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International finance (also referred to as international monetary economics) is the branch of monetary and macroeconomic interrelations between two or more countries. International finance examines the dynamics of the global financial system, international monetary systems, balance of payments, exchange rates, foreign direct investment, and how these topics relate to international trade.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is an association of organizations that regulate the world's securities and futures markets. Members are typically primary securities and/or futures regulators in a national jurisdiction or the main financial regulator from each country. Its mandate is to:

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA ) is a trade organization of participants in the market for over-the-counter derivatives. It is headquartered in New York City.

Investment banking is an advisory-based financial service primarily for corporations, governments, and institutional investors. Traditionally associated with corporate finance, such a bank might assist in raising financial capital by underwriting or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of debt or equity securities. An investment bank may also provide services to companies involve

In finance, Jensen's alpha (or Jensen's Performance Index, ex-post alpha) is used to determine the abnormal return of a security or portfolio of securities over the theoretical expected return. It is a version of the standard alpha based on a theoretical performance instead of a market index.

Since the financial crisis, regulation of financial activities is at the center of economic and political events. The crisis has indeed led regulators but also the academic world to ask new questions about the effectiveness of regulation policies. To answer these questions, the French laboratory of excellence on financial regulation (Labex ReFi) was established at the initiative of the C

The proposed bill Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Bill is officially contained in the United States House of Representatives bill entitled H.R. 4191: Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Act of 2009. It is a proposed piece of legislation that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives on December 3, 2009 to assess a tax on US f

The London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor LY-bor) was an interest rate average calculated from estimates submitted by the leading banks in London. Each bank estimated what it would be charged were it to borrow from other banks. It was the primary benchmark, along with the Euribor, for short-term interest rates around the world. Libor was phased out at the end of 2021, with market partic

A line break chart, also known as a three-line break chart, is a Japanese trading indicator and chart used to analyze the financial markets. Invented in Japan, these charts had been used for over 150 years by traders there before being popularized by Steve Nison in the book Beyond Candlesticks. The chart is made up of vertical blocks or bars called "lines", which indicate the market's di

The following is a list of securities examinations and the organizations that offer them.

Certain large banks are tracked and labelled by several authorities as Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs), depending on the scale and the degree of influence they hold in global and domestic financial markets.

In corporate finance, a listing refers to the company's shares being on the list (or board) of stock that are publicly listed. Some stock exchanges allow shares of a foreign company to be listed and may allow dual listing, subject to conditions.

LME Copper is a group of spot, forward, and futures contracts, trading on the London Metal Exchange (LME), for delivery of Copper (Grade A), which can be used for price Hedging, physical delivery of sales or purchases, investment, and speculation.

LME Nickel refers to the spot, forward, and futures contracts, trading on the London Metal Exchange (LME) for primary nickel. These contracts are used for price hedging, physical delivery, investment, and speculation. Nickel futures contracts are used to hedge price risks and as a reference for prices. As of late 2024, LME nickel contracts were linked to approximately 230,000 tonnes of p

LME Zinc is a group of spot, forward, and futures contracts traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME) for the delivery of zinc. The zinc, which is of 99.9% purity, can be used for pre-sale handling and physical delivery of sales or purchases, and investments. Producers, semi-fabricators, consumers, recyclers, and merchants can use zinc futures contracts to hedge zinc price risks and to r

A managed futures account (MFA) or managed futures fund (MFF) is a type of alternative investment in the US in which trading in the futures markets is managed by another person or entity, rather than the fund's owner. Managed futures accounts include, but are not limited to, commodity pools. These funds are operated by commodity trading advisors (CTAs) or commodity pool operators (CPOs),

In economics and finance, market abuse may arise in circumstances in which investors in a financial market have been unreasonably disadvantaged, directly or indirectly, by others who:

A market anomaly in a financial market is predictability that seems to be inconsistent with (typically risk-based) theories of asset prices. Standard theories include the capital asset pricing model and the Fama-French Three Factor Model, but a lack of agreement among academics about the proper theory leads many to refer to anomalies without a reference to a benchmark theory (Daniel and

In finance, market depth is a real-time list displaying the quantity to be sold versus unit price. The list is organized by price level and is reflective of real-time market activity. Mathematically, it is the size of an order needed to move the market price by a given amount. If the market is deep, a large order is needed to change the price.

A market maker or liquidity provider is a company or individual that quotes both a buy and a sell price in a tradable asset held in inventory, hoping to make a profit on the difference, which is called the bid–ask spread or turn. This stabilizes the market, reducing price variation (volatility) by setting a trading price range for the asset.

