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Digital assets and currencies

Understand assets, networks and trading mechanics with sources you can check.

Assets

2024 WazirX hack

On 18 July, 2024, WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, reported a cyberattack in which approximately US$234.9 million (around ₹2,000 crore) in digital assets were stolen from a multi-signature wallet used under a third-party custody arrangement with Liminal Custody. Global analysis later linked the attack to the Lazarus Group, a North Korea–associated threat actor targeting crypto

Trading basics

A/B testing

A/B testing (also known as bucket testing, split-run testing or split testing) is a user-experience research method. A/B tests consist of a randomized experiment that usually involves two variants (A and B), although the concept can be also extended to multiple variants of the same variable. It includes application of statistical hypothesis testing or "two-sample hypothesis testing" as u

Trading basics

Actuarial science

Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in insurance, pension, finance, investment, psychology, medicine, and other industries and professions.

Trading basics

America's Best Contacts & Eyeglasses

America's Best Contacts & Eyeglasses is a discount provider of eye examinations, eyeglasses and contact lenses, with over 1000 retail locations in the United States as of May 31, 2024.

Trading basics

ARINC

Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated (ARINC), established in 1929, was a major provider of transport communications and systems engineering solutions for eight industries: aviation, airports, defense, government, healthcare, networks, security, and transportation. ARINC had installed computer data networks in police cars and railroad cars and also maintained the standards for line-replaceabl

Trading basics

Asda

Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters are in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded into southern England during the 1970s and 1980s, and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway supermarkets and other businesses, such as MFI. It sold these acquisitions

Finance

Asset pricing

In financial economics, asset pricing refers to the formal development of the principles used in pricing, together with the resultant models. The treatment develops the interrelated paradigms of general equilibrium asset pricing and rational asset pricing, the latter corresponding to risk neutral pricing.

Trading basics

Behance

Behance, stylized as Bēhance, is a creative networking site. Owned by Adobe since 2012, its main focus is to showcase and discover creative work.

Payments & settlement

BitPay

BitPay is a cryptocurrency payment service provider headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in May 2011 by Tony Gallippi and Stephen Pair. BitPay provides crypto payment processing services for merchants and a cryptocurrency wallet available on mobile and desktop.

Trading basics

Blind taste test

In marketing, a blind taste test is often used as a tool for companies to compare their brand to another brand. For example, the Pepsi Challenge is a famous taste test that has been run by Pepsi since 1975. Additionally, taste tests are sometimes used as a tool by companies to develop their brand or new products.

Trading basics

Boots (company)

Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists Limited) is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain that operates in the United Kingdom.

Finance

Bootstrapping (finance)

In finance, bootstrapping is a method for constructing a (zero-coupon) fixed-income yield curve from the prices of a set of coupon-bearing products, e.g. bonds and swaps.

Trading basics

Brandmobile

A brandmobile is a motorized vehicle customized to resemble a consumer product as a promotional tool for advertising and marketing. These vehicles range from altered consumer automobiles and vans to larger purpose-built buses and trucks, transformed into eye-catching, mobile advertisements designed to capture public attention. Brandmobiles are often used with public relations events, lev

Trading basics

Brick and mortar

Brick and mortar (sometimes B&M; commonly bricks and mortar in British English) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term brick-and-mortar business is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory production facilities, or warehouses for its operations. More specifically, in the jargon of e-commerc

Finance

Build–operate–transfer

Build–operate–transfer (BOT) or build–own–operate–transfer (BOOT) is a form of project delivery method, usually for large-scale infrastructure projects, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the public sector (or the private sector on rare occasions) to finance, design, construct, own, and operate a facility stated in the concession contract. The private entity will have th

Finance

Butterfield Bank

Butterfield, officially The Bank of N. T. Butterfield & Son Limited, is a Bermudian financial services company founded in 1858 by Nathaniel T. Butterfield and headquartered in Bermuda. It provides services to clients from Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey, where its principal banking operations are located, and The Bahamas, Barbados, (until they pulled out and were repla

