The stock market can be confusing and complex. Riddles provide a fun and engaging way to test your knowledge of investing concepts. Here are 63 riddles about the stock market along with explanatory answers.
General Stock Market Riddles
Riddle 1
I’m a place where shares of companies are traded. What am I?
Answer: The stock market.
Riddle 2
I’m the amount a stock price changes expressed in percent. What am I?
Answer: Percentage change.
Riddle 3
I’m the study of historical stock price trends and patterns to help forecast the market. What am I?
Answer: Technical analysis.
Riddle 4
I’m the total value of a company’s outstanding shares. What am I?
Answer: Market capitalization.
Riddle 5
I’m the process of buying and selling securities multiple times to take advantage of small price movements. What am I?
Answer: Day trading.
Stock Market Players Riddles
Riddle 6
I’m an individual who buys and sells securities for his or her personal account. What am I?
Answer: An individual investor.
Riddle 7
I’m a licensed professional who carries out buy and sell orders on behalf of clients. What am I?
Answer: A stockbroker.
Riddle 8
I’m a company that assists individual investors in buying and selling securities. What am I?
Answer: A brokerage firm.
Riddle 9
I’m an investor who aims to beat the market average return by picking stocks that are undervalued. What am I?
Answer: A value investor.
Riddle 10
I’m an investor who seeks to profit from short-term price movements and trading in volatile markets. What am I?
Answer: A speculator.
Going Public Riddles
Riddle 11
I’m the process of a private company offering shares to the public for the first time. What am I?
Answer: An initial public offering or IPO.
Riddle 12
I’m the first sale of stock by a private company to the public and investment banks. What am I?
Answer: An IPO primary market.
Riddle 13
I’m the stock exchange where the shares are later traded among investors after the IPO. What am I?
Answer: Secondary market.
Riddle 14
I’m the regulatory filing required to register securities prior to an IPO. What am I?
Answer: S-1 filing.
Riddle 15
I’m the process where investment banks value and price a company’s shares before the IPO. What am I?
Answer: Book building.
Bull vs Bear Riddles
Riddle 16
I’m an investor who is optimistic and expects prices to rise. What am I?
Answer: A bull.
Riddle 17
I’m an investor who is pessimistic and expects prices to fall. What am I?
Answer: A bear.
Riddle 18
I’m a period of rising prices and widespread optimism. What am I?
Answer: A bull market.
Riddle 19
I’m a prolonged period of falling prices and widespread pessimism. What am I?
Answer: A bear market.
Riddle 20
I’m a condition where prices are volatile with no clear trend up or down. What am I?
Answer: A trading market or range bound market.
Stock Exchanges Riddles
Riddle 21
I’m the world’s largest stock exchange located on Wall Street. What am I?
Answer: The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Riddle 22
I’m the second largest US stock exchange headquartered in Chicago. What am I?
Answer: The NASDAQ.
Riddle 23
I’m the largest stock exchange in Europe located in London. What am I?
Answer: The London Stock Exchange (LSE).
Riddle 24
I’m the largest stock exchange in Asia located in Tokyo. What am I?
Answer: The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).
Riddle 25
I’m the stock exchange headquartered in Toronto, Canada. What am I?
Answer: The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).
Stock Market Orders Riddles
Riddle 26
I’m an order to buy shares of a stock at or below a specified price. What am I?
Answer: A limit order.
Riddle 27
I’m an order to buy or sell a stock at the best available current price. What am I?
Answer: A market order.
Riddle 28
I’m an order to buy or sell a stock only at a specified price or better. What am I?
Answer: A stop order.
Riddle 29
I’m an order to buy a stock below the current market price. What am I?
Answer: A stop-limit order.
Riddle 30
I’m an order that combines features of stop and limit orders. What am I?
Answer: A stop-limit order.
Financial Ratios Riddles
Riddle 31
I’m calculated by dividing a company’s share price by its earnings per share. What am I?
Answer: The price-earnings or P/E ratio.
Riddle 32
I’m calculated by dividing a company’s market cap by total sales. What am I?
Answer: The price-sales or P/S ratio.
