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Digital assets and currencies

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

Trading basics

2020 Twitter account hijacking

On July 15, 2020, between 20:00 and 22:00 UTC, 130 high-profile Twitter accounts were compromised by outside parties to promote a bitcoin scam. Hackers used social engineering against Twitter employees to gain access to administrative tools, allowing them to post the tweets directly. The scam tweets asked individuals to send bitcoin currency to a specific cryptocurrency wallet, with the

Finance

Accredited investor

An accredited or sophisticated investor is an investor with a special status under financial regulation laws. The definition of an accredited investor (if any), and the consequences of being classified as such, vary between countries. Generally, accredited investors include high-net-worth individuals, banks, financial institutions, and other large corporations, who have access to complex

Trading basics

Al-Barakat

Al-Barakat, or Al-Barakaat (Arabic: البركات), which means "Blessings" in Arabic, is a group of companies established in 1987 in Somalia. The firm is involved in the modern form of hawala, an informal value transfer system and remittance method. By 2001, Al-Barakat had outlets in 40 countries, and was the country's largest private employer. It handled about 140 million US$ a year from the

Banking

Amalgamated Bank

Amalgamated Bank is an American financial institution. It is the largest union-owned bank and one of the only unionized banks in the United States. Amalgamated Bank is currently majority-owned by Workers United, an SEIU Affiliate.

Trading basics

American Investment Council

The American Investment Council (AIC), formerly the Private Equity Growth Capital Council (PEGCC), is a lobbying, advocacy, and research organization based in Washington, D.C., that was launched by a consortium of private equity firms in February 2007. It focuses on defending and promoting the private equity and growth capital investment industry to lawmakers and the public at large. Its

Finance

Analytics

Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data science. Analytics also entails applying data patterns toward effective decision-making. It can be valuable in areas rich with recorded information;

Finance

ANSES

The National Social Security Administration (Spanish: Administración Nacional de la Seguridad Social; mostly known by its acronym ANSES) is a decentralized Argentine Government social insurance agency managed by the Secretariat of Labour, Employment and Social Security controlled by the Ministry of Human Capital.

Securities & exchanges

Asian option

An Asian option (or average value option) is a special type of option contract. For Asian options, the payoff is determined by the average underlying price over some pre-set period of time. This is different from the case of the usual European option and American option, where the payoff of the option contract depends on the price of the underlying instrument at exercise; Asian options a

Securities & exchanges

Asset swap

The term asset swap has a number of different meanings:

Fiat currencies

Atlantic Money

Atlantic Money is a London-headquartered financial technology company that offers international money transfers for a fixed fee. The firm was founded in 2020 and officially launched in 2022 by two Americans, Neeraj Baid and Patrick Kavanagh, both early employees of the listed US financial services company Robinhood.

Payments & settlement

Automated cash handling

Automated cash handling is the process of dispensing, counting and tracking cash in a bank, retail, check cashing, payday loan / advance, casino or other business environment through specially designed hardware and software for the purposes of loss prevention, theft deterrence and reducing management time for oversight of cash drawer an unable operations.

Finance

Bachelier model

The Bachelier model is a model of an asset price under Brownian motion presented by Louis Bachelier in his PhD thesis The Theory of Speculation (French: Théorie de la spéculation), published 1900. It is also called the normal model equivalently (as opposed to log-normal model or Black–Scholes model). One early criticism of the Bachelier model is that the probability distribution which h

Securities & exchanges

Backspread

In options trading, the backspread is the converse strategy to the ratio spread and is also known as the reverse ratio spread. Using calls, a bullish strategy known as the call backspread can be constructed and with puts, a strategy known as the put backspread can be constructed.

Banking

Bank fraud

Bank fraud is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as a bank or other financial institution. In many instances, bank fraud is a criminal offence.

Banking

Bank teller

A bank teller (North American English) or a bank clerk (British English, Australian English and New Zealand English) (often abbreviated to simply teller or clerk) is an employee of a bank whose responsibilities include the handling of customer cash and negotiable instruments. In some places, this employee is known as a cashier or customer representative. Tellers also deal with routine cu

Banking

Banker (ancient)

The banker of ancient times was employed within financial activities, during the ancient Mesopotamian, ancient Greek and ancient Roman periods.