Finance

Central bank liquidity swap

Central bank liquidity swap, known as a swap line, is a type of cross-currency swap used by a country's central bank to provide liquidity of its currency to another country's central bank. In a liquidity swap, the lending central bank uses its currency to buy the currency of another borrowing central bank at the market exchange rate, and agrees to sell the borrower's currency back at a r

Securities & exchanges

Charlie Munger

Charles Thomas Munger (January 1, 1924 – November 28, 2023) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He was the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett, from 1978 until his death in 2023. Buffett described Munger as his closest partner and right-hand man, and credited him with being the "architect" of modern Berkshire Hathaway'

Banking

Cheque

A cheque (or check in American English) is a document that orders a bank, building society, or credit union, to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The person writing the cheque, known as the drawer, has a transaction banking account (often called a current, cheque, chequing, checking, or share draft account) wher

Trading basics

Cluster sampling

In statistics, cluster sampling is a sampling plan used when mutually homogeneous yet internally heterogeneous groupings are evident in a statistical population. It is often used in marketing research.

Trading basics

Commodity trading advisor

A commodity trading advisor (CTA) is US financial regulatory term for an individual or organization who is retained by a fund or individual client to provide advice and services related to trading in futures contracts, commodity options and/or swaps. They are responsible for the trading within managed futures accounts. The definition of CTA may also apply to investment advisors for hedge

Payments & settlement

Company store

A company store is a retail store selling a limited range of food, clothing and daily necessities to employees of a company. It is typical of a company town in a remote area where virtually everyone is employed by one firm, such as a coal mine. In a company town, the housing is owned by the company but there may be independent stores there or nearby.

Finance

Complete market

In economics, a complete market (a.k.a. Arrow-Debreu market or complete system of markets) is a market with two conditions:

Securities & exchanges

Constant Maturity Mortgage

In the United States secondary mortgage market, the Constant Maturity Mortgage (CMM) rate is a financial index representing the theoretical yield of a par value agency residential mortgage-backed security (agency RMBS). Unlike the constant-maturity treasury (CMT) which reflects government borrowing costs, the CMM reflects the yield required by investors to transact agency RMBS (such as t

Banking

Correlation swap

A correlation swap is an over-the-counter financial derivative that allows one to speculate on or hedge risks associated with the observed average correlation, of a collection of underlying products, where each product has periodically observable prices, as with a commodity, exchange rate, interest rate, or stock index.

Finance

Cost of living

The cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living for an individual or a household. Cost-of-living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a given standard of living across different geographic areas. Differences in the cost of living between locations can be measured using purchasing power parity rates.

Trading basics

Credit default swap

A credit default swap (CDS) is a financial swap agreement that the seller of the CDS will compensate the buyer in the event of a debt default (by the debtor) or other credit event. That is, the seller of the CDS insures the buyer against some reference asset defaulting. The buyer of the CDS makes a series of payments (the CDS "fee" or "spread") to the seller and, in exchange, may expect

Fiat currencies

Cross-currency swap

In finance, a currency swap (more typically termed a cross-currency swap, XCS) is an interest rate derivative (IRD). In particular it is a linear IRD, and one of the most liquid benchmark products spanning multiple currencies simultaneously. It has pricing associations with interest rate swaps (IRSs), foreign exchange (FX) rates, and FX swaps (FXSs).

