Glossary
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10-K | An SEC required comprehensive financial performance report filed annually by public companies. |
10-Q | An SEC required comprehensive financial performance report filed quarterly by public companies. |
10-Year Treasury Note | A United States debt obligation with a 10 year maturity upon initial issuance. |
100% Equities Strategy | A portfolio containing soley equities. |
12B-1 Fee | A fee on mutual funds that covers annual marketing and distributions. |
30-Year Treasury | A United States debt obligation with a 30 year maturity upon initial issuance. |
401(k) | A qualified investment vehicle offered by employers to employees that allows for tax deferred growth. |
403(b) | A qualified investment vehicle offereed to employees of tax-exempt organizations and public schools that allows for tax deferred growth. |
501(c)(3) | A nonprofit or charitable organization. |
52-Week High/Low | Thehighest and lowest price a stock has traded at during the past 52 weeks or 1 year. |
52-Week Range | The two data points within the range is the highest and lowest price a stock has traded at during the past 52 weeks or 1 year. |
529 Savings Plan | Tax-advantaged investment vehicle to save for future educational costs. |
8-K | Public companies report unscheduled material changes that are of importance to shareholders or SEC. |
A
AARP | A nonprofit founded in 1958, for people age 50+. |
Absolute Return | Shown as a percentage, this is the return achieved over a time period. |
Account Balance | The quantity of funds held with a financial institution. |
Account Number | Unique numbered code given to an account holder. |
Accredited Investor | Trusts, Insurance companies, Banks, High New Worth Investors, and brokers who may deal in securities that might not be registed with financial authorities. |
Acid-Test Ratio | The ratio determines if a balance sheet has enough short term assets to pay for its short term liabilities. |
Active Management | The oposite of Index Management. Uses manager(s) to activey manage the capital within a portfolio. |
Activist Investor | In attempt to gain a seat at the table of a public companies board of director, one attempts to purchase large quantities of the companies shares. |
Actuarial Life Table | Statisitical table to show the probablility of a person at a specific age dying before their next upcoming birthday. |
After-Hours Trading | Stock trading that happens either before or after the trading day of a stock exchange. |
Algorithmic Trading | With human oversight, computers execute orders based on programmed algorithmic trading istructions. |
Alpha | Alpha is the active risk-adjusted return on an investment comparable to an aggregate market and is used to describe a fund manager's skill level. Alpha = Investment Return - (Risk Free Rate + (Market Return - Risk Free Rate) * Beta of Investment |
Alternative Investment | Typicall this includes Venture Capital, Hedge Funds. Tangible Assets, Commodities and physical property. |
American Stock Exchange (AMEX) | Now refered to as the NYSE American |
Annual Report | Publicly traded companies report their financial conditions and operation tacticts to shareholders annually. |
Annual Turnover | Useful for investors to see how actively the money in an ETF, Mutual Fund, or Portfolio is managed. |
Annualize | Taking a percentage gain/loss and multiple by the periods needed to be equal to 1 year. |
Annuity | A contract that provides income for a specified period of years upon annuitization. |
AML | Anti-Money Laundering - Required by banks and financial institutions to ensure customers are not money laundering. |
Antitrust | Laws and regulations to ensure there is no price-fixing, mergers that stop competition in certain markets, and prevent monopolies. |
Appreciation | Increase in an assets prive over time. |
Arbitrage | Buying an asset or security from one market and selling it simultaneously in another for a larger price to profit. |
Arithmetic Mean | The simplest form of finding the average. Total sum of a series of numbers divided by quantity of number series. |
Articles of Incorporation | Binding, legal documents filed with the government to create a corporation. |
AI | Artificial Intelligence. A computer that is designed to act, think and behave like a human. |
Ascending Channel | Used in technical analysis, this is the price action of a security that sets higher lows and higher highs between upward sloping parallel lines. |
Ask | What a seller of a security is willing to sell at. Commonmly known as "Offer Price." |
Asset | A resource controlled by an entity from which future economic benefits are expected. |
Asset Allocation | An Investment strategy that invests equities, fixed income, and cash based on an investors risk tolerance, goals, and time horizon. |
Asset Class | Describes the different groups of financial instruments available to invest in. These groups include equities (stocks), fixed income (bonds), cash or cash equivalents (money market instruments), real estate, commodities, futures, and other derivatives. |
Asset Management | A financial institution managing part or in entirety a clients portfolio. |
Assets Under Management (AUM) | Describes the investable assets managed by a financial instituiton. |
AAR | Average Annual Return. |
Average Cost Basis Method | The sum of money invested into a position or fund divided by the total number of shares owned. |
Average Daily Trading Volume - ADTV | Sum of the number of shares that are traded divided by the number of days. |
Average Return | Sum of returns divided by the number of returns. |
B
Backtesting | Tests an invemtent strategy using historical data for viability. |
Bailout | This is when money and or resources are provided by a government, individual, or business into a failiing company and or industry. |
Balance Sheet | A financial statement reporting a company or indivuals assets, liabilites, and equity at a certain point in time. |
Balanced Fund | A single portfolio containing both stocks and bonds. |
Bank Reserves | Minimum cash amounts a financial institution must keep on hand as required by central bank requirements. |
Basis Point (BPS) | A unit of measurement for interest rates and percentages in finance (1 BPS = 0.01%). |
Benchmark | A broad market that performance of a security of portfolio can measure performance against. |
Berkshire Hathaway | Holding company run by Warren Buffett. |
Beta | A common measure of systematic risk, or volatility used in CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model). |
Bid | An offer in effort to buy a security, currency or commodity by an investor, dealer, or trader. |
Bid-Ask Spread | The quantity the ask price ecxeeds the bid price for a security, currency, or commodity in the market. |
Bid Size | Explains the quantity of shares of a security, currency or commodity that the investor, dealor or trader is willing to purchase at a specific bid price. |
Black Friday | Refers to the historic day of 9/24/1869 when markets and gold plummented. |
Black Monday | Refers to the historic day of 10/19/1987 where the Dow Jones lost nearly 22% during the trading day. |
Black Scholes Model | A mathematical model to price options contracts. |
Block Trade | The purchase or sale of a large quantity of securities. |
Blue Chip | Refers to a corporation that is well known nationally and financially sound. |
Board of Directors | Refers to elected group of people who represent shareholders as a whole. |
Bond | Is also known as fixed income, and is where the investor loans money to a borrower (commonly governments or corporations). |
Bond ETF | Is an Exchange Traded Fund that invests soley in bonds. |
Bond Latter | A portoflio of bonds or other fixed income securities with varying maturity dates. |
Bond Yield | What an investor realizes as return on a bond. |
Bondholder | The investor who owns the debt secuirty of a government or corporation. |
C
C-Suite | Collection of officers of a business organization that have the word "chief" in their title. |
Call Option | A contract between a buyer and seller where a security is exchanged at a predetermined time and price (strike). For american style call options the buyer has the right to exercise the option at the current market price at any time prior to the contract expiration. |
Capital | Refers to financial assets which describes funds used for financing or funds held in deposit. |
CAPM | Capital Asset Pricing Model |
Capitalism | An economic system where prices, production, and the distribution of goods, are privately owned and are determined by the supply and demand of the free market economy. |
Cash Dividend | Cash paid to the shareholders of an organization for their investment shares based on current earnings. |
CFP | Certified Fianncial Planner |
CCO | Chief Compliance Officer |
CEO | Chief Executive Officer |
CFO | Chief Financial Officer |
COO | Chief Operating Officer |
CTO | Chief Technology Officer |
Chinese Wall | A way to prevent the spread of information between departments that may lead to a conflict of interest. |
Churning | An unethical and illegal practice which consists of a broker making excessive trades on a client's account in order to drive up their own commission. |
Clearing House | Middle man between buyers and sellers of securities to ensure settlement is smooth. |
Close-End Fund | A limited number of shares issued at IPO, this portfolio of pooled assets is listed for trade on a stock exchange. |
CBOE | Chicago Board Options Exchange. The worlds largest options market. |
Collateral | An asset pledged to by a borrower to a lender in return for a loan which may be seized if the borrower defaults on the obligation. |
Commodity | A product that can be traded, bought, or sold on some type of exchange. |
Common Stock | Shares of ownership of a corporation. |
Compliance Officer | Officer responsible for ensuring that the company is following both external regulations and internal bylaws. |
CAGR | Compound Annualized Growth Rate |
Compound Interest | Determinded by interest accrued on the initial balance and including accumulated interest from past periods. |
CPI | Consumer Price Index |
Convertible Bond | A type of bond that yields interest but can be converted into common stock. |
Convertible Preferred Stock | A type of stock that allows the holder to convert shares into common stock after a predetermined date. |
Cost Basis | Also known as the purchase price. |
Coverage Ratio | Informs investors on the likelyhood of a company being able to pay interest payments and dividends. |
Credit Risk | The posibility of a borrower not being able to repay the loan and causing a loss for the lender. |
Crude Oil | Unferined petroleum which is then commonly refined into various types of fuel. |
Cryptocurrency | A new form of digitial asset. |
Currency | A medium of exchange for goods and/or services. |
Current Assets | Within 1 year, all assets that a company will use or sell. |
Current Liabilities | Within 1 year, all financial obligations that are coming due. |
Current Ratio | Current assets divided by current liabilities. |
Current Yield | Annueal income divided by current price. |
CUSIP Number | Similar to how a social security number is given to humans, stocks get a unique identification number assigned to them. |
Custodial Account | A financial account that an adult controls on behalf of a minor until the minor hits a certain age. |
Custodian | A financial institution that holds client money in attempt to minimize theft or loss. |
CRM | Customer Relationship Management |
D
Day Order | A type order that is opened and closed within on trading day. |
Day Trader | A type of trader who opens and closes a position within one trading day. |
Dead Cat Bounce | A temporary increase of an assets price during a bear market/long decline. |
Dealer | A firm that cna buy/sell securities for their own accounts. |
Death Cross | Appearing on a chart, this is when a short term moving average downward crosses a long term moving average. |
Debt/EBITDA Ratio | Debt divided by EBITDA. |
Debt Ratio | Total debt divided by total assets. |
D/E Ratio | Debt-to-equity ratio = total liabilities divided by total shareholders equity. |
Default Risk | The chance a company or person wont be able to make debt payments. |
Defensive Stock | A stock that provides a solid dividend and stable earnings during any type of market condition. |
Demand | A consumers desire to purchase. |
Discount Bond | A type of bond that doesn't issue coupon payments but instead is sold at a discount to par value and then is redeemed at par value at maturity. |