Banking

Bankers' bonuses

Bankers' bonuses are traditionally paid or awarded to some workers in the finance industry at the end of the bank's financial year. They are intended to reward employee behavior during that year that has increased the profits of the bank or some relevant part of its business, as shown by the annual accounts. The bonus culture is usually associated with the front office or investment bank

Banking

Banking in ancient Rome

In ancient Rome there were a variety of officials tasked with banking. These were the argentarii, mensarii, coactores, and nummularii. The argentarii were money changers. The role of the mensarii was to help people through economic hardships, the coactores were hired to collect money and give it to their employer, and the nummularii minted and tested currency. They offered credit systems

Banking

Banking in Australia

Banking in Australia is a central component of the country's financial system and one of the most concentrated banking sectors in the world. As of 2025 the sector contributes 7.5% of GDP and employs 450,000 people.

Finance

Barrier option

A barrier option is an option whose payoff is conditional upon the underlying asset's price breaching a barrier level during the option's lifetime.

Securities & exchanges

Basket option

A basket option is a financial derivative, more specifically an exotic option, whose underlying is a weighted sum or average of different assets that have been grouped together in a basket. A basket option is similar to an index option, where a number of stocks have been grouped together in an index and the option is based on the price of the index, but differs in that the members and we

Securities & exchanges

Bear spread

In options trading, a bear spread is a bearish, vertical spread options strategy that can be used when the options trader is moderately bearish on the underlying security.

Securities & exchanges

Bearer instrument

A bearer instrument is a document that entitles the holder of the document to rights of ownership or title to the underlying property. In the case of shares (bearer shares) or bonds (bearer bonds), they are called bearer certificates. Unlike normal registered instruments, no record is kept of who owns bearer instruments or of transactions involving transfer of ownership, enabling the own

Finance

Bloomberg Terminal

The Bloomberg Terminal is a computer software system provided by the financial data vendor Bloomberg L.P. that enables professionals in the financial service sector and other industries to access Bloomberg Professional Services through which users can monitor and analyze real-time financial market data and place trades on the electronic trading platform. It was developed by employees wor

Assets

Börse Stuttgart

Börse Stuttgart is the sixth largest exchange group in Europe. It has strategic pillars in the capital markets business as well as in the digital and cryptocurrency business. Börse Stuttgart Group employs around 700 people at its locations in Stuttgart, Berlin, Frankfurt, Ljubljana, Milan, Madrid, Stockholm, and Zürich and holds a total of 18 licences from regulatory authorities in Germa

Banking

British banking law

British banking law refers to banking law in the United Kingdom, to control the activities of banks.

Securities & exchanges

Bull spread

In options trading, a bull spread is a vertical spread options strategy that is designed to profit from a moderate rise in the price of the underlying security.

Finance

Business value

In management, business value is an informal term that includes all forms of value that determine the health and well-being of the firm in the long run. Business value expands concept of value of the firm beyond economic value (also known as economic profit, economic value added, and shareholder value) to include other forms of value such as employee value, customer value, supplier value

Finance

Butterfly (options)

In finance, a butterfly (or simply fly) is a limited risk, non-directional options strategy that is designed to have a high probability of earning a limited profit when the future volatility of the underlying asset is expected to be lower (when long the butterfly) or higher (when short the butterfly) than that asset's current implied volatility.

Securities & exchanges

Buyout

In finance, a buyout is an investment transaction by which the ownership equity, or a controlling interest of a company, or a majority share of the capital stock of the company is acquired. The acquirer thereby "buys out" the present equity holders of the target company. Shareholder activism can result in buyouts. A buyout will often include the purchasing of the target company's outstan

Securities & exchanges

Calendar spread

In finance, a calendar spread (also called a time spread or horizontal spread) is a spread trade involving the simultaneous purchase of futures or options expiring on a particular date and the sale of the same instrument expiring on another date. These individual purchases, known as the legs of the spread, vary only in expiration date; they are based on the same underlying market and str

Finance

Call option

In finance, a call option (often simply a "call") is an option contract that gives its buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy an agreed quantity of a particular commodity, security, or other financial instrument from the seller at a specified price. The asset or instrument to which the option relates is known as the underlying, and the specified purchase price is known as the st