Market sentiment, also known as investor attention, is the general prevailing attitude of investors as to anticipated price development in a market. This attitude is the accumulation of a variety of fundamental and technical factors, including price history, economic reports, seasonal factors, and national and world events. If investors expect upward price movement in the stock market, t

A market trend is a perceived tendency of the financial markets to move in a particular direction over time. Analysts classify these trends as secular for long time-frames, primary for medium time-frames, and secondary for short time-frames. Traders attempt to identify market trends using technical analysis, a framework which characterizes market trends as predictable price tendencies wi

Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2014 (2014/65/EU, commonly known as MiFID 2) is a directive of the European Union (EU). Together with Regulation No 600/2014 it provides a legal framework for securities markets, investment intermediaries, in addition to trading venues. The directive provides harmonised regulation for investment services of the member states of the European Econ

Mean reversion is a financial term for the assumption that an asset's price will tend to converge to the average price over time.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance' is a ministry of the Iranian government that oversees treasury, commerce, industry, financial markets and labor in Iran. Its functions include:

The Ministry of Finance (German: Bundesministerium für Finanzen) is the government ministry of Austria responsible for the collection of taxes and customs as well as the administration of fiscal and economic policy. It oversees the Revenue Service, the Revenue Service for Large Businesses, the Financial Police, and various other agencies.

The Ministry of Finance (Dutch: Ministerie van Financiën; FIN) is the Dutch Ministry responsible for economic policy, monetary policy, fiscal policy, tax policy, incomes policy, financial regulation, the government budget and the financial market. The Ministry was created in 1798 as the Department of Finance of the Batavian Republic. It became the Ministry of Finance in 1876. The Ministe

Mir Pay is a Russian contactless payment service for smartphones. It was developed as part of the digital transformation of Russia's financial market and has been described as a significant event on the domestic Russian market.

Mirror trading is a trading selection methodology that can be carried out in both the foreign exchange and the stock markets; however, this is much more common in trading in the foreign exchange market.

Monetary sovereignty is the power of the state to exercise exclusive legal control over its currency and monetary policy. This includes the authority to designate a country's legal tender, control the money supply, set interest rates, and regulate financial institutions. Monetary sovereignty is crucial for national sovereignty, economic independence, and policy autonomy.

The mosaic theory in finance involves the use of security analyst personnel to gather information about a company or corporation to evaluate and determine its financial stability. In addition to public information available to all investors, securities analysts also have access to non-public information which the vast majority of investors do not possess. Trading based on such non-public

A multilateral trading facility (MTF) is a European Union regulatory term for a self-regulated financial trading venue. These are alternatives to the traditional stock exchanges where a market is made in securities, typically using electronic systems. The concept was introduced within the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), a European Directive designed to harmonise re

Naked short selling, or naked shorting, is the practice of short-selling a tradable asset without first borrowing the asset from another party or ensuring that it can be borrowed. When the seller does not obtain the asset and deliver it to the buyer within the required settlement period, the result is known as a "failure to deliver" (FTD). The transaction generally remains open until the

NASDAQ futures are financial futures which launched on June 21, 1999. It is the financial contract futures that allow an investor to hedge with or speculate on the future value of various components of the NASDAQ market index.

The National Association of Securities Market Participants (Russian: Национальная ассоциация участников фондового рынка, abbreviated НАУФОР), commonly known as NAUFOR, is a self-regulatory organization (SRO) in the Russian financial market that functions as an industry association and quasi-regulator for professional participants in Russia's securities markets.

An odd lotter is an investor who purchases shares or other securities in small or unusual quantities. Stocks are typically traded in increments of 100 shares, a quantity known as a round lot or board lot. The cost of 100 shares of a security may be beyond the means of an individual investor, or may represent a larger investment than the investor wishes to make. Thus, the investor purcha

Open outcry is a method of communication between professionals on a stock exchange or futures exchange, typically on a trading floor. It involves shouting and the use of hand signals to transfer information primarily about buy and sell orders. The part of the trading floor where this takes place is called a pit.

An order book is the list of orders (manual or electronic) that a trading venue (in particular stock exchanges) uses to record the interest of buyers and sellers in a particular financial instrument. A matching engine uses the book to determine which orders can be fully or partially executed.