Riddle 33
I’m calculated by dividing share price by dividends per share. What am I?
Answer: The dividend yield.
Riddle 34
I’m the ratio of a company’s debt to equity financing. What am I?
Answer: The debt-equity ratio.
Riddle 35
I’m the ratio of a company’s earnings to its interest expenses. What am I?
Answer: The interest coverage ratio.
Bonds and Interest Rates Riddles
Riddle 36
I’m a fixed income investment that represents a loan to a corporation or government. What am I?
Answer: A bond.
Riddle 37
I’m the annual interest payment on a bond expressed as a percentage. What am I?
Answer: The coupon rate.
Riddle 38
I’m the yield or interest rate at which a bond is issued. What am I?
Answer: The nominal yield.
Riddle 39
I’m the annual rate of return on a bond after accounting for inflation. What am I?
Answer: The real yield.
Riddle 40
I’m the yield on a bond assuming it is held until maturity. What am I?
Answer: The yield to maturity.
Risk and Return Riddles
Riddle 41
I’m the possibility of losing money on an investment. What am I?
Answer: Risk.
Riddle 42
I’m a statistical measure of the volatility of a security or portfolio. What am I?
Answer: Standard deviation.
Riddle 43
I’m the entire range of possible returns for a portfolio. What am I?
Answer: Probability distribution.
Riddle 44
I’m the relationship between the risk and return of different assets. What am I?
Answer: The risk-return tradeoff.
Riddle 45
I’m a strategy of spreading investment across various assets to reduce risk. What am I?
Answer: Diversification.
Stocks and Companies Riddles
Riddle 46
I’m a stock that has little volatility and pays regular dividends. What am I?
Answer: A blue-chip stock.
Riddle 47
I’m a stock with a market cap between $2 and $10 billion. What am I?
Answer: A mid-cap stock.
Riddle 48
I’m a stock with a market cap over $10 billion. What am I?
Answer: A large-cap stock.
Riddle 49
I’m a stock with a market cap under $300 million. What am I?
Answer: A micro-cap stock.
Riddle 50
I’m a stock that has fallen drastically from its highs. What am I?
Answer: A fallen angel.
Investment Strategies Riddles
Riddle 51
I’m an investment strategy of picking stable, dividend-paying stocks. What am I?
Answer: Income investing.
Riddle 52
I’m the strategy of investing in fast-growing companies expected to increase revenues rapidly. What am I?
Answer: Growth investing.
Riddle 53
I’m the strategy of building a diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds. What am I?
Answer: Passive investing.
Riddle 54
I’m the strategy of frequently trading in and out of stocks to capture small gains. What am I?
Answer: Active trading.
Riddle 55
I’m an automated trading strategy that uses algorithms and models. What am I?
Answer: Algorithmic trading.
Laws and Regulations Riddles
Riddle 56
I’m the main US law governing securities and stock exchanges. What am I?
Answer: Securities Exchange Act.
Riddle 57
I’m the US regulator agency that enforces securities laws. What am I?
Answer: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Riddle 58
I’m the illegal practice of basing investment decisions on non-public information. What am I?
Answer: Insider trading.
Riddle 59
I’m the act of publicly sharing false or misleading information about a company. What am I?
Answer: Stock market manipulation.
Riddle 60
I’m the regulatory report company insiders must file when trading company stock. What am I?
Answer: Form 4.
Taxes Riddles
Riddle 61
I’m a tax on short-term capital gains from selling investments held less than a year. What am I?
Answer: Short-term capital gains tax.
Riddle 62
I’m a tax on long-term gains from selling investments held over one year. What am I?
Answer: Long-term capital gains tax.
Riddle 63
I’m an investment strategy that harvests tax losses to offset capital gains. What am I?
Answer: Tax-loss harvesting.
Conclusion
Riddles provide a fun and engaging way to reinforce your knowledge of core investing principles and test your stock market acumen. Mastering market concepts takes time, but riddles force you to think critically and crystallize your knowledge. With the explanations provided, use these riddles as a study tool to grow as an investor. The stock market has many complexities, but breaking it down into bite-sized riddles makes it less intimidating.
