Volatile

The term describes the size and frequency of fluctuations in the price of a particular security. A security may be volatile because the company’s outlook is uncertain, there are only a few outstanding shares (see Thin Market), or many other reasons. When the reasons for the variation have to do with the particular security and not the market as a whole, return is measured by alpha. Market-related volatility is measured by beta–also called systematic risk.

« Back to Glossary Index

Comments are closed.