Industry WIKI

A dual-currency note (DC) pays coupons in the investor's domestic currency with the notional in the issuer's domestic currency. A reverse dual-currency note (RDC) is a note which pays a foreign interest rate in the investor's domestic currency. A power reverse dual-currency note (PRDC) is a structured product where an investor is seeking a better return and a borrower a lower rate by tak

Private credit is an aspect of the shadow banking system involving assets defined by non-bank lending where the debt is not issued or traded on the public markets. "Private credit" can also be referred to as "direct lending" or "private lending". It is a subset of "alternative credit". Estimations of the global private credit industry's size vary; as of April 2024, the International Mone

In finance, the Private Equity Secondary Market (also often called Private Equity Secondaries or Secondaries) refers to the buying and selling of pre-existing investor commitments to private equity and other alternative investment funds or the underlying private equity assets (e.g., credit secondaries). Unlike public markets, private-equity interests lack an established trading exchange,

In economics, the profit motive is the motivation of firms that operate so as to maximize their profits. Mainstream microeconomic theory posits that the ultimate goal of a business is "to make money" - not in the sense of increasing the firm's stock of means of payment (which is usually kept to a necessary minimum because means of payment incur costs, i.e. interest or foregone yields), b

A property derivative is a financial derivative whose value is derived from the value of an underlying real estate asset. In practice, because individual real estate assets fall victim to market inefficiencies and are hard to accurately price, property derivative contracts are typically written based on a real estate property index. In turn, the real estate property index attempts to a

In financial mathematics, the put–call parity defines a relationship between the price of a European call option and European put option, both with the identical strike price and expiry, namely that a portfolio of a long call option and a short put option is equivalent to (and hence has the same value as) a single forward contract at this strike price and expiry. This is because if the p

A ratio spread or frontspread is a multi-leg options position. Like a vertical, the ratio spread involves buying and selling options on the same underlying security with different strike prices and the same expiration date. In this spread, the number of option contracts sold is not equal to a number of contracts bought. An unequal number of options contracts gives this spread certain u

A real estate derivative is a financial instrument whose value is based on the price of real estate. The core uses for real estate derivatives are: hedging positions, pre-investing assets and re-allocating a portfolio. The major products within real estate derivatives are: swaps, futures contracts, options (calls and puts) and structured products. Each of these products can use a differ

A repurchase agreement, also known as a repo, RP, or sale and repurchase agreement, is a form of secured short-term borrowing, usually, though not always, using government securities as collateral. A contracting party sells a security to a lender and, by agreement between the two parties, repurchases the security back shortly afterwards, at a slightly higher contracted price. The differe

A reverse convertible security is a type of convertible security where a bond or short-term note can be converted to cash, debt or equity at a set date by the issuer based on an underlying stock. In effect it is a type of option on the maturity date where the bond can be converted to shares or cash. For the investor they get the advantage of a steady stream of income due to the payment o

A risk-free bond is a theoretical bond that repays interest and principal with absolute certainty. The rate of return would be the risk-free interest rate. It is primary security, which pays off 1 unit no matter state of economy is realized at time

The risk-free rate of return, usually shortened to the risk-free rate, is the rate of return of a hypothetical investment with scheduled payments over a fixed period of time that is assumed to meet all payment obligations.

Securities market participants in the United States include corporations and governments issuing securities, persons and corporations buying and selling a security, the broker-dealers and exchanges which facilitate such trading, banks which safe keep assets, and regulators who monitor the markets' activities. Investors buy and sell through broker-dealers and have their assets retained b

Securitization is the financial practice of pooling contractual debt obligations (such as residential mortgages, commercial mortgages, auto loans, or credit card debt) and selling their associated cash flows to investors. The financial instruments sold in such transactions are known as securities, types of which include bonds, pass-through securities, and collateralized debt obligations

A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any form of financial instrument, even though the underlying legal and regulatory regime may not have such a broad definition. In some jurisdictions the

In law and finance, a security interest is a legal right that a secured party has over secured assets. Security interests most often arise where a debtor grants an interest over collateral to a creditor to secure the loan, such that the creditor will have enforceable rights in the event of the debtor's default or non-performance.

Settlement is the "final step in the transfer of ownership involving the physical exchange of securities or payment". After settlement, the obligations of all the parties have been discharged and the transaction is considered complete.

The shadow banking system is the collection of non-bank financial intermediaries (NBFIs), or nondepository financial institutions (NDFIs) that legally provide services similar to traditional commercial banks but outside normal banking regulations. S&P Global estimates that, at end-2022, shadow banking held about $63 trillion in financial assets in major jurisdictions around the world, re

Short-term European paper (STEP) is a short-term financing instrument and investment tool, and also a tool for the European Union to align the market standards and practices to promote the integration of the European market. The EU has accepted the STEP market as a non-regulated market due to collateral purposes; meanwhile, this will not influence the existing national and European legis

Single-price auctions are a pricing method in securities auctions that give all purchasers of an issue the same purchase price. They can be perceived as modified Dutch auctions. This method has been used since 1992 when it debuted as an experiment of the U.S. Treasury for all auctions of 2-year and 5-year notes. There is only one main difference between the multiple-price system and the

In finance, a single-stock future (SSF) is a type of futures contract between two parties to exchange a specified number of stocks in a company for a price agreed today (the futures price or the strike price) with delivery occurring at a specified future date, the delivery date. The contracts can be later traded on a futures exchange.