Securities & exchanges

Derivative (finance)

In finance, a derivative is a contract between a buyer and a seller. The derivative can take various forms, depending on the transaction, but every derivative has the following four elements:

Trading basics

Direct market

The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of:

Trading basics

Dirty price

Dirty price is the total amount paid for a bond at settlement. It equals the quoted clean price plus the accrued interest that has built up since the previous coupon date. Many bond markets quote prices on a clean basis to aid comparison, while the cash exchanged at settlement uses the dirty price. Between coupon dates the dirty price rises as interest accrues and then drops on the coupo

Trading basics

Electronic toll collection

Electronic toll collection (ETC) is a wireless system to automatically collect the usage fee or toll charged to vehicles using toll roads, HOV lanes, toll bridges, and toll tunnels. It is a faster alternative which is replacing toll houses and tollbooths, where vehicles must stop and the driver manually pays the toll with cash or a card. In most cases, vehicles using the system are equip

Securities & exchanges

Equity swap

An equity swap is a financial derivative contract (a swap) where a set of future cash flows are agreed to be exchanged between two counterparties at set dates in the future. The two cash flows are usually referred to as "legs" of the swap; one of these "legs" is usually pegged to a floating rate such as LIBOR. This leg is also commonly referred to as the "floating leg". The other leg of

Trading basics

Experiential retail

Experiential retail or experiential commerce is a type of retail marketing whereby customers coming into a physical retail space are offered experiences beyond the traditional ones (such as in a clothing store: browsing merchandise, advice from salespeople, dressing rooms and cashiers). Amenities provided may include art (often interactive art), live music performances, virtual reality,

Trading basics

EZ TAG

EZ TAG is an electronic toll collection system in Houston, Texas, United States, that allows motorists to pay tolls without stopping at toll booths. Motorists with the tags are allowed to use lanes reserved exclusively for them on all Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) roads. As of late 2003, the EZ TAG can also be used on all lanes of tolled roadways in Texas that accommodate el

Trading basics

Factor analysis

Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. For example, it is possible that variations in six observed variables mainly reflect the variations in two unobserved (underlying) variables. Factor analysis searches for such joint variations in response

Finance

Fama–French three-factor model

In asset pricing and portfolio management, the Fama–French three-factor model is a statistical model designed in 1992 by Eugene Fama and Kenneth French to describe stock returns. Fama and French were colleagues at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where Fama still works. In 2013, Fama shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his empirical analysis of ass

Finance

Financial modeling

Financial modeling

Trading basics

Fixed-income attribution

Fixed-income attribution is the process of measuring returns generated by various sources of risk in a fixed income portfolio, particularly when multiple sources of return are active at the same time.

Fiat currencies

Foreign exchange swap

In finance, a foreign exchange swap, forex swap, or FX swap is a simultaneous purchase and sale of identical amounts of one currency for another with two different value dates (normally spot to forward) and may use foreign exchange derivatives. An FX swap allows sums of a certain currency to be used to fund charges designated in another currency without acquiring foreign exchange risk. I

Trading basics

Four Freedoms (Rockwell)

The Four Freedoms is a series of four oil paintings made in 1943 by the American artist Norman Rockwell. The paintings—Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear—are each approximately 45.75 by 35.5 inches (116.2 by 90.2 cm), and are now in the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The four freedoms refer to President Franklin D. Roose

Finance

Fundamental theorem of asset pricing

The fundamental theorems of asset pricing (also: of arbitrage, of finance), in both financial economics and mathematical finance, provide necessary and sufficient conditions for a market to be arbitrage-free, and for a market to be complete. An arbitrage opportunity is a way of making money with no initial investment without any possibility of loss. Though arbitrage opportunities do exis

Securities & exchanges

Futures contract

In finance, a futures contract (often just called a future) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The item transacted is usually a commodity or financial instrument. The predetermined price of the contract is known as the forward price or delivery pric

Trading basics

Global trade of secondhand clothing

The global trade of secondhand clothing is a long-standing industry, which has been facilitated by the abundance of donated clothing in wealthy countries. This trade accounts for approximately 0.5% of the total value of clothing traded worldwide, while by weight it accounts for 5%. However, in some countries, imported used clothing constitutes the majority of clothing purchased and used.

Trading basics

Grey market

A grey market or dark market (sometimes confused with the similar term "parallel market") is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels that are not authorised by the original manufacturer or trademark proprietor. Grey market products (grey goods) are products traded outside the manufacturer's authorised channel.