The following outline provides an overview and topical guide to finance:

The overnight market is the component of the money market involving the shortest term loan. The overnight market is primarily used by banks and other financial institutions. Lenders agree to lend borrowers funds only "overnight", i.e., the borrower must repay the borrowed funds plus interest at the start of business the next day. Given the short period of the loan, the interest rate cha

A pairs trade or pair trading is a market neutral trading strategy enabling traders to profit from virtually any market conditions: uptrend, downtrend, or sideways movement. This strategy is categorized as a statistical arbitrage and convergence trading strategy. Pair trading was pioneered by Gerry Bamberger and later led by Nunzio Tartaglia's quantitative group at Morgan Stanley in the

Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) is the national payments network and shared central infrastructure for Malaysia’s financial markets. It was formed from the merger between the Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS) and Malaysian Electronic Clearing Corporation Sdn Bhd (MyClear) on 1 August 2017. PayNet is Malaysia's premier payments network and central infrastructure for fi

The Pfandbrief (plural: Pfandbriefe), a mostly triple-A rated German bank debenture, has become the blueprint of many covered bond models in Europe and beyond. The Pfandbrief is collateralized by long-term assets such as property mortgages or public sector loans as stipulated in the Pfandbrief Act. Total volume outstanding in Pfandbriefe was EUR 806 billion as at end-2008. Pfandbrief bon

In financial markets, a pivot point is a price level that is used by traders as a possible indicator of market movement. A pivot point is calculated as an average of significant prices (high, low, close) from the performance of a market in the prior trading period. If the market in the following period trades above the pivot point it is usually evaluated as a bullish sentiment, whereas

The primary market is the part of the capital market that deals with the issuance and sale of securities to purchasers directly by the issuer, with the issuer being paid the proceeds. A primary market means the market for new issues of securities, as distinguished from the secondary market, where previously issued securities are bought and sold. A market is primary if the proceeds of sal

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

Private equity real estate is a term used in investment finance to refer to a specific subset of the real estate investment asset class. Private equity real estate refers to one of the four quadrants of the real estate capital markets, which include private equity, private debt, public equity and public debt.

The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) is a United Kingdom financial services regulatory body, formed as one of the successors to the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The authority is responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms. It sets standards and supervises financial institutions at t

In the context of stock markets, the public float or free float represents the portion of shares of a corporation that are in the hands of public investors as opposed to shares held by promoters, company officers, controlling interest investors, or governments. This number is sometimes seen as a better way of calculating market capitalization, because it provides a more accurate reflecti

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 quantitative fund is an investment fund that relies on systematic, data-driven methods, such as mathematical models, statistical techniques, AI, and machine learning, to make investment decisions, rather than fundamental human analysis. These funds are often referred to as systematic funds, and many employ factor investing strategies such as value and momentum, which are widely studied

Quantitative tightening (QT) is a contractionary monetary policy tool applied by central banks to decrease the amount of liquidity or money supply in the economy. A central bank implements quantitative tightening by reducing the financial assets it holds on its balance sheet by selling them into the financial markets, which decreases asset prices and raises interest rates. QT is the re

In finance, quote stuffing refers to a form of market manipulation employed by high-frequency traders (HFT) that involves quickly entering and withdrawing a large number of orders in an attempt to flood the market. This can create confusion in the market and trading opportunities for high-speed algorithmic traders. The term is relatively new to the financial market lexicon and was coined

In financial economics, rational pricing is the assumption that asset pricing models must reflect the arbitrage-free price of the asset

Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems are specialist funds transfer systems where the transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to any other bank on a "real-time" and on a "gross" basis to avoid settlement risk. Settlement in "real time" means a payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting period, with transactions being settled as soon as they are processed. H

Restricted stock, also known as restricted securities, is stock of a company that is not fully transferable (from the stock-issuing company to the person receiving the stock award) until certain conditions (restrictions) have been met. Upon satisfaction of those conditions, the stock is no longer restricted, and becomes transferable to the person holding the award. Restricted stock is of

Returns-based style analysis (RBSA) is a statistical technique used in finance to deconstruct the returns of investment strategies using a variety of explanatory variables. The model results in a strategy's exposures to asset classes or other factors, interpreted as a measure of a fund or portfolio manager's investment style. While the model is most frequently used to show an equity mutu

In finance, a reverse stock split or reverse split is a process by which shares of corporate stock are effectively merged to form a smaller number of proportionally more valuable shares.

In mathematical finance, a risk-neutral measure (also called an equilibrium measure, or equivalent martingale measure) is a probability measure such that each share price is exactly equal to the discounted expectation of the share price under this measure.