DCF | Discounted Cash Flow |
Disposable Income | Personal income minue personal taxes. |
Divergence | When the price of an assets or price of an asset and a technicla indicator are moving in opposite directions. |
Diversification | Holding a mix of asset types in a portfolio as a risk management strategy. |
Dividend | Payment made out of a firm's earnings to its owners in the form of either cash or stock. |
DDM | Dividend Discount Model |
Dividend Growth Rate | The annualized percentage growth that a stocks dividend increases. |
DPS | Dividend Per Share |
Dividend Rate | Equal to the total amount of dividend payments received annually. |
DRIP | Dividend Reinvestment Plan |
Dividend Yield | Refers to the total dividend per share divided by the current share price. |
Doji | A candlestick trading pattern that is shown on a chart as having a bearish wick, a bullish wick, and no body. These patterns are formed by the price in a candle's timeframe moving up and down from the open and closing at the price where the candle opened. These patterns can typically show a reversal in price action. |
DCA | Dollar Cost Average. |
Dotcom Bubble | Stock market bubble growth in the late 1990's caused by excessive speculation in internet related companies with the wide spread use of the internet. |
Double Bottom | Forms on a chart and is a bullish technical pattern where a price low hits two consecutive times with a moderate increase between the lows. |
Doublte Top | Forms on a chart and is a bearish technical pattern where a price high hits two consecutive times with a minimal decline between the highs. |
DJIA | Dow Jones industrial Average. A benchmark index. |
Drawdown | Top to bottom decline for a specified time period. |
Dumping | Selling a product in a foriegn country for less than the price in the domestic country. |
E
E-Mini | Fracational in value of a standard futures contract and electronically traded. |
Early Adopter | A person or business who is early on a trend, technology or product before others use it. |
Earnings | Bottom line of a company. Profits. |
EBIT | Earnings Before Interest and Taxes. |
EBITDA | Earnings Before Interest Taxes Depreciation and Amortization. |
Earnings Estimate | Analyyst's expectations for a company's future EPS/revenue. |
Earnings Multiplier | Price to Earnings. |
Earnings Per Share (EPS) | A profitability metric used widley accros the financial indsutry as a prominent valuation indicator. EPS = (Net Income - Preferred Dividends) / (Weighted Average Shares Outstanding). |
Earnings Report | Reports performance of public companies. |
Economic Cycle | Fluctuations between growthe and recession within the economy. |
Effective Yield | Bonds coupon divided by current price. |
EMH | Effificent Market Hypothesis |
ESOP | Employee Stock Ownership Plan |
ESPP | Employee Stock Purchase Plan |
Endowment | Donated money to a non-profit that invests for a specific purpose; typically for generating income. |
Equity | Ownership in a comapny. |
Equity Market | Stock market. |
Estate Planning | Planning for the death of an individual and how their assets will be managed once incapacitated. |
Estate Tax | As of 2019, federal taxes levied on assets of $11,400,000 when transfering an estate to heirs. |
Estate | Net worth of an individual. |
EU | European Union. |
Ex-Date | Determines if the buyer of a stock will recieve the dividend. |
Ex-Dividend | Buyers of stock before the ex-dividend date recieve the next dividend payment. Buyers on or after are not. |
Expansion | Grwoth period of an economic cycle. |
ETF | Also known as Exchange Traded Funds, are a basket of securities traded like equities on national exchanges, typically used to mimic specific indices or sectors. These funds are the new and improved form of mutual funds as ETFs arent limited to being traded once a day and their management and transaction costs are minimal in comparison. |
ETN | Exhange Traded Note |
F
FAANG | Acroynm for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google. |
Family Offices | Wealth management for ultra high net worth investors. |
FDIC Insured Account | Federal Deposit Insurance coporation that insures bank accounts if the bank fails. |
Fear & Greed Index | Created by CNNmoney to measure two investor emotions. |
Fed Balance Sheet | Assets and Liabilities held by Federal Reserve. |
Fed Funds Rate | Interest rate that banks charge eachother for lending excess cash overnight. |
FOMC | Federal Open Market Commitee |
Federal Reserce Bank | U.S. central bank. |
Fibonacci Retracement | Refers to levels of resistance and support on a chart while doing technical analysis. |
Fiduciary | Highest level of legal duty owed from one party to another and requires acting in the other parties best ineterst. |
FOK | Fill or Kill |
Financial Advisor | Provides financial adivse for compensation. |
Financial Analysis | Evaluating business for performance and suitability. |
Financial Engineering | Solving financial problems with math. |
FINRA | Financial Industry Regulatory Authority |
Financial Modeling | Summary of a companies assets, liabilities,and earnings to determine how future decisons and events will impact the company. |
Financial Statement Analysis | Used to understand the organizations health. |
FINRA Brokercheck | A free online database to help investors research financial workers and financial firms. |
FIFO | First In First Out. Accounting term. |
Fiscal Policy | The government's use of taxes and spending to promote economic growth and stability. |
Fiscal Year | A government or corporations's one year accounting period. |
Fixed Annuity | Insurance contract with a guaranteed rate of return. |
Fixed Income | Typically government or corporate bonds that pay out fixed interest or dividends. |
Floor Trader | Individual executing orders from the floor of the exchange. |
Form 13F | Quarterly filing by institutional investors with 100,000,000 or more AUM. |
Form ADV | Registration document submitted to SEC/State authorities disclosing AUM, fee arrangements, service offerings and investment strategy. |
Fortune 100 | Top 100 companies in the USA. |
Fortune 500 | Top 500 companies in the USA. |
Forward Dividend Yield | Estimated yearly dividend as a percentage of the current stock price. |
Forward P/E | Current share price divided by estimated future earnings per share. |
Fractional Share | Less than 1 full share of an quity stock. |
Freddie Mac | Provides liquidity in the mortgage market by making the flow of money available for mortgage lenders. While Freddie Mac is a government sponsored entity, it is owned by stockholders. |
FCF | Free Cash Flow |
Front-End Load | The sales or comissions charged upfront when purchasing a mutual fund. |
Front Office | Refers to the part of the company in charge of meeting with clients and handling external deapartments such as marketing and sales. |
Front Running | The illegal act of purhcasing securities prior to a large, non-public transactions. |
Fund Manager | The individual responsible for conducting trades wtihin a fund portoflio. |
Futures | A financial contract between a buyer and seller where the parties agree to buy/sell a security at a predetermined price at some time in the future. |
G
Gain | A positive return on a financial instrument. |
Gapping | Refers to when securities or indices open above or below the previous trading sessions closing price. |
GAAP | Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. |
Geometric Mean | The average of a data series that takes into account compounding. More widely used than arithmetic mean to caluclate investment portfolio return averages. |
Gift Tax | Taxes applied to money or property that is gifted to another person. Many exemptions surround this tax. |
Global Fund | A portfolio that invests in securities located in different countries around the planet. |
Global Macro | An actively managed portfolio that intends to capitalize on macroeconomic events around the world. |
Globalization | The increasing economic integration of national economies across the world through an increase of cross-border movement of goods, services, technologies, and capital. |
Goal-Based Investing | An investment stratgegy that bases decisions off of future aims. |
Going Concern | Term explaining a company's ability to generate enough income to avoid bankruptcy. |
Golden Cross | Refers to a technical pattern that occurs when a security's short term daily moving average crosses above its longer term saily moving average. Example: 50-day MA crossing above the 200-day MA. |
GTC | Good 'Til Canceled |
Government Bond | A debt instrument issued by a government entity. |
Government Shutdown | Occurs when non-essential government employees can no longer work due to lack of funding, which is typically caused when the federal budget is delayed approval. |
GPU | Graphics Processing Unit |
Great Depression | Describes the worst recession in the history of the modern world. This economical recession lasted 17 years, where it was kickstarted by the U.S. stock market crash in 1929 and ended after World War II in 1946. |
Green Investing | An investment stratgegy that focuses on soically responsible comapnies. |
Gross Income | Income recieved prior to paying taxes or other deductions. |
Gross Magin | Equal to revenue minus cost of goods sold. |
Gross Profit | Income recieved prior to paying taxes or other deductions. Equal to revenue minus cost of goods sold. |
G-7 | Annual monetary meeting held between the world's seven largest, most developed economies (U.S.A, France, Germany, Italy, U.K., Canada, and Japan). A.k.a "Group of Seven." |
G-20 | Annual monetary meeting held between twenty of the world's largest, most developed economies. A.k.a "Group of Twenty." |
Group Health Insurance | Health insurace that covers an entire group, typically a company health insurance plan. |
Growth Investing | An investment strategy that focuses on equities with high PE ratios and little to no dividend payouts. |
Growth Stock | A company with a high PE ratio and little to no dividend payouts. |
H
Hang Seng Index (HSI) | Index containing the aggregate of large-capitalization stocks in Hong Kong. |
Hard Asset | Refers to a physical asset that provides value. |
Hard Currency | Currencies that are freely traded and accepted in international commerce. |
Harmonic Mean | An average calculated by dividing total recorded observaitons by the recipocal of the numbers recorded. The reciprocal of the arithmetic mean. |
Harry Markowitz | American economicst best known for devloping the modern portfolio theory. |
Head and Shoulders Pattern | A 3-part bearish price action pattern identified on a chart as an initial run and decline (first shoulder), a second run [higher than the shoulders] and decline (Head), and a third run [same as first shoulder] and decline (second shoulder). |
Head of Household | Status on tax reutrn; in order to qualify an individual must pay for more than half of the household expenses, be considered unmarried, and have a qualifying child or dependent. |
Head Trader | Lead Portfolio/Fund Manager who has final decision when making trades and allocating assets. |
HIPAA | Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. |
HSA | Health Savings Account. |
Healthcare Sector | The sector that comprises of public healthcare companies. Healthcare companies provide the framework of the country's healthcare and medica system. |
Heatmap | A type of chart that displays the size and performance of securities within a portfolio, index, or sector. The chart will show size by the surface area of the rectanlge associated with the security's ticker and the color of the rectangle represents performance (darkest red - darkest green). |
Heckscher-Ohlin Model | An economic theory that explains how countries will choose to export the goods they can most efficiently produce. |
Hedge | A form of secuity on a portfolio, viewed as an "insurance policy." Hedges (long and short) come in many forms, including: derivative contracts, inverse ETFs, volatility ETFs, commodities, and cash. |
Hedge Fund | A limited partnership investing structure that utilizes leverage and other risk-on means to deliver high returns. |
Hedge Ratio | The ratio of the hedging instrument used compared to the asset being hedged. Hedge ratio of 1 = 100% hedged. |
Held-to-Maturity | Refers to holding a security the entire duration of its life. |
Heuristics | Mental shortcuts that help individuals simplify their decision making tasks. |
High Beta Index | Index comprising of securities with high Beta measures. Example: Russell 2000 |