Banking

Hardware security module

A hardware security module (HSM) is a physical computing device that safeguards and manages secrets (most importantly digital keys), and performs encryption and decryption functions for digital signatures, strong authentication and other cryptographic functions. These modules traditionally come in the form of a plug-in card or an external device that attaches directly to a computer or ne

Trading basics

Hawaiian Telcom

Hawaiian Telcom, Inc., is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) or dominant local telephone company, serving the state of Hawaii. In 2005, Hawaiian Telcom Holdco, Inc., was formed by The Carlyle Group, following its purchase of the Hawaiian Telcom Inc. assets of Verizon Communications. On July 2, 2018, Cincinnati Bell purchased Hawaiian Telcom Holdco, Inc. for $650 Million,

Trading basics

Hertz Car Sales

Hertz Car Sales is a division of The Hertz Corporation that sells vehicles that were previously used in the Hertz car rental fleet. Based out of THC's headquarters in Estero, Florida, its largest operating market is in North America, with over 68 dealer locations in the U.S., but it also has units in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Trading basics

History of private equity and venture capital

The history of private equity, venture capital, and the development of these asset classes has occurred through a series of boom-and-bust cycles since the middle of the 20th century. Within the broader private equity industry, two distinct sub-industries, leveraged buyouts and venture capital experienced growth along parallel, although interrelated tracks.

Trading basics

HKeToll

HKeToll (Chinese: 易通行) is a free-flow tolling system owned by the Transport Department in Hong Kong. It is operated by Autotoll Limited. The system has been gradually put into use in various government-owned tunnels in Hong Kong to replace traditional toll booths and Autotoll from May 2023 onward.

Finance

Incomplete markets

In economics, incomplete markets are markets in which there does not exist an Arrow–Debreu security for every possible state of nature. In contrast with complete markets, this shortage of securities will likely restrict individuals from transferring the desired level of wealth among states.

Trading basics

K2 Sports

K2 Sports, LLC, known simply as K2, is an American sporting goods company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, focused primarily on winter sports equipment. K2 operates under the labels K2 Snow and K2 Skates, as well as its subsidiaries Backcountry Access, Ride Snowboards, Tubbs Snowshoes, Atlas Snow-Shoe Company, LINE Skis, Full Tilt Boots, and Madshus brands. Famous users of K2 Skis

Finance

Lattice model (finance)

In quantitative finance, a lattice model is a numerical approach to the valuation of derivatives in situations requiring a discrete time model. For dividend paying equity options, a typical application would correspond to the pricing of an American-style option, where a decision to exercise is allowed at the closing of any calendar day up to the maturity. A continuous model, on the othe

Trading basics

Leveraged buyout

A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money (leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loans, along with the assets of the acquiring company. The use of debt, which normally has a lower cost of capital than equity, serves to reduce the o

Trading basics

Merchandising

Merchandising is the process of contributing to the sale of products to a retail consumer by displaying for-sale products in ways that enticed to purchase more items or products.

Fiat currencies

Michael Artis

Michael John Artis FBA (29 June 1938 – 8 January 2016) was a British economist. A leading macroeconomist, his research encompassed monetary economics, fiscal policies, and European institutions and policies.

Payments & settlement

Microsoft Pay

Microsoft Pay (previously Microsoft Wallet) was a mobile payment and digital wallet service by Microsoft that allowed users to make payments and store loyalty cards on certain mobile devices, as well on PCs using the Microsoft Edge browser. Microsoft Pay does not require Microsoft Pay-specific contactless payment terminals, and supported existing contactless terminals if used on mobile d

Trading basics

Morrisons

Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across Great Britain, and one in Gibraltar. The company is headquartered in Bradford, England.

Trading basics

Moving average

In statistics, a moving average (rolling average or running average or moving mean or rolling mean) is a calculation to analyze data points by creating a series of averages of different selections of the full data set. Variations include: simple, cumulative, or weighted forms.