Securities & exchanges

Callable bull/bear contract

A callable bull/bear contract, or CBBC in short form, is a derivative financial instrument that provides investors with a leveraged investment in underlying assets, which can be a single stock, or an index. CBBC is usually issued by third parties, mostly investment banks, but neither by stock exchanges nor by asset owners. It was first introduced in Europe and Australia in 2001, and it i

Securities & exchanges

Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. is an American financial services firm that was founded in 1945. Cantor Fitzgerald's 1,600 employees work in more than 30 locations, including financial centers in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. Together with its affiliates, Cantor Fitzgerald operates in more than 60 offices in 20 countries and has more than 12,000 employees. The firm con

Finance

Cash return on capital invested

Cash return on capital invested (CROCI) is an advanced measure of corporate profitability, originally developed by Deutsche Bank's equity research department in 1996 (it now sits within DWS Group). This measure compares a post-tax, pre-interest cash flow to the gross level of capital invested and is a useful measure of a company’s ability to generate cash returns on its investments.

Trading basics

Cashier's check

A cashier's check (or cashier's cheque, cashier's order, official check; in Canada, the term bank draft is used, not to be confused with Banker's draft as used in the United States) is a check guaranteed by a bank, drawn on the bank's own funds and signed by a bank employee. Cashier's checks are treated as guaranteed funds because the bank, rather than the purchaser, is both the drawee a

Trading basics

Cheque truncation

Cheque truncation (check truncation in American English, also cheque imaging) is a cheque clearance system which uses the digitization of a physical paper cheque into a substitute electronic form for transmission to the paying bank. The process of cheque clearance, involving data matching and verification, is undertaken using digital images instead of paper originals.

Finance

Chooser option

In finance, a chooser option is a special type of option contract. It gives the purchaser a fixed period to decide whether the derivative will be a European call or put option.

Trading basics

Closed-end fund

A closed-end fund (CEF), also known as a closed-end mutual fund, is an investment vehicle fund that raises capital by issuing a fixed number of shares at its inception, and then invests that capital in financial assets such as stocks and bonds. After inception it is closed to new capital, although fund managers sometimes employ leverage. Investors can buy and sell the existing shares in

Finance

Collar (finance)

In finance, a collar is an option strategy that limits the range of possible positive or negative returns on an underlying to a specific range. A collar strategy is used as one of the ways to hedge against possible losses and it represents long put options financed with short call options. The collar combines the strategies of the protective put and the covered call.

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

Compound option

A compound option or split-fee option is an option on an option. The exercise payoff of a compound option involves the value of another option. A compound option then has two expiration dates and two strike prices. Usually, compounded options are used for currency or fixed income markets where insecurity exists regarding the option's risk protection. Another common business application t

Securities & exchanges

Conditional variance swap

A conditional variance swap is a type of variance swap or swap derivative product that allows investors to take exposure to volatility in the price of an underlying security but only while the underlying security is within a pre-specified price range. This instrument can be useful for hedging complex volatility exposures, making a bet on the volatility levels contained in the skew of th

Finance

Condor (options)

A condor is a limited-risk, non-directional options trading strategy consisting of four options at four different strike prices. The buyer of a condor earns a profit if the underlying is between or near the inner two strikes at expiry, but has a limited loss if the underlying is near or outside the outer two strikes at expiry. Therefore, long condors are used by traders who expect the un

Finance

Constant maturity swap

A constant maturity swap (CMS) is a swap that allows the purchaser to fix the duration of received flows on a swap.

Securities & exchanges

Constant proportion portfolio insurance

Constant proportion portfolio investment (CPPI) is a trading strategy that allows an investor to maintain an exposure to the upside potential of a risky asset while

Securities & exchanges

Contingent claim

In finance, a contingent claim is a derivative whose future payoff depends on the value of another “underlying” asset, or more generally, that is dependent on the realization of some uncertain future event.

Finance

Convertible arbitrage

Convertible arbitrage is a market-neutral investment strategy often employed by hedge funds. It involves the simultaneous purchase of convertible securities and the short sale of the same issuer's common stock.