The Robin Hood tax is a package of financial transaction taxes (FTT) proposed by a campaigning group of civil society non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Campaigners have suggested the tax could be implemented globally, regionally, or unilaterally by individual nations. Conceptually similar to the Tobin tax (which was proposed for foreign currency exchange only), it would affect a wid

S&P 500 futures are financial futures which allow an investor to hedge with or speculate on the future value of various components of the S&P 500 Index market index. S&P 500 futures contracts were first introduced by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1982. The CME added the e-mini option in 1997. The bundle of stocks in the S&P 500 is, per the name, composed of stocks of 500 large compa

The secondary market, also called the aftermarket, is the financial market in which previously issued financial instruments such as shares, bonds, options, and futures are bought and sold. The initial sale of the security by the issuer to a purchaser, who pays proceeds to the issuer, is the primary market. All sales after the initial sale of the security are sales in the secondary market

Sector rotation is a theory of stock market trading patterns.

Security market is a component of the wider financial market where securities can be bought and sold between subjects of the economy, on the basis of demand and supply. Security markets encompasses stock markets, bond markets and derivatives markets where prices can be determined and participants both professional and non professional can meet.

A security token offering (STO) / tokenized IPO is a type of public offering in which tokenized digital securities, known as security tokens, are sold in security token exchanges. Tokens can be used to trade real financial assets such as equities and fixed income, and use a blockchain virtual ledger system to store and validate token transactions.

Seeking Alpha is a crowd-sourced content service that publishes news on financial markets. It is accessible via a website and mobile app and offers both free and paid subscriptions. Independent contributors, mostly from the buy side, write almost all of the articles published by the service and are paid based on how many subscribers access their articles.

Sell in May and go away is an investment strategy for stocks based on a theory (sometimes known as the Halloween indicator) that the period from November to April inclusive has significantly stronger stock market growth on average than the other months. In such strategies, stock holdings are sold or minimized at about the start of May and the proceeds held in cash (e.g. a money market fu

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.

Share repurchase, also known as share buyback or stock buyback, is the reacquisition by a company of its own shares. It is an alternative way of returning money to shareholders than dividends. After a repurchase event, the company's stock price is now proportionally higher because of the smaller number of shares outstanding. Repurchases allow stockholders to potentially reduce taxes, by

Sharia and securities trading is the impact of conventional financial markets activity for those following the Islamic religion and particularly sharia law. Sharia practices ban riba (earning interest) and involvement in haram. It also forbids gambling (maisir) and excessive risk (bayu al-gharar). This, however has not stopped some in Islamic finance industry from using some of these ins

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

SIA S.p.A. is an Italian company operating in the area of ICT, providing services to the banking and finance sector in addition to platforms for financial markets and e-payment services.

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.

SOFR Academy, Inc. is an American financial market infrastructure company focused on developing benchmark credit-spread infrastructure designed to complement risk-free reference rates in global capital markets. In connection with global reference rate reform and the transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which underpinned approximately US$400 trillion in financia

In economics, a speculative attack is a precipitous selling of untrustworthy assets by previously inactive speculators and the corresponding acquisition of some valuable assets (currencies, gold). The first model of a speculative attack was contained in a 1975 discussion paper on the gold market by Stephen Salant and Dale Henderson at the Federal Reserve Board. Paul Krugman, who visited

Spoofing is a disruptive algorithmic trading activity employed by traders to outpace other market participants and to manipulate markets. Spoofers feign interest in trading futures, stocks, and other products in financial markets creating an illusion of the demand and supply of the traded asset. In an order driven market, spoofers post a relatively large number of limit orders on one sid

The spot market or cash market is a public financial market in which financial instruments or commodities are traded for immediate delivery. It contrasts with a futures market, in which delivery is due at a later date. In a spot market, settlement normally happens in T+2 working days, i.e., delivery of cash and commodity must be done after two working days of the trade date. A spot mar

In corporate law, a stock certificate (also known as certificate of stock or share certificate) is a legal document that certifies the legal interest (a bundle of several legal rights) of ownership of a specific number of shares (or, under Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code in the United States, a securities entitlement or pro rata share of a fungible bulk) or stock in a corporatio

Stock dilution, also known as equity dilution, is the decrease in existing shareholders' ownership percentage of a company as a result of the company issuing new equity. New equity increases the total shares outstanding which has a dilutive effect on the ownership percentage of existing shareholders. This increase in the number of shares outstanding can result from a primary market off

A stock market simulator is computer software that reproduces behavior and features of a stock market, so that a user may practice trading stocks without financial risk. Paper trading, sometimes also called "virtual stock trading", is a simulated trading process in which would-be investors can practice investing without committing money.