High-Frequency Trading (HFT) | Trading method utilizing powerful computers that conudct many short-term, large transaction, algorithmic trades. |
High Minus Low (HML) | One of three factors in the Fama-French model that explains the value premium of a portfolio. |
High-Net-Worth-Individuals (HNWI) | Refers to an individual with $1 million or more in liquid assets. |
High-Yield Bond | A debt security that issues a high yield but has more credit risk associated. Also known as a junk bond. |
Highly Leveraged Transaction (HLT) | A transaction involving a large amount of borrowed funds. |
Histogram | A visual way to display continuous frequency data using bars. |
Historical Returns | Past returns of an index, portfolio, fund, or security. |
Historical Volatility | Past volatility of an index, portfolio, fund, or security. |
Hold | Neither buying or selling a security. |
Holding Company | A type of company that has a portfolio of other companies that it owns. |
Holding Period | The amount of time between buying and selling a security. |
Holdings | Refers to the securities allocated within a portfolio or fund. |
Home Equity | Value that is created through an appreication in home vlaue. |
Home Mortgage | A loan used to pay off majority of a home or property that is paid off over time with interest, using the property itself as collateral. |
HIBOR | Hong Kong Interbank Offered |
Horizontal Channel | Refers to the price action of a security or index that is trading between two horizontal, parallel points. |
Hostile Takeover | An acquisition in which the target company doesn't wish to be acquired. |
Hot IPO | An IPO that has gained a lot of attention from investors. |
Household Income | Income combined from all members in a household. |
Housing Bubble | Refers to the mortgage bubble created prior to 2008 when high-risk mortgages were being securitized at an unprecedented rate. |
Hyperdeflation | Very high rate of inflation, devaluing the local currency as prices of goods increase. |
Hyperinflation | Very high rate of deflation, causing extreme decreases in prices of goods. |
I
Ichimoku Cloud | A technical indicator used for technical analysis for trend direction, momentum, and support / resistance levels. |
Idiosyncratic Risk | Investment risk specific to the industry, sector, asset class, or individual comapny. |
Illiquid | An asset that cannot be easily transferred to cash. |
IOC Order | Immediate or Cancel |
Impeachment | The first step in the process for removing a high-ranking elected official from office. |
In-Service Withdrawal | When an employee takes a portion (usually the company match) or entire 401k and rolls it to an IRA penalty and tax free while still employed by the company. |
ITM | In The Money |
Index | Most commonly used index is the S&P 500. Intends to replicate a certain market. The S&P 500 is large cap. |
Index Fund | A mutual fund or ETF that attempts to mimick the index. |
Indicator | Statistical measurements used to evaluate trends. |
IRA | Individual Retirement Account |
Inflation | An increase in the general price level. This means that money loses its value over time so you cannot buy as much in the future with the income you receive today. |
Inheritance Tax | A tax the government places on the estate of a deceased person. |
IPO | Initial Public Offer |
Inorganic Growth | Occurs from stock buy-backs, mergers and aquisitions. |
Insider | An executive or individual privy to non-public company information. |
Institutional Investor | Examples typically include insurance companies, mutual funds, and pensions that are responsible for investing money for other people. |
Interest | The rate of return given to the borrower for having the privilege to borrow. Or it can mean the amount of ownership someone has within a company. |
IRR | Internal Rate of Return |
IRS | Internal Revenue Service |
International Investing | Used to increase diversification, it allows investors to spread risk into different geographies and foriegn corporations. |
IoT | Internet of Things |
Intraday Trading | Trading securities during regular business hours of the stock exchanges. |
Inventory | Refers to products available for sale and the materials used to produce those products. |
Inverse ETF | A basket of securities traded like equities on national exchanges, used to track moves inversely of index-based ETFs. These funds are typically used as hedging securities against a long portfolio. Also used for speculation purposes. |
Inverse Head and Shoulders | A technical pattern that forms in the price action movement of a position. It signals a bull market or when an investor would enter a long position. |
Investment | An asset purchased to appreciate in value or earn income. |
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 | Federal law defining responsibilites and roles of investment advisers. |
Investment Advisor | For a fee, this individual conducts research on securities and reccomends them to investors. |
IAR | Investment Advisor Representative |
Investment Analysis | Researching investments, companies, sectors, and trends. |
IB | Investment Bank |
Investment Company | Corporation that pools capital from investors and invests the pooled capital into investments. |
investment Company Act of 1940 | The federal law that regualtes investment comapnies. |
Investment Horizon | The time fram that an investor expects to hold the investments. |
Investment Income | The amount on monthly, quarterly or annnual income an investor expects to make from their investments. |
Investment Objective | Provides purpose for what the investment will do. I.e provide growth or income. |
Investment Policy Statement | Lays out the rules on how the portfolio manager will govern a clients account. |
Investment Strategy | Takes into consideration, goals, future needs, risk and guides the investor on how they should invest capital. |
Investment Vehicle | Assets offered by the investment industry to help investors move money from the present to the future, with the hope of increasing the value of their money. |
IRA Rollover | Most commonly, this occurs from a 401(k) into an IRA. It can also occur by consolidating multiple IRA's into one. |
Issuer | A company that sells its securities to recieve capital. |
J
JPY | Japanese Yen - a currency. |
Job Market | Informal market where workers find paying work and where employers find willing workers. |
Jobless Claims | Reported by the U.S. Department of Labor weekly to count the quantity of individuals filing for unemployment benefits. |
Jobs Growth | Reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to track the quantity of U.S. jobs created monthly. |
John Bogle | The godfather of mutual fund index investing, low cost investments, and Vanguard. |
Joint Account | Financial account shared by multiple individuals. |
JTIC | Joint Tenants in common |
JTWROS | Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship |
Jumbo CD | Usually a minimum of $100,000 and pays higher interest. |
Jumbo Loan | As of 2019, a mortgage loan of $484,350+. |
Junk Bond | Also referred to as a high-yield debt, is used to describe bonds that issue high yields and are rated below investment grade. |
K
Kelly School of Business | Business school of Indiana University. |
Keltner Channel | Techniocal indicator that is volatility based. |
Key Employee | Someone with ownership or is vital to decision-making. |
Key Person Insurance | Life insurance on the key employee. |
Keystone XL Pipeline | Transports oil from Canada to US refineries. |
KYC | Know Your Client. |
L
Labor Market | The job market. |
Labor Union | An organization responsible for the interests of its employees. |
Laggard | A security that is underperforming compared to its peers or benchmark. |
Lagging Indicator | an indicator that switches after a target variable has already occured. |
Large Cap | Describes companies with market capitalizaions greater than $10 Billion. |
Large Trader | SEC describes this person as someone who transacts $20,000,000 or 2,000,000 shares daily. |
LIFO | Last In First Out |
LTM | Last Twelve Months |
Law of Large Numbers | Statistical probability showing that as the sample size grows, the mean becomes more predictable. |
Leadership | Refers to a company's management. |
Lean Six Sigma | Management strategy to increase performance by reducing or eliminating defects and waste. |
Lean Startup | Explains the scientific methodology to approach creating a business. |
Legal Monopoly | A monopoly that is protected by the government. |
Legislative Risk | Investment risk related to government law. |
Level 1 Assets | Assets that can easily be assigned a fair market value. Includes: stocks, bonds, funds or other mark to markets assets. |
Level 2 Assets | Assets that can be assigned a fair market value with neither ease or over complexity. Values of these assets can be approximated using financial models. |
Level 3 Assets | Assets that are difficult to assign a fair vlaue to. The use of complex internal models provide |
Leverage | The use of borrowed money in order to magnify gains (or losses). |
Leverage Ratio | The amount of borrowed money over the amountn of equity put forth. |
Leveraged Buyback | Refers to when a comoany uses borrowed money to repurchase their own outsanding shares. |
Leveraged ETF | An ETF that uses borrowed funds to multpily the returns (or losses) of the securities or assets it is tracking. |
LFCF | Levered Free Cash Flow |
LIBOR Curve | The Lond Interbank Offered Rates shown graphically. |
Life Insurance | Insurance that pays out an amount when the insured person dies. |
Limit Down | A trading halt occurs for a stock or commodity when that spoecific security exceeds a specific percentage decline. |
Limit Order | An order to buy or sell a security at a specific price. |
LLC | Limited Liability Company |
LPOA | Limited Power Of Attorney |
Liquid Asset | Easily converted to cash. |
Liquid Market | Excess volume allowing for swift trade execution. |
Liquidity | Measure of trading volume or cash (or cash equivalents) available to a company. |
Liquidity Ratio | Determines how liquid a company's balance sheet is. Common liquidty ratios include: current ratio, quick ratio, and operating cash flow ratio. |
Listed Security | A security that is traded on an exchange. |
Living Trust | A legal document that is written while you are alive and places assets into a trust that is later transferred to a beneficiary upon death. |
Living Will | A statement that is written while you are alive stating your medical treatment wishes if you were not in the mental capacity to make decisions. |
Load | A fee paid in the form of comission to a broker when buying (or selling) a mutual fund. |
LCDS | Loan Credit Default Swaps |
LTC | Loan-To-Cost |
LTV | Labor Theory of Value |
Lobby | Typically a group, seeking to influence politicians or the public on an issue. |
LIBOR | London InterBank Offered Rate |
LSE | London Stock Exchange |
Long Hedge | A futures postion that locks in the price for a purchase. |
Long Put | Refers to buying a put option when anticipating an asset's market price will significantly drop. |
Long Straddle | A strategy in which a long call and long out are bought for the same security at the same expiration date and strike price. |
Long Term | Can describe any financial instrument with a maturity greater than 12 months. |
Long/Short Fund | A type of mutual or hedge fund that takes long and short positions in secuities in hopes for better returns. |
Long-Term Assets | Assets that are expected to last longer than 12 months. |
Long-Term Capital Gain or Loss | The gain or loss that results from an investment that has been owned for at least 12 months when sold . |
LTCM | Long-Term Capital Management. |
LTC | Long-Term Care |
Long-Term Debt | Debt with a maturity greater than 12 months. |
LEAPS | Long-Term Equity Anticipation Securities |
LTG | Long-Term Growth |
Long-Term Investments | Investments that are held for over 12 months. |
Long-Term Liabilities | Liabilities that are due over 12 months from the current time. |
Loss Carryforward | A technique used in accounting where losses from prior years are carried into future years net income to reduce future tax liability. |
Lost Decade | A term used to describe a decade of economic decline or recession that orginated from Japan's 1990s period of economic crisis. |
Low Volume Pullback | Price of a secuity moves in an opposite direction compared to the uptrend occuring on volumes lower than the average. |
Luxury Tax | A tax placed on goods or services that are not essential. |