In finance and the stock market, slippage is the difference between the execution price expected by the trader (usually the one indicated by the trading software) and the one at which the transaction actually happens. Market impact, liquidity, and frictional costs may contribute to slippage.

Social trading is a form of investing that allows investors to observe the trading behavior of their peers and expert traders. The primary objective is to follow their investment strategies using copy trading or mirror trading. Social trading requires little or no knowledge about financial markets.

In finance, a spot contract, spot transaction, or simply spot, is a contract of buying or selling a commodity, security or currency for immediate settlement (payment and delivery) on the spot date, which is normally two business days after the trade date. The settlement price (or rate) is called spot price (or spot rate). A spot contract is in contrast with a forward contract or futures

In finance, a spread option is a type of option where the payoff is based on the difference in price between two underlying assets. For example, the two assets could be crude oil and heating oil; trading such an option might be of interest to oil refineries, whose profits are a function of the difference between these two prices. Spread options are generally traded over the counter, rath

In statistics, stochastic volatility models are those in which the variance of a stochastic process is itself randomly distributed. They are used in the field of mathematical finance to evaluate derivative securities, such as options. The name derives from the models' treatment of the underlying security's volatility as a random process, governed by state variables such as the price leve

In finance, a stock market index future is a cash-settled futures contract on the value of a particular stock market index. The turnover for the global market in exchange-traded equity index futures is notionally valued, for 2008, by the Bank for International Settlements at US$130 trillion.

In finance, a strangle is an options strategy involving the purchase or sale of two options, allowing the holder to profit based on how much the price of the underlying security moves, with a neutral exposure to the direction of price movement. A strangle consists of one call and one put with the same expiry and underlying but different strike prices. Typically the call has a higher stri

In finance, the strike price (or exercise price) of an option is a fixed price at which the owner of the option can buy (in the case of a call), or sell (in the case of a put), the underlying security or commodity. The strike price may be set by reference to the spot price, which is the market price of the underlying security or commodity on the day an option is taken out. Alternatively,

In finance, a swap is a derivative in which two parties agree to exchange one stream of cash flows for another, based on some agreed formula. An example is a floating-for-fixed interest rate swap, which calls for (a) payments by one party based on the product of a floating interest rate and a fixed amount, called the notional, in exchange for (b) payments by the counterparty based on the

A syndicated loan is one that is provided by a group of lenders and is structured, arranged, and administered by one or several commercial banks or investment banks known as lead arrangers.

A synthetic CDO is a variation of a collateralized debt obligation (CDO) that generally uses credit default swaps (CDSs) and other derivatives to obtain its investment goals. As such, it is a complex derivative financial security sometimes described as a bet on the performance of other mortgage (or other) products, rather than a real mortgage security. The value and payment stream of a s

In finance, a synthetic position is a way to create the payoff of a financial instrument using other financial instruments.

In finance, unsecured debt refers to any type of debt or general obligation that is not protected by a guarantor, or collateralized by a lien on specific assets of the borrower in the case of a bankruptcy or liquidation or failure to meet the terms for repayment. Unsecured debts are sometimes called signature debt or personal loans. These differ from secured debt such as a mortgage, whic

The Vanna–Volga method is a mathematical tool used in finance. It is a technique for pricing first-generation exotic options in foreign exchange market (FX) derivatives.

A variance swap is an over-the-counter financial derivative that allows one to speculate on or hedge risks associated with the magnitude of movement, i.e. volatility, of some underlying product, like an exchange rate, interest rate, or stock index.

In finance, volatility arbitrage (vol arb) is a term for financial arbitrage techniques directly dependent and based on volatility.

In finance, a volatility swap is a forward contract on the future realised volatility of a given underlying asset. Volatility swaps allow investors to trade the volatility of an asset directly, much as they would trade a price index. Its payoff at expiration is equal to

A vulture fund is a hedge fund or private-equity fund that invests in debt considered to be very weak or in default, known as distressed debt. Investors in the fund profit by buying debt at a discounted price on a secondary market and then using numerous methods to sell the debt for more than the purchasing price. Debtors include companies, countries, and individuals.

In financial transactions, a warrant is a written order by one person that instructs or authorises another person to pay a specified recipient a specific amount of money or supply goods at a specific date. A warrant may or may not be negotiable and may be a bearer instrument that authorises payment to the warrant holder on demand or after a specific date. Governments and businesses may p

Weather derivatives are financial instruments that can be used by organizations or individuals as part of a risk management strategy to reduce risk associated with adverse or unexpected weather conditions. Weather derivatives are index-based instruments that usually use observed weather data at a weather station to create an index on which a payout can be based. This index could be total

In mathematical finance, X-Value Adjustment (XVA, xVA) is an umbrella term referring to a number of different "valuation adjustments" that banks must make when assessing the value of derivative contracts that they have entered into. The purpose of these is twofold: primarily to hedge for possible losses due to other parties' failures to pay amounts due on the derivative contracts; but al

A year-on-year inflation-indexed swap (YYIIS) is a standard derivative product over inflation rate. The underlying is a single consumer price index (CPI). The first swap of this kind was traded through the inter-dealer broker network in November 1999.

In finance, a zero coupon swap (ZCS) is an interest rate derivative (IRD). In particular it is a linear IRD, that in its specification is very similar to the much more widely traded interest rate swap (IRS).

A zero-coupon inflation swap (ZCIS), also called a zero-coupon inflation-indexed swap (ZCIIS), is a standard derivative product whose payoff depends on the inflation rate realized over a given period of time. The underlying asset is a single consumer price index (CPI).