Friday ~5:00 PM | 24 hours a day, 5 days a week |
| Crypto | Never closes | 24 hours a day, 7 days a week |
A warning worth its row: pre-market and after-hours sessions have far fewer buyers and sellers, so prices jump around more and orders can fill at surprisingly bad prices. Beginners belong in the regular session.
Account Types at a Glance
Your brokerage account is the account you trade from, and it comes in a few basic flavors. The full comparison lives in the accounts chapter; here is the one-line version of each.
| Account | In One Line | Good to Know |
|---|---|---|
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cash account | You trade only with money you have deposited and that has settled | You can never owe the broker money — the safest place to learn |
| Margin account | The broker lends you money to trade bigger, and charges interest on the loan | The loan can amplify losses as easily as gains, and the broker can demand repayment |
| IRA (retirement account) | A tax-advantaged account meant for retirement savings | Tax benefits come with rules and penalties for early withdrawal — and risky strategies are usually restricted |
Keep This Close
That is the whole cheat sheet set: orders, candles, Greeks, futures values, expiration outcomes, loss math, hours, and accounts. Print it, bookmark it, keep it beside your screen. The facts on these pages are the ones that come up every single trading day — and now you know where they live.