M
M1 | The total value of the most liquid assets available in the economy. M1 = currency in circulation + checkable deposits + traveler's checks. |
M2 | The total value of teh most liquid assets plus any near assets (slightly less liquid). M2 = M1 + savings deposits + money market funds + certificates of deposit. |
Macro Environment | Refers to looking at the economy in its entirety, instead of individual sectors or regions. |
Macro Manager | A management style where a manager gives more freedom to the employees, with little supervision. |
Macroeconomic Factors | An impactful condition that affects a national economy or region (ex. unemployment). |
Main Street | In contrast to Wall street, this is a colloquial term that describes the small and independent businesses of America. |
Majority Shareholder | Control of at least 50% of shares in a company. |
Managed Account | An investment account that belongs to one investor, but is managed by a money manager. |
Management Fee | A fee charged by a portfolio manager for the services provided to clients; fees are percentage based of the assets under management. |
Margin | Represents the difference between the value of an investor's account and the amount borrowed from a brokerage firm to buy a security. |
Margin Acccount | A brokerage account where an investor is loaned money from a broker to buy assets. |
Margin Call | Refers to when a broker demands an investor to deposit funds into the margin account when the value of the account declines below the broker's minimum requirement. |
MR | The additional revenue gained from producing one more unit. |
Marginal Tax Rate | The tax bracket that your highhest dollar of income falls into, and therefore is the highest tax rate you pay. |
Market Cycle | Looks at the trends that result from different market environments during a period of the two most recent highs or lows of a benchmark. |
Market Efficiency | Market prices should reflect all relevant and publicly available information. |
Market Exposure | Measures the amount of money invested in a type of security, sector, or industry. |
Market Indicators | Techical indicators that attempts to forecast the market moves of stocks or financial index. |
Market Leader | A company which has the largest market share in an industry. |
Market Maker | A company or individual that continuously quotes prices and volumes of secuirties to keep a liquid market. |
Market Order | An order made by an investor, through the help of a broker, to buy or sell a security at the best price. |
Market Price | Represents the current price of a security. |
Market Research | A tool used to help a firm to know what an investor is seeking by conducting research directly with investors. |
Market Risk | The risk of losses due to the performace of an asset in a financial market. |
Market Sentiment | The attitude that investors have toward a market or individual stock. |
Market Share | The percentage of sales of a single company in an indsutry. |
Market Timing | A strategy of investing where the investor tries to beat the market by predicting the best time to buy or sell. |
Marketable Securities | Assets that are liquidable and can be converted to cash in a quick manner. |
MLP | Mastered Limited Partnership - a publicly traded limited partnership that utilizes the tax benefits of private partnerships and the liquidity of publicy traded companies. |
Matching Orders | An inverse order where one investor wishes to buy a certain volume of stock and another is seeking to sell the same volume at the same price. |
Maturity Date | The date when the principal amount of a debt is due. |
Median | Represents the middle number in a set of data; can be more useful than the average. |
Melt Up | An immense improvement in the value of a security when investors unexpectedly buy the securities and drive up the price with no reason behind it. |
Merger | An agreement that combines two current companies into one. |
M&A | Mergers and Aquisitions |
Micro Cap | Publicly traded company with capitalization between $50 and $300 million. |
Microeconomics | Economics that relate to individual decisions on a small scale. |
Mid-Cap | A term used to describe companies that have a market capitalization value between $2 and $10 billion. |
Middle Office | The department in a financial services company that overlooks risk and determines gains and losses . |
Midstream Oil Operations | 1 of the 3 major stages of oil and gas industy operations that involves transporting, storing, and marketing of oil and natural gas/liqu.ids |
Millennial | Anyone born between the years 1981 and 1996. |
Minority Interest | Ownership of less than 50% of a company or interprise. |
Mission Statement | Formal summary of the aims and values of a company. |
MPT | Modern Portfolio Theory - a theory that places great importance on the fact that risk is a crucial part for investors to create a portfolio that maximizes the expected return. |
Momentum Investing | Strategy that aims to profit off of continuing trends in the market. Buy securities that have had high returns over the last 3 to 12 months and sell ones with low returns. |
Monetary Policy | How governments control the supply of money and interest rates to influence econmic activity. |
Money | A liquid asset used as a medium of exchange to conduct transactions. |
Money Flow | Change in value of a secuirty on a trading day. Calculated by averaging the high price, low price and closing price and multiplying the result by the trading volume. |
Money Management | Built of expense tracking, investing, budgeting, banking, and evaluating taxes. |
Money Manager | An individual or firm that manages the portfolio of an investor or institutional investor. |
Money Market | Involves the trading of large volumes of short-term debt investments. |
Money Market Account | A deposit account that pays interest based on the rates of the money market. |
Money Market Yield | Reprsents the interest rate earned from investing in short-term and highly liquid securities. |
Money Order | Certificate backed by cash, issued by banking institutions. |
Money Supply | The amount of money in circulation. |
Monte Carlo Simulation | A model used to be more aware of the risk in prediction and forecasting for outcomes not easy to solve. |
Moore's Law | Law that says the speed and capability of computers can be expected to double every 2 years. |
Morbidity Rate | Frequency with which a disease appears in a population. |
Morningstar Inc. | A respected research firm based in Chicgo that provides investment analysis for funds, stock, and general market data. |
Morningstar Risk Rating | Ratings given by Morningstar to publucly traded ETFs and mutual funds. |
Morningstar Sustainability Rating | A rating that allows investors to see how roughly 20,000 mutual funds and ETFs are dealing with sustainable challenges. |
Morality Table | Table showing the rate of deaths occuring during aperiod of time. |
MA | A common technical tool used that smoothes out price data by creating constantly updated average prices. |
MACD | The moving average convergence divergence is a momentum indicator that follows trends to show the relationship between two moving averages of the price of a security. |
Multi-Asset Class | Combination of asset classes used as an investment. |
Multipler | A factor that causes changes in many other variables when it is changed. |
MSRB | The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is a rulemaking body that creates guidelines that should be followed for firms and banks when issuing and selling municipal securities. |
Mutual Fund | Investment program funded by shareholders that trades diversified holding and is professionally managed. |
Mutual Insurance Company | An insurance company owned by policyholders. |
N
Naked Call | Without owning the underlying security, the investor creates an option strategy selling the options. |
Naked Option | Without compromise ownership of the underlying security an option contract is sold from a party. |
Naked Put | With no underlying security assosciated, a put option is sold resulting in the security going up in price. |
Nasdaq 100 Index | 100 of the largest U.S companies that are most frequently traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange. |
Nasdaq Composite Index | A collection of over 2,500 equities listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. |
Nash Equilibrium | Created by John Forbes Nash Jr. is a game theory which involves two or more players where each player is aware of the equilibrium strategies of the other(s). |
National Bank | In order to be a National Bank the bank must be a member of the Federal Reserve and is also considered a commercial bank. |
National Currency | A medium of exchange isssued by a country's national bank. |
Natural Gas ETF | A basket of nautural gas securities traded like equities on national exchanges, used to track the natural gas sector. |
Natural Hedge | A management strategy that reduces the risk that can arise by investing in assets with performance that is negatively correlated. |
Natural Monoploy | Often the first supplier in a market, it is a monopoly that exsists due to large starting costs or economies that are powerful in conducting business in a specific market. |
NAV Return | In a mutual fund or ETF it is the change created over a specific period of time. |
Near Term | A specific period of time that is typically not far in the future. |
Near the Money | When the current market prrice of an underlying security is close to the strike price of an option contract. |
Neckline | Used by traders to determine correct points of placing orders is either a support or resistance level found in a head and shoulders pattern. |
Negative Arbitrage | When the borrower has an interest rate to pay on its debt that is higher than the rate used on the money to repay the debt. |
Negative Bond Yield | When the holder of a specific bond loses on the investment. |
Negative Correlation | Determined between two variables, is when the relationship occurs when one variable increases, the other will decrease. |
Negative Interest Rate | Occurs when lenders pay borrowers interest instead on traditional loans which is when the borrower pays the lender interest. |
Negative Return | A financial defecit or loss on returns. |
NAV | Net Asset Value |
Net Income | A company or business's income created by sales minus the expenses used to measure the profitability of a company. |
Net Loss | In a specific period of time, is when the expenses are more than the total revenue created. |
Net Present Value (NPV) | In a specific period of time, the difference created between the present cash inflows and outflows. |
Net Volume | In a specific period of time, it is an indicator calculated by the difference of a security's upstick volume by the downstick volume. |
Net Worth | The value of company based on the value of all of their assets minus any of their outstanding liabilities. |
Networking | Can occur between individuals, groups, or institutions is the action of exchanging information and developing contacts. |
New Home Sales | Published monthly by the United States Census Burea is the amount of sales from newly built homes, used as an economic indicator. |
NYMEX | New York Mercantile Exchange |
NYSE | New York Stock Exchange |
News Trader | Refers to an investor or trader who makes decisions based on current news events. |
No-Load Fund | Refers to any mutal fund that does not charge either comissions or a sales charge. |
Noise | Refers to any information that could mislead or confuse current trends. |
Nominal Interest Rate | Interest rate before adjusting for inflation. |
Nominal Rate of Return | Rate of return before adjusting for inflation. |
Non-Accredited Investor | Investor with net worth of under one million dollars or an annual salary less than 200,000 dollars per year (300,000 for marrid couples filing jointly). |
Non-Deliverable Forward (NDF) | Cash-settled short-term foward. |
Non-Deliverable Swap (NDS) | A swap of currencies that is not physically delivered. |
Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) | Legal contract that outlines confidential information. |
Non-Farm Payroll | A statistic that shows the number of people employed in maunfacturing, construction, and goods companies in the US. |
Non-Member Banks | Banks that are not members of the US federal reserve system. |
Non-Qualified Plan | Retirement savings plans that do not follow ERISA. |
Non-Qualifiying Investment | Investment that is not tax-exempt or tax-deffered. |