Finance

Multi-curve framework

In mathematical finance, the multi-curve framework refers to

Trading basics

Online ticket brokering

Online ticket brokering is the resale of tickets through a web-based ticket brokering service or online ticket exchanges. Prices on ticket brokering websites are determined by demand, availability, and the ticket reseller. Tickets sold through an online ticket brokering service may or may not be authorized by the official seller.

Trading basics

Open road tolling

Open road tolling (ORT), also called all-electronic tolling, cashless tolling, or free-flow tolling, is the collection of tolls on toll roads without the use of tollbooths. An electronic toll collection system is usually used instead. The major advantage to ORT is that users are able to drive through the toll plaza at highway speeds without having to slow down to pay the toll. In some in

Securities & exchanges

Overnight indexed swap

An overnight indexed swap (OIS) is an interest rate swap (IRS) over some given term, e.g. 10Y, where the periodic fixed payments are tied to a given fixed rate while the periodic floating payments are tied to a floating rate calculated from a daily compounded overnight rate over the floating coupon period. The OIS term is not overnight; it is the underlying reference rate that is an over

Securities & exchanges

Partial return reverse swap

In finance, partial return reverse swap (PRRS) is a type of derivative swap, a financial contract that transfers a percentage of both the credit risk and market risk of an underlying asset, usually half, while also transferring all of the ownership liabilities for estate planning, tax purposes, and insider trading rules.

Finance

Pawnbroker

A pawnbroker is an individual who offers secured loans to people by taking items of personal property as collateral. A pawnbrokering entity is called a pawnshop or pawnbrokerage. While many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, musical instruments, coins, gold, silver and firearms. Home-audio equipment, computers, video-game systems, televisions, cameras, and power t

Finance

Pension buyout

A pension buyout is the transfer of some or all pension scheme liabilities to an insurance company, usually by paying a premium so that the insurer becomes responsible for the covered benefits. It is used mainly for defined benefit pension schemes as a form of pension risk transfer. A buyout may cover all members of a scheme, after which the scheme is expected to wind up, or it may follo

Trading basics

Pluralsight

Pluralsight, LLC is an American privately held online education company that offers a variety of video training courses for software developers, IT administrators, and creative professionals through its website. Founded in 2004 by Aaron Skonnard, Keith Brown, Fritz Onion, and Bill Williams, the company has its headquarters in Westlake, Texas. As of July 2018, it uses more than 1,400 subj

Trading basics

Point of sale display

A point-of-sale display (POS display) is a specialised form of sales promotion that is found near, on, or next to a checkout counter (the "point of sale"). They are intended to draw the customers' attention to products, which may be new products, or on special offer, and are also used to promote special events, e.g. seasonal or holiday-time sales. POS displays can include free standing d

Trading basics

Price

A price in economics is the amount of money that buyers are willing and able to pay for a particular good or service, and that sellers are willing to accept. In some situations, especially when the product is a service rather than a physical good, the price for the service may be called something else such as "rent" or "tuition". Prices are influenced by production costs, supply of the d

Trading basics

Private equity

Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public. Instead, it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in managing and structuring the companies. Colloquially, "private equity" can refer to these investment firms rather than the companies in which they invest.

Finance

Private equity fund

A private equity fund (PE fund) is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity (and to a lesser extent debt) securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity. Private equity funds are typically limited partnerships with a fixed term of 10 years (often with one- or two-year extensions). At inception, institutional inv

Banking

Private equity in the 2000s

Private equity in the 2000s represents one of the major growth periods in the history of private equity and venture capital. Within the broader private equity industry, two distinct sub-industries, leveraged buyouts and venture capital, expanded along parallel and interrelated tracks.

Trading basics

Put–call parity

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

Trading basics

QualitySolicitors

QualitySolicitors is a grouping of law firms in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2009 and has over 200 branches. It is the first national chain of solicitors in the UK, following a franchise-type model based on independent ownership of small to medium High Street law firms trading under one brand name but sharing national marketing campaigns.