A stock split or stock divide increases the number of shares in a company. For example, after a 2-for-1 split, each investor will own double the number of shares, and each share will be worth half as much. A stock split causes a decrease of market price of individual shares, but does not change the total market capitalization of the company: stock dilution does not occur.

Style investing is an investment approach in which securities are grouped into categories, and portfolio allocation is based on selection among "styles" rather than among individual securities.

Swing trading is a speculative trading strategy in financial markets where a tradable asset is held for one or more days in an effort to profit from price changes or swings. A swing trading position is typically held longer than a day trading position, but shorter than buy-and-hold investment strategies that can be held for months or years. Profits can be sought by either buying an asse

A systemically important financial institution (SIFI) is a bank, insurance company, or other financial institution whose failure might trigger a financial crisis. They are colloquially referred to as "too big to fail".

Systemically important financial market utilities (SIFMUs) are entities whose failure or disruption could threaten the stability of the United States financial system. To date eight entities in the U.S. have been officially designated SIFMUs.

T2 is a financial market infrastructure that provides real-time gross settlement (RTGS) of payments, mostly in euros. It is operated by the European Central Bank and is the critical payments infrastructure of the euro area. With turnover in the trillions of euros every day, it is one of the largest payment systems in the world. It is one of three so-called TARGET Services, together with

TARGET2 was the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system for the Eurozone from its phased introduction in 2007-2008 until its replacement with T2 in March 2023. As such, it was one of the Eurosystem's TARGET Services, replacing the original TARGET (Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer System) RTGS introduced in 1999. Like the other TARGET Services, it was

In technical analysis in finance, a technical indicator is a mathematical calculation based on historic price, volume, or (in the case of futures contracts) open interest information that aims to forecast financial market direction. Technical indicators are a fundamental part of technical analysis and are typically plotted as a chart pattern to try to predict the market trend. Indicator

Tracking stock (also known as letter stock and targeted stock) is a specialized equity offering issued by a company that is based on the operations of a defined business within the larger organization (such as, for instance, a wholly owned subsidiary of a diversified firm). Therefore, the tracking stock will be traded at a price related to the operations of the specific division of the c

In finance, a trade is an exchange of a security such as stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, derivatives or any valuable financial instrument for "cash". Such a financial transaction is usually done by participants of an exchange such as a stock exchange, commodity exchange or futures exchange with a short-dated promise to pay in the currency of the country where the 'exchange' is lo

A trading room gathers traders operating on financial markets. The trading room is also often called the front office. The terms "dealing room" and "trading floor" are also used, the latter being inspired from that of an open outcry stock exchange. As open outcry is gradually replaced by electronic trading, the trading room becomes the only remaining place that is emblematic of the finan

The U.S. Dollar Index (USDX, DXY, DX, or, informally, the "Dixie") is an index (or measure) of the value of the United States dollar relative to a basket of foreign currencies, often referred to as a basket of U.S. trade partners' currencies. The Index goes up when the U.S. dollar gains "strength" (value) when compared to other currencies.

The Swiss investment bank and financial services company, UBS Group AG, has been at the center of numerous tax evasion and avoidance investigations undertaken by U.S., French, German, Israeli, and Belgian tax authorities as a consequence of their strict banking secrecy practices.

The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current U.S. government departments. The treasury executes currency circulation in the domestic fiscal system, collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service, manages U.S. government debt, licenses and supervises banks and

The uptick rule is a trading restriction that states that short selling a stock is allowed only on an uptick. For the rule to be satisfied, the short must be either at a price above the last traded price of the security, or at the last traded price when the most recent movement between traded prices was upward (i.e. the security has traded below the last-traded price more recently than a

Wall Street is a street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway in the west and South Street and the East River in the east with a length of just under 2,000 feet. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and its reports of NYSE-listed companies, financial markets of the United Sta

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

The President's Working Group on Financial Markets, known colloquially as the Plunge Protection Team, or "(PPT)" was created by Executive Order 12631, signed on March 18, 1988, by United States President Ronald Reagan.

The yield to maturity (YTM), book yield or redemption yield of a fixed-interest security is an estimate of the total rate of return anticipated to be earned by an investor who buys it at a given market price, holds it to maturity, and receives all interest payments and the capital redemption on schedule.