Normal Yield Curve | A curve where the short-term yield (ex: 2-year T-Note) is lower than the long-term yield (ex: 10-year T-Note). |
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) | An agreement used to promote trade among the US, Mexico, and Canada by eliminating most tariffs. |
North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) | An association with the responsibility to protect indivudals who purchase securities and investing advice. |
Notional Value | Nominal amount used to calculate payments. |
O
October Effect | The belief that stocks will decline in the month of October because of historical market collapses during the month. |
Odd Lot | An order amount for an asset less than its standard unit of trading; generally anything less than 100 shares of stock. |
Odd Lot Theory | A technical analysis theory that assumes small investors are incorrect and invidual investors will generate odd lot sales more often than others. |
Offer | A bid to purchase an asset. |
Offshore | Doing busniess abroad, usually because of lower costs. |
Open Market | A market with no barriers to enrty. |
Opening Bell | Signals the start of the trading day at an exchange. |
Opening Price | The price a security is trading at when the trading day begins. |
Opening Range | The high and low of a certain period once the exchange has opened ; typically the first 30 minutes of trading. |
OCF | Operating Cash Flow. The amount of cash that comes from a firms business operations. |
Operating Cost | Expenses that are tied to the operation of a business. |
Operating Expense | An expense a firm incurs through their day to day operations. |
Operating Income | Measures the amount of profit generated through business operations. |
Operating Revenue | Revenue generated from a firms day to day operations. |
Oprah Effect | Refers to how the endorsement of Oprah causes a boost in sales. |
Option Agreement | A contract between two parties, that gives one of them the right to buy/sell an asset to the other party at a specific date at a specific price. |
Options | The right to buy/sell a security at a specific strike price on or before a specific date. |
OCC | Office of the Comptroller of the Currency |
Order | Request to have something done. |
Ordinary Dividends | Share of firms profits paid out to shareholders. |
Ordinary Income | Income subject to standard taxes. |
Ordinary Loss | Loss realized when expenses are higher than revenue, fully deductible. |
Ordinary Shares | Grants a holder equity ownership in a firm. |
Organic Growth | Achieved by increasing output and using internal resources to expand. |
Organic Sales | The stream of revenue generated from business operations. |
OPEC | Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries |
OTC Pink | Marketplace for trading over the counter stocks. |
Other Current Liabilites | Liabilities to be paid within one year. |
Other Long-Term Liabilites | Liabilties to be paid over one year. |
OTM | Out of The Money |
Outperform | Gaining a higher annualized percentage gain (or lower annualized percentage loss) than the benchmark beind used. |
OTC | Over The Counter |
Overall Turnover | How quickly inventory is replaced. |
Overcapitalization | When a firm has more debt than liquid value of assets. |
Overheated Economy | When an economy's capacity cannot keep up with the demand. |
Overnight Rate | The interest rate used by banks to borrow overnight. |
Overnight Trading | Trading that takes place when major markets are closed. |
Overshoot | Going past a targeted point. |
Oversold | Selling more than targeted. |
Oversubscribed | Subscribing more than targeted. |
Oversupply | Supplying more than targeted. |
Overvalued | Valuing more than targeted. |
Overweight | Holding higher position weightings in specific securities compared to the benchmark. |
P
Paper Money | A country's standard currency that is produced from paper and can be used as a unit of exchange. |
Paper Trade | The practice of buying and selling without the risk of losing real money, typically used for training purposed. |
Par Value | Or Face Value; The sum of money that the corporation promises to pay at the bond's expiration. |
Parent Company | A corporation that owns more than 50% interest in another company. |
Parity | Evenly matched values between two or more things. |
Partnership | Exists when two or more persons operate a business a co-owners for profit. |
Passive Income | Income generated through cash dividends or premiums being recieved through written options. |
Passive Investing | No active trading within the portfolio. Avoids additional transaction costs by doing so. |
Patent | Property right granted to an inventor for new, useful, and non-obvious inventions. |
Patriot Act | Legislation passed after 9/11 to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States by enchancing law enforcement, surveillance, and investigatory tools. |
Payday Loan | A high interest short term loan based on the the debtors income and credit history. |
Payout Ratio | Percentage of earnings the corporation pays to its investors as dividends, this is usually shown as a certain percentage of the the total earnings of the corporation. |
Peer Group | Group of people that have similar interests and personalities. |
Pegging | When one company attempts to control their currency by tying its value to another countries currency. |
Penny Stock | The stock of a small company typically priced at less than 5$ per share. |
Pension Plan | Type of retirement plan in which the employer makes small investments to the plan to ensure a healthy financial future for their employees. the small investments are invested on behalf of the employee and those earnings are used in retirment. |
Per Capita GDP | A measure of the total output of a country that takes into account gross domestic product and divides it by the number of people in the country. |
Performance Management | A continuous process of identifying, measuring, and developing the performance of individuals and teams and aligning performance with the strategic goals of the organization. |
Perpetuity | A stream of equal cash flows that occur at regular intervals and last forever. |
Personal Finance | Process of planning your spending, financing, and investing in order to optimize your financial situation. |
Philanthropy | An individual or organization set up to provide help and raise money for those in need on a large scale. |
Pink Sheets | Reference to the listing service of the stocks that trade over the counter (OTC). typically, these socks are considered penny stocks. |
Point-and-Figure Chart | Financial chart that plots price changes in financial assets without accounting for time passage. |
Point of Sale | The time and place where a retail transaction was completed. |
Political Economy | Term used for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as the distribution of national income and wealth. |
Ponzi Scheme | An illegal investment scam that uses funds from subsequent investors to pay returns to earlier investors rather than distributing revenues generated from actual business. |
Pooled Funds | Financial funds made up of asssets from mady different investors. examples include hedge funds and mutual funds. |
Portfolio Management | The process of actively managing assets in a portfolio to achieve long term market success. |
Portfolio Turnover | The measure of how quickly assets within a portfolio are being bought and sold by the fund manager. |
Portfolio Variance | Risk measurement of how the portfolios returns fluctuate over time. |
Poverty Trap | An economic standard making it difficult for poor people to escape poverty by requiring a certain amount of capital to break from poverty. |
Power of Attorney | A legal document in which consent from a client is given for the attorney to act on behalf of the client and is authorized to make legal decisions. |
Pre-Market | Market trading that occurs between 8 - 9:30 am EST. |
Preferred Dividend | Dividends paid to preferred stockholders which have priority over common stockholders. |
Preferred Stock | Shares which pay fixed dividends and have dividend preference and liquidation preference over common stock. |
Premium | The pruchase of a financial instrument at more than face value. |
Present Value | A measurement of the future value of money or asset in todays dollars after being adjusted for inflation. |
Price Ceilings | Government imposed limit on the price charged for a product which is intended to protect the consumer. |
Price Controls | Government regulation of price opposed to being determined by the market. This is done by the government implementing price floors or price ceilings; which are maximum and minumum pricing levels. |
Price Level | Average current price of all goods produced throughout the economy. |
Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B Ratio) | Compare a firms market capitalization to its book value. |
Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E Ratio) | Relates a company's current share price to earnings per share. |
Primary Market | A market where new securities are listed in which economic actors can obtain debt or equity based financing. |
Prime Brokerage | Unique group of services the brokerages offer to clients. these services inlclude securities lending, leveraged trade executions and cash management. |
Prime Rate | The best available interest rate banks offer their most creditworthy customers. |
Private Equity | Type of fund that invests strictly in private companies or that engages in buyouts of public companies. |
Private Placement | The sale of assets to pre-chosen investors rather than being sold on the open market. another way a company can raise capital without an ipo. |
Private Sector | Sector of the economy that is managed by private individuals not the government. |
Producer Price Index (PPI) | An index tracking the prices of the goods bough and sold before the make it to the consumer retail level. |
Profit and Loss Statement (P&L) | Accounting statement created at the end of the financial quarter or year that indicates whether the company operated at a net loss or net gain. |
Profit Margin | Shows for each dollar of revenue, what percent was kept as profit for a corporation. |
Profitability Ratios | Financial measurement used to determine a business capacity to generate earnings when dealing with revenue, assets, balance sheets, operating costs etc. |
Prospectus | A written document, required by securities laws, that describes the security being sold, the financial operations of the the issuing corporation, and the investment risk attached to the security. |
Proxy | A document giving one person the authority to act for another, typically the power to vote for shares of common stock. |
Public Company | A company with shares traded on one or more national stock exchanges. |
Pullback | A reduction in price or demand. |
Pump-and-Dump Scheme | Illegal scheme to boost an owned stock's price through false or misleading statements, in order to sell the owned stock at the inflated price. |
Purchase Annual Percentage Rate (APR) | the interest that is added monthly on the outstanding credit owned on the credit card. |
Purchase Price | The price an investor pays for an investment. |
Purchasing Power | Amount of goods and services that can be purchased with a unit of currency. |
Put-Call Ratio | Market Indicator that shows investors information regarding trade volumes of a securities put to call option. |
Put Option | A contract that gives the buyer the right to short sell a security at a predtermined price within the stated time period. |
Pyramid Scheme | An illegal fraud scheme where illusionary products or profits are sold instead of real or legitimate products. The investments of subsequent investors are used to pay the promised returns of earlier investors. |
Q
Qualified Annuity | Retirement savings plan that has tax-deffered contributions. |
Qualified Charitable Organization | Non profit organization with a tax-exempt status. |
Qualified Distribution | Tax-free withdraw from a retirement plan. |
Qualified Dividend | Dividends that are taxed at the capital gains rate. |
QDII | Qualified domestic institutional investor. |
QDOT | Qualified domestic trust. |
QEP | Someone who is eligible to trade in complex funds. |
QFII | Qualified foreign institutional investor. |
Qualified Retirement Plan | A retirement plan that compounds interest tax-free. |
Qualified Trust | Stock bonus, profit sharing plan, pension established by an employer . |
Quality of Earnings | Income that is due to a higher amount of sales . |