Trading basics

Rational pricing

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

Trading basics

Record sales

Record sales or music sales are activities related to selling music recordings (albums, singles, or music videos) through physical record shops or digital music stores. Record sales reached their peak in 1999, when 600 million people spent an average of $64 on records, achieving $40 billion in sales of recorded music.

Trading basics

Retail marketing

Once the strategic plan is in place, retail managers turn to the more managerial aspects of planning. A retail mix is devised for the purpose of coordinating day-to-day tactical decisions. The retail marketing mix typically consists of six broad decision layers including product decisions, place decisions, promotion, price, personnel and presentation (also known as physical evidence). Th

Finance

Ross Levine

Ross Levine (born April 16, 1960) is an American economist who currently holds the Willis H. Booth Chair in Banking and Finance at the University of California at Berkeley. He is also a senior fellow at the Milken Institute, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and an advisor to the World Economic Forum. As of 2018, he is the 12th most cited economist in the world.

Trading basics

Rum-running

Rum-running, or bootlegging, is the illegal business of smuggling alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law. Smuggling circumvents alcohol taxes and outright prohibition of alcohol sales.

Trading basics

See's Candies

See's Candy Shops, Inc., doing business as See's Candies, is an American manufacturer and distributor of candy, particularly chocolates. It was founded by Charles See, his wife Florence, and his mother Mary in Los Angeles in 1921. The company is headquartered in South San Francisco, California. See's kitchens are located at its headquarters and are also maintained at its original factory

Payments & settlement

Self-checkout

Self-checkouts (SCOs), also known as assisted checkouts (ACOs) or self-service checkouts, are machines that allow customers to complete their own transaction with a retailer without using a staffed checkout. When using SCOs, customers scan item barcodes before paying for their purchases without needing one-to-one staff assistance. Self-checkouts are used mainly in supermarkets, although

Finance

Spot contract

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

Securities & exchanges

Swap (finance)

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

Trading basics

Swift v. Tyson

Swift v. Tyson, 41 U.S. (16 Pet.) 1 (1842), was a case brought in diversity in the Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York on a bill of exchange accepted in New York in which the Supreme Court of the United States determined that United States federal courts that heard cases brought under their diversity jurisdiction under the Judiciary Act of 1789 must apply statutory state

Trading basics

Total return swap

In finance, a total return swap (TRS), total rate of return swap (TRORS), or cash-settled equity swap is a financial contract that transfers both the credit risk and market risk of an underlying asset.

Finance

Tryton

Tryton is a three-tier high-level general purpose computer application platform on top of which is built an enterprise resource planning (ERP) business solution through a set of Tryton modules.

Securities & exchanges

Value investing

Value investing is an investment paradigm that involves buying securities that appear underpriced by some form of fundamental analysis. Modern value investing derives from the investment philosophy taught by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd at Columbia Business School starting in 1928 and subsequently developed in their 1934 text Security Analysis.

Banking

Variance swap

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.

Trading basics

Vendor lock-in

In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lock‑in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs.

Trading basics

Venture capital

Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number of employees, annual revenue, scale of operations, etc. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equit

Securities & exchanges

Volatility swap

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

Trading basics

Web-to-print

Web-to-print, also known as Web2Print, remote publishing or print e-commerce is commercial printing using web sites. Companies and software solutions that deal in web-to-print use standard e-commerce and online services like hosting, website design, and cross-media marketing.

Trading basics

Whole-life cost

Whole-life cost is the total cost of ownership over the life of an asset. The concept is also known as life-cycle cost (LCC) or lifetime cost, and is commonly referred to as "cradle to grave" or "womb to tomb" costs. Costs considered include the financial cost which is relatively simple to calculate and also the environmental and social costs which are more difficult to quantify and assi

Securities & exchanges

Year-on-year inflation-indexed swap

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.

Securities & exchanges

Zero coupon swap

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).

Securities & exchanges

Zero-coupon inflation swap

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).