If we strip away all the technical jargon, a stock transaction is all about supply (the seller) and demand (the buyer). When there are more buyers than sellers of a stock, the price is bound to rise. Conversely, when there are more sellers than buyers of stock, the price is bound to trend downwards.

But things are never that simple, now, are they?

Enter: stock market volatility. It picks up whenever external events like pandemics drive investors to buy and sell stock like crazy because, let’s face it: no one wants a negative bond yield. The result: plunging stock indexes. Of course, major stocks fare much better than individual stocks, but the market as a whole suffers the consequences of these crashes, and so does your portfolio.