Quant Fund | An investment fund that uses algorithims. |
QA | Quality assurance. |
Quant Fund | An investment fund that uses algorithimic trading methods. |
Quantitative Easing | Monetary policy where the federal bank buys back their bonds in order to put cash in the hands of firms and individuals. |
Quantitative Easing 2 | Second round of quantitative easing process. |
Quantitative Trading | Trading strategies using algorithims. |
Quantity Theory of Money | The price level of goods and services directly relates to the money in circulation. |
QoQ | Quarter on Quarter |
Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 | First quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter. |
QTD | Quater to Date |
Quarterly Revenue Growth | Increase in firms revenue from previous quarter. |
Quick Assets | Assets that can quickly be converted to cash. |
Quick Liquidity Ratio | (Quick assets)/ (net liabilities+reinsurance liabilities). |
Quick Ratio | (current assets - inventory) / (current liabilites). |
Quoted Price | A price at which someone will be willing to buy or sell a security, consists of a bid and ask. |
R
R-Squared | Denotes the level of correlation between data points. |
Rally | An reversal of poor performance in the stock market into a solid recovery. |
Random Walk Theory | Theory of how past movement of stocks cannot be used to predict future movement. |
Range | Difference between high and low prices of an asset over a fixed time frame. |
ROC | Return on Capital |
Rate of Return | Dollars earned over the investment period per dollar invested. |
Rating | A score given to something based on performance. |
Raw Materials | Materials in their natural state, before they are processed or used in manufacturing. |
Real Asset | Tangible assets used to produce goods and services. |
Real Economic Growth Rate | Rate at which GDP changes from year to year. |
REIT | Real Estate Investment Trust |
RELP | Real Estate Limited Partnership |
GDP | Gross Domestic Product |
Real Income | Income adjusted for inflation. |
Real Interest Rate | The nominal interest rate adjusted for expected or actual inflation. |
Real Rate of Return | Equals the nominal rate of return minus the inflation rate. |
Realized Gain | When an asset is sold higher than the original purchase price. |
Realized Loss | When an asset is sold lower than the original purchase price. |
Realized Yield | Represents the earned actual return of an investment during the holding period. |
Rebalancing | The realignment of the weights of assets in a portfolio to keep with desired risk levels. |
Recapitalization | The realignment of a companies equity and debt ratio to increase a corporations capital stability. |
Receivables Turnover Ratio | Ratio used to determine how effective a company is at collecting it's receivables owed. |
Recession | A decline in overall business activity. During a nationwide recession, a country suffers from a drop in buying, selling, and a rise in unemployment. |
Record date | The last date determined by a corporation by which shareholders are eligible to receive a company distribution. |
Red Herring | Preparatory prospectus filed by a company prior to the IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
Redemption | Repayment before the fixed income security before the. |
RIA | actor who manages and advises high wealth individuals on investments with in their portfolio. |
RR | An actor who works for a brokerage firm that represents investors assets. |
Reg D | Securities and Exchange Commission regulation of rules dealing with exemption from registration requirements. This allows companies to offer their securities without directly registering with the SEC. |
Reg SHO | SEC rules that monitor short sale practice. |
Reg T | Rules created by the Federal Reserves Boad of Governors dealing with the amount of credit firms are allowed to allocate to investors with the purpose of purchasing securities. |
Regulatory Risk | When the government creates new laws or changes existing laws that will greatly affect the fundamental aspects of a market, industry, or business. |
Reinvestment | When an investor purchases additional assets using funds that were generated from past investment return including dividends, interest and cash distributions. |
Relative Strength | The process of using momentum investing. This consists of purchasing assets that have a history of performing well in recent months realtive to their benchmark. |
RSI | Realtive Strength Index |
Repo | A tool used by the central bank when performing open market operations. Also, a type of short term lending for dealers in government securities. |
Research Analyst | A financial actor whose job is to develop and present reports on securities and for the firms use. |
R&D Expenses | Costs incurred by a corporation to develop new products or processes. |
Residual Income | The income generated by an actor after paying off necessities such as rent, utilties, food etc. |
Restricted Stock | Stock that is unregistered and is awarded to corporation ownership and corporate affiliates for compensation. |
Restructuring | When a company modifies certains financial aspects of their business to minimize financial stress. |
Retail Banking | Provision of services by a bank to the general public. |
Retail Investor | A non-professional investor who trades securities on traditional or online brokerage firms such as E-Trade or Robinhood. |
Retail Sales | Tracking consumer demand for consumer products by calculating the buying of goods over a predetermined period of time. |
Retained Earnings | Cumulative amount of net income over the life of the corporation minue the cumulative amount of dividends paid out to shareholders. |
Retirement Account | An account consisting of money stashed away for when an actor retires typically invested in mutual funds and ETFs. |
ROA | Return On Assets |
Return | The sum of the income and the capital gain or loss earned on an investment over a specified period of time. |
ROE | Return On Equity |
ROI | Return On Investment |
Revenue | The income generated from the sale of goods or services associated with the main operations of an organization before any costs or expenses are deducted. |
Revenue Per Employee | Measure of the efficiency of a business in generating revenues, which is computed as total revenue divided by number of employees. |
Revenue Per User (RPU) | Calculated as total subscription revenue divided by the number of subscribers. |
Reverse Stock Split | A stock split in which a firm's number of shares outstanding is reduced, making the shares outstanding more valuable. |
Revocable Beneficiary | A beneficiary to an insurance policy that does not have all the guranteed rights to compensation. Like a will, the owner of the policymaker has the right to determine who receives a stipulation, the terms of the policy or cancel the policy without the beneficiary's approval. |
Revocable Trust | A type of trust in which the terms can be rearranged or cancled by the original trust creator |
Revolving Credit | A situation in which credit is refilled up to a certain point as the actor continuously repays their debt offering the actor access to capital even with debt outstanding. |
Risk | The chance a financial outcome will differ from the expected outcome. |
Risk-Adjusted Return | An investment's total return when attributing the amount of risk that was associated with the production of that return. |
Risk-Averse | Type of investor who favors a low risk low reward strategy to higher risk higher reward associated investments. |
Risk-Free Asset | Type of asset that will proudce a future return without a possibility of loss. An example be purchasing United States Treasury bills. |
Risk-Free Rate of Return | hypothetical rate of return that an asset will proudce with no risk involved. Typically, the rate of return an investor would expect from a risk-free asset. |
Risk Management | The practice of determining potential future risks and taking precasutionary measures such as hedging to limit that risk. |
Risk Parity | Approach to investment strategy which focuses on allocation of risk. |
Risk Profile | An assessment of an individual's risk tolerance geared towards creating an optimal portfolio based on each client's risk tolerance. |
Risk-Return Tradeoff | Used to compare expected return of investment with the amount of risk taken. |
Risk-Reward Ratio | The award that can be earned for every dollar risked on an investment. |
Roadshow | Presentations made at several locations in the lead up to an initial public offering. |
Rolling Returns | Annualized average returns for a fixed time period. |
Rollover | The transfer of holdings in one retirement plan to another one while maintaining a tax exempt status. |
Roth 401(k) | Employer sponsored savings account that is funded by contributing post tax dollars up to the contribution limit. |
Roth IRA | An individually backed retirement account that allows participants to contribute post-tax income and take advantage of tax deferred growth on capital gains and dividends. Assets aren't taxed during distribution like a traditional IRA but if distributions are taken prior to 59.5, idnividuals will be assessed a 10% penalty (unless tax exceptions are met). as of 2019, the annual contribution limit is $6,000 and $7,000 for those 50 and older. as of 2020, jointly filing couples will be phased out of contributing at income levels ranging from $196,000 - $206,000; for single filers this range is $124,000 - $139,000. |
Round Lot | Describes a standard trading size for securities. A round lot is typically 100 shares or a larger share number that is divisible by 100. |
Routing Transit Number (RTN) | Nine digit bank code that appears on the bottom of checks that identifies the financial institution on which it was drawn. |
Royalty | A payment made to the legal owner of the property, patent, copyrighted work, or franchise by licensees who wish to make use of it in order to generate revenue. |
Rule of 72 | The number of years it takes for a certain amount to double in value is equal to 72 divided by its annual inerest rate. |
Russell 1000 Index | A stock market index that tracks the largest stocks contained in the Russell 3000 index. Similar to the S&P 500, it's designed to track large-cap (market cap exceeding $10 Billion) equities. |
Russell 2000 Index | A stock market index that tracks the smallest stocks contained in the Russell 3000 index. It's designed to track small and mid-capitalization equities. |
Russell 3000 Index | A stock market index that is designed to track the entire U.S. equity market. It is a market-capitalization weighted index made up of the 3,000 largest equities traded in the United States. |
S
S-Corporation | A corporation with a maximum of 100 shareholders that is taxed as a partnership. |
S&P 500 Index | The most widely used benchmark in the asset management industry, It comprises of the 500 largest companies traded on U.S. exchanges. |
Safe Haven | A type of investment where there is belief that it will either increase or retain its value when the market is unstable. |
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002 | A law passed by us congress, in response to the fradulent acts done by enron, that helps to protect investors from corporations producing fraudulent reports. |
Scalping | Trading style specializing in taking profits on small pirce changes of stocks. |
Scarcity | Economic condition that exists in society where there are not enough resources to satisfy people's wants/needs. |
Schedule 13D | A form filed with the SEC when there is an acquisition of at least 5% of a company's shares. |
Schedule 13G | A condensed version of the schedule 13d form that can be filed if the investor satisfies an exemption. |
Schedule A | A form that is optional for taxpayers who prefer to itemize their tax deductions instead of a standard deduction. |
Schedule K-1 | A tax document made for business partners or s corporation shareholders that reports their incomes, losses, and dividends. |
SEC Yield | A standard yield calculation made by the sec that compares bond funds with the effective interest rate an investor may potentially earn in the future. |
Sector | A part of a market that shares similar characterisitcs. |
Securities Act of 1933 | A law passed after the stock market crash of 1929 that aimed to create transparency and reduce fraudulent activities in securities so investors were more protected. |
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) | Regulates the U.S. security markets, protects investors from fraud or misleading information, and facilitates capital information. |
