Financial Illiteracy

Another measure of how poorly educated Americans are about finance. On tonight's jeopardy, one clue "Stock Lingo" for $1200

THIS GREEK LETTER
MEASURES HOW MUCH A STOCK HAS RISEN OR FALLEN
OVER A ONE YEAR PERIOD

One contestant, Matt, guessed "Delta", he was judged wrong. Another one guessed "Beta", she was certainly wrong. Alex announced the answer as "Alpha".

Alpha is, to my knowledge, no such thing. It is a measurement of how much of a stock, or portfolio's, return, is attributable to characteristics unique to the stock, or portfolio, as opposed to Beta which is a measurement of how much of a stock, or portfolio's, return is attributable to broader market factors.

Delta is the closest to accurate answer. In option parlance, Delta is the measure of how much the price of the option changes in response to a change in underlier price. Generally, however Delta often refers to the difference between two numbers.