Elder-Ray Index

A dastardly weapon developed by Dr. Brainiac that instantly turns young people into withered nonagenarians. It used to be called "The Reverse Benjamin Button Ray," but F. Scott Fitzgerald's estate sued.

In finance, the Elder-Ray Index measures amount of buying and selling in the financial market. The "Elder" part comes from its inventor, Alexander Elder.

The index represents a technical indicator that detects whether the market has more buying pressure or more selling pressure. The measure of buying is known in Elder-Ray-speak as "bull power" (because it suggests a bull market). The indicator of selling pressure is called "bear power" (because: bear markets).

Investors can use the Elder-Ray index to detect the overall trend in the market...whether it's likely to have an upward bias or a downward bias in the near term.

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)