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 | Seeks to prevent fraud in the buying or sale of a security on the secondary market. |
Securitization | The process of pooling loans/debts together into one package which produces a single cash flow, delivered from the cash flows of the loans that make up a new security. |
Security | Stocks, bonds, and other such financial instruments bought and sold by investors. |
Security Market Line (SML) | A line that demonstrates the relationship between risk and returns of a security that was derived from the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). |
Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) | An organization that has the ability to protect its investors by setting its own regulations and promoting ethical behaviors. |
Sell in May and Go Away | A warning to investors that suggests to divest their holdings in may and look to reinvest in november. |
Sell-Side | The part of the financial industry that deals with the creating, marketing, and selling financial instruments. |
Sensitivity Analysis | Refers to changing various assumptions in a financial model to see the affect it has on uncertainty. |
Series 6 | A securities license that allows the individual to register with a firm and be able to sell mutual funds, insurance, and annuities. |
Series 7 | A securities license that allows the individual to sell all securities with the exception of commodities and futures. |
Series 24 | A securities license that allows the individual to manage and administer a branch at a brokerage firm. |
Series 63 | A securities license that allows the individual to take orders in a certain state for any type of security and must uphold ethical and fiduciary obligations. |
Series 65 | A securities license that qualifies an individual to act as an investment advisor in the US. |
Series 66 | A securities license that qualifies an individual to act as an investment advisor or securities agent. |
Service Sector | The largest sector in the global economy that is comprised of businesses that provide a service. |
Shadow Banking System | Financial intermediaries that facilitate the creation of credit across the world but are not subject to regulatory oversight. |
Share Repurchase | When a firm buys back its own shares from the secondary market. |
Shareholder | A person or company who have invested in a corporation and own some of its shares of stock. |
Shareholder Equity (SE) | Someone who is able to trade in complex funds . |
Sharehoder Value | Value that comes from equity ownership in a firm. |
Shares | Units of ownership in a firm. |
Sharpe Ratio | Risk adjusted return used to measure portfolio performance. Instead of comparing returns to the market and using beta as the risk measure, it shows portfolio returns that are excess of the risk-free-rate (1-month Treasury bill) and divides that return by the portfolio’s standard deviation. |
Shell Corporation | An firm that exists only on paper. |
Short Covering | Securities that are sold short to hedge against upward movement. |
Short Interest | Number of days it takes for short sellers to cover positions. |
Short Sale | A sale where the income of selling the real estate is short of the debt against the property. |
Short Squeeze | Happens when a lack of supply and excess demand of stock occurs. |
Short-Term Investment | Temporary investment that can easily be converted to cash or less than 1 year holding period. |
Silk Route | A series of ancient trade routes in the east. |
Simple Interest | Quick way of calculating interest payment. |
Simple Moving Average (SMA) | Adding recent prices and dividing by number of days. |
Skin in the Game | Being involved in something to achieve a goal. |
Small Caps | Firm with market cap under one billion. |
Social Security | A federal program that taxes workers in order to provide income to them once they are of retirement age. |
Social Security Number (SSN) | A nine digit number assigned to U.S. citizens in order to track income. |
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) | Software distribution model where a third party makes applications avaliable to consumers over the internet. |
Sole Proprietorship | A form of business that is owned and operated by one person. |
Solvency | A measure of a firm or bank's long term financial feasibility. |
Sortino Ratio | Contrasted from the sharpe ratio because it only takes into consideration the downside deviation in order to look at the negative volatility of an asset. |
Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) | An investment fund owned by the state and is funded from the central bank reserves and is used for the benefit of the economy and citizens . |
Speculation | Act of buying stocks at great risk with the anticipation that the price will rise. |
Spiders (SPDR) | Standard and poors depository receipt. |
Spinoff | The creation of an independent firm through selling or distributing new shares of an existing business. |
Spot Exchange Rate | The current price of a foriegen currency. |
Spot Market | Segment of the market where assets bought and sold immediately. |
Spot Price | Current price of an asset. |
Spreads | The difference between two figures. |
Stagflation | An economic cycle where there is a high rate of both inflation and stagnation. |
Stagnation | A period of time where there is negligible or no economic growth in an economy. |
Stakeholder | People that are involved with or are affected by a business. |
Standard & Poor's (S&P) | Stock market index that measures peformance of the 500 largest public firms in US. |
Standard Deviation | Used to show how returns over a time period differ from the average (CAGR). A lower standard deviation means most of the returns are closer to the CAGR, and more spread out for a high standard deviation. Since S.O.G’s standard deviation is lower than the market, the portfolio is deemed less risky because the returns are expected to be more in line with the CAGR. |
Stock | A type of investment that represents an ownership share in a company. |
Stock Compensation | A form of compensation in which employees are awarded stock. |
Stock Dividend | A payment made by a firm to its owners in the form of stock. |
Stock ETF | A basket of stocks traded like equities on national exchanges, used to track stock sectors, sub-sectors, or entire stock indices. |
Stock Market | An exchange where equities are traded |
Stock Market Crash | A sudden a rapid decline in the prices of most stocks on an exchange. |
Stock Option | The option to purchase shares at a strike price. |
Stock Quote | The price of a stock. |
Stock Split | An increase in a firm's shares outstanding without any change in owner's equity. This is done by companies to increase the liquidity of the shares. |
Stock Symbol | Also referred to a the ticker, is a stock's abverviated trading symbol name. |
Stockbroker | A professional who helps individuals buys and sell securities. |
Stockholder Equity | The assets in a business after liabilities have been paid . |
Stop-Limit Order | An order to buy/sell a stock at the stop price. |
Stop-Loss Order | Buy/sell a stock once it reaches a certain price. |
Stop Order | An order triggered to buy or sell a security when the price moves to a certain point . |
Straddle | An options strategy where there is the purchase of a put and call option on the same underlying security at the same strike price with the same expiration date. |
SWOT analysis | A tool used to analyze a company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the market place.. |
Stress Testing | A technique where banks and investment portfolios are tested in a computer simulation to prepare for potential economic situations . |
Strike Price | The price that is set for a derivative contract to be bought or sold. |
Structured Note | A unique debt obligation that incorporates a derivative component which adjusts the risk return profile of a security . |
Subordinated Debt | An unsecured loan or bond that won't be paid until senior debtors are repaid in full first . |
Subprime Loan | A loan that is offered at higher interest rate than the prime rate for those who do not qualify for prime loans. |
Subprime Mortgage | Refers to an individual who is a credit risk when taking out a loan because of thier below-average credit score; results in a higher interest rate to compensate the risk that the lender is taking. |
Supply | The amount of products and services that are offered for sale at all possible prices that could prevail in the market. |
Supply Chain | The flow of products and services from raw materials to end users. |
Support | A price below the current market, through which a stock's price tends not to fall below. |
Sustainability | Prosperity for all humanity of the present and for future generations. |
Swing Trading | Attempts to capture short term gains using technical analysis. |
Syndicate | A group of two or more corporations who combine their finanical resources in order to achieve certain investment objectives. |
Systemic Risk | Risk that affects the entire financial market or system, and not just specific participants. |
T
T+1, T+2, T+3 | Settlement date of transactions of securities. |
T-Account | Used to map out liabilites and equity in left side of chart and assets on right side of chart. |
Tactical Asset Allocation | Investment style where assets bonds, stocks, and cash are actively changed. |
Takeover | The purchase of one company by another by acquiring a controlling interest in its voting shares. |
Tangible Asset | Assets that have physical form. |
Target-Date Fund | A fund where the allocation of funds becomes more conservative as target date gets closer. |
Tariff | Tax levied against on imports to help protect a nation's industries and labor from foriegn competition. It can also be used to generate revenue. |
Tax Benefit | Any tax law that provides an individual the opportunity to reduce their tax bill by meeting certain eligibility requirements. |
Tax Break | Government offering a reduction of taxes for an affected collection of individuals. |
Tax Credit | An amount of money that can be subtracted from taxes owed by individuals. |
Tax Deferred | When account earnings such as interest or capital gains are not taxed until they are withdrawn upon a certain date. |
Tax Exempt | Income realized during the year that is excluded from gross income and is never taxed. |
Tax Planning | The structuring of transactions to reduce tax costs or to increase tax savings. |
Tax Rate | Determines the level of taxes imposed on the tax base for person or business in the form of a percentage. |
Tax Refund | Money given back to individuals when their total of previous tax payments and applicable credits is more than the tax they owe. |
Tax Season | Time of year from early January to April 15th where individuals file their personal tax returns. |
Tax Shield | Reduction in total tax liability resulting from a tax deductible expense. |
Technical Analysis | Analysis using indicatiors of price action and algorithims. |
Technical Indicator | Signals that are used to make buy/sell decisions. |
Technology Sector | The sector that is based in technology firms. |
Tender Offer | A type of public takeover bid offering to buy some or all of shareholder's shares in a firm. |
Term Loan | A bank loan for a specifed amount that has a specified repayment timeline with a fixed or floating interest rate. |
Thrift Bank | A small savings institution that mainly just accepts deposits and originates home mortgages. |
Time Decay | Meausre of decline in value of asset over time. |
Time Deposit | An interest bearing bank account with a set date of maturity. |
Time Horizon | The time period an individual expects to hold an investment. |
Time Value of Money (TVM) | A relationship between time and money, that a dollar received today is wirth more than a dollar promised at some time in the future due to its position to work. |
Too Big to Fail | Very large institutions that if they failed would have detrimental trickle down effect on many others |
Top Line | Reference to gross revenue figures a firm reports. |
Top-Down Investing | Looking at macro picture then looking at micro picture. |
Total Bond Fund | Section of bond market replicated through etf. |
Total Enterprise Value (TEV) | Valuation measurement used to compare debt. |
Total Expense Ration (TER) | Total cost of a fund to the investor. |
Total Return | The total percentage of return on assets. |
Tracker Fund | An index fund that tracks a wide market index. |
Tracking Error | The divergence between price behavior of a fund and the specific index, commoodity, or security it is tracking. |
Trade | The action of trasnferring goods or services between countries. |
Trade Deficit | Occurs when a country imports more than they export. |
Trade Surplus | Occurs when a country exports more than they import. |
Trade War | When a nation imposes tarrifs or quotas on imports and foriegn countries relatiate with similar forms of trade protectionism. |
Trader | A person who actively buys and sells financial instruments. |
Trading Halt | Occurs when finra suspends the trading of one or multiple securities on an exchange. typically occurs prior to a major news outbreak that will greatly affect the price of the security. |
Trading Platform | A marketplace where transactions can be executed. |
Trading Strategy | A specific method a trader uses to base their trading decisions. common active trading strategies include: day trading, position trading, swing trading, scalping. |
Traditional IRA | An individually backed retirement account that allows participants to contribute pre-tax dollar amounts and take advantage of tax deferred growth on capital gains and dividends. assets are only taxed during distribution where individual will be taxed at their current income tax rate after age 59.5. if distributions are taken prior to 59.5, idnividuals will be taxed at their current income tax rate plus a 10% penalty (unless tax exceptions are met). required minimum distributions occur at age 72. as of 2019, the annual contribution limit is $6,000 and $7,000 for those 50 and older. |
Trailing 12 Months | A marketplace where transactions can be executed. |
Transaction Costs | Any costs of going through with an exchange transaction. |
Transaction Fees | A expense a business must pay every time it processes a payment. |
Transparency | When required and relevant financial information is easily accessible by the investor. |
Transportation Sector | Deals with the movement of products and people. |
Traunch | A payment to be paid out over a period of time. |
Treasury Bills | Short term us government debt obligation. |
Treasury Bonds | Long term us government debt obligation. |
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) | A US treasury security that is indexed to inflation, protecting investors from inflation risk. |
Treasury Notes | One to ten year us government debt obligation. |
Treasury Stock | The percentage of shares that a firm holds in its own treasury. |
Treasury Yield | The yield on a treasury bill/note/bond. |
Trend | The direction in which something is heading toward. |
Trendine | A visual representation that draws lines from support and resistance levels. |
Treynor Ratio | How much excess return was gained from the extra risk taken on. |
Triple Bottom | A bullish pattern in a chart which shows three equal lows and then a breakout above the resistance level. |
Triple Top | Used to predict revesal in momentum in price of security. |
Trough | Local minimum of business cycle. |
Troy Ounce | System of units of mass that is primarily used today in the precious metals industry.. |
Trust | A three party system involving the trustor, trustee, and beneficiary. |
Turnover | How fast a business does its operations. |
Turnover Ratio | Percentage of a portfolio that are replaced annually. |
U
U-Shaped Recovery | Follwing an economic correction, this recovery typically consoldiates in the trough before prices recover upward, resmbling a "U" on the chart. |
Uncle Sam | A figure used to represent the United States federal government. |
Underlying | Refers to the asset, debt, or commodity that is used to determine a derivatives price. |
Underperform | When an investment experiences lesser gains or greater losses than the benchmark index (ex. S&P 500). |
Undervalued | A term used to describe a security priced at a discount compared to it's intrinsic value. |
Underwriter | An entity, typically an investment bank, that evaluates another entity's risk for a fee. |
Unemployment | Describes when a person actively seeking employment is unable to find work. Used as a measure of economic health. |
Uniform Gifts to Minors Act (UGMA) | An act allowing individuals to transfer securities into the name of their underage beneificiary, free of taxes, up to a specific limit. Account is managed by an adult custodian up until the minor reaches the age limit at which point they take control of the account. |
Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) | The extension act to the UGMA. Allows individuals to transfer assets other than securities including: money, patents, royalties, real estate, and fine art. These transfers shield the minor from taxes up to a specific limit. |
Unit Investment Trust (UIT) | An investment company that buys and holds a portfolio of securities where investors can buy redeemable units for a specific period of time. |
United Nations (UN) | International group formed after World War II with the intent to ease political and economic tensions between member nations. 193 out of the 195 countries on the planet are current UN member states. |
Unlimited Liability | Refers to the uncapped liability and full legal responsibility imposed on business owners and specific partners. |
Unlimited Risk | Refers to the potential uncapped losses an investor can incurr during a trade or investment. An example of unlimited risk would be a short sale on an equity security. |
Unlisted Security | A security that is not traded on national exchanges due to not meeting listing requirements. Instead, these securities can be traded over-the-counter (OTC). |
Unrealized Gain | Gains that are are shown in an account prior to being capitalized. |
Unrealized Loss | Losses that are are shown in an account prior to being capitalized. |
Unsecured Debt | Debt that does not have collateral backing. If the borrower defaults, the lender has a chance to lose their entire investment. |
Unsecured Loan | Loan that does not have collateral backing and is instead created based off teh borrowerss creditworthiness. |
Upgrade | Refers to an increased analyst grade given to a specific security. |
Upside/Downside Ratio | Total market index momentum ratio indicated by advancing securities volume and declining securities volume. The ratio is calculated by dividing the total advancing securities volume by declining securities volume. |
Uptick | The increase in price of a financial security. |
Uptrend | A trend that describes an increase in a financial isntrument's price. |
U.S. Treasury | Created in 1789, the U.S. Treasury is responsible for controlling monetary and financial policy in the country. Those specific responsibilities include issuing Treasury securities (T-Bills, T-Notes, T-Bonds), printing dollars, and overseeing U.S. Banks and the Federal Reserve. |
Utlities Sector | The sector that comprises of utility comapanies. Utility companies provide basic amentities such as electricity, water, and sewage. This sector is viewed as a relatively safe equity investment as these companies offer necessary needs along with issuing high dividends comapred to other sectors. |
V
V-Shaped Recovery | Type of market recession and recovery that immitates a "V" on the price chart. This recovery is typically an aggressive rise in prices following a sharp decline. |
Valuation | The process of analyzing a company to find its current or projected worth. |
Value Investing | An investment strategy that suggests purchasing stocks that appear to be undervalued (trading at a price less than the book value of the company). |
Value Stock | A stock that is suggested to be undervalued, trading at a price less than the fundamentals associated with the company (dividends, earnings, etc.). |
Vanilla Strategy | An investment strategy that stays relatively basic by passively investing in broadly diversified index-linked ETFs. |
Variable Annuity | A type of annuity contract that bases the performance on the value of the underlying portfolio of assets or funds. |
Variable Interest Rate | A type of interest rate that fluctuates due to the value of the underlying benchmark interest rate changing over time. |
Variable Life Insurance | A permanent life insurance policy that contains separate accounts including various investment instruments and financial securities. |
Variance Equation | Statistical measure showing the spread between the recorded numbers in a data set, denoted by σ^2. |
Venture Capitalist (VC) | Companies that focus on providing financing to small start-up companies believing in their long-term growth potential. |
Vesting | In legal terms vesting describes the right to earn a present or future payment, benefit, or asset. |
VIX (CBOE Volatility Index) | Derived from price inputs from the equity benchmark, the S&P 500, the VIX measure the 30-day forward outlook of market volatility. |
Volatility | Interprets the risk of a security or index by measuring dispersions of returns. Typically shown by variance or standard deviation. |
Volume | The amount of shares exchanged during a specific time frame. |
Voting Shares | Shares that allow stockholders the right to vote on coroprate policy decisions. |
W
W.P. Carey School of Business | The Arizona State University Business School. Highly ranked domestically and internationally. |
Wash Sale | Occurs when an investor realizes a losing security at the end of the calendar year to claim a tax deduction on capital losses, then repurchases the same security at the start of the new year. |
Watchlist | A specific list of securities used for monitoring potential trading/investing opportunities. |
Weak Dollar | Refers to the value decline of the US Dollar compared to foreign currencies. |
Wealth | Measures an individual's total assets (physical and intangible) minus all liabilities. |
Wealth Management | A services provided by investment advisors to assist with portfolio management, financial planning, estate planning, as well as an array of other financial advisory services. |
Weight | A percentage that shows the amount of an asset held in a specific portfolio. |
Will | A.K.A. "Last Will and Testament" is a legal document declaring an individual's disbursement of assets post-mortem. |
William F. Sharpe | An economist and 1990 Nobel Prize winner. He has been attributed for developing the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) which describes the comparison between a portfolio's return compared to the market (systematic) risk. He is also know for creating the Sharpe Ratio which is used to describe a portfolio's risk-adjusted returns (see in definition above). |
Win/Loss Ratio | This ratio is calculated as winning trades divided by losing trades over a specific time period. This can be applied to unrealized and realized trades. |
Withdrawal | The removal of funds from a bank account, savings, pension, brokerage, trust, or retirement account. |
Withholding | The partial allocation of an employee's income used to pay federal, state, or local taxes. Withholding reduces the annual tax burden. |
World Bank | Created in 1944 during the Bretton Woods Conference with the purpose to support and aid developing countries with their economic advancement. |
Write-Off | An accounting measure used to reduce the value of an asset while increasing a liability account, decreasing the annual tax bill. |
X
Y
Year to Date (YTD) | The time period between the first day of the calendar (or fiscal) year and the current date. |
Year-Over-Year (YOY) | Term used to describe the comparison of percentage or price changes on an annualized basis. |
Yield | Realized gains generated on an investment over a specific time horizon. |
Yield Curve | A yield curve is a line that plots bond yields holding the same credit rating but different time horizons. I.E. the Treasury yield curve ranging from the 1-month T-Bill to the 30-year T-Bond. |
Yield to Maturity (YTM) | The total expected return on a bond if held to maturity. |
Z
Zone of Resistance | Refers to a forecasted zone where a security's price will rise to that predicted level. |
Zone of Support | Refers to a forecasted zone where a security's price will fall to that predicted level. |
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Alpha Squared Capital is a Registered Investment Adviser. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Alpha Squared Capital and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. This website is solely for informational purposes. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital. No advice may be rendered by Alpha Squared Capital unless a client service agreement is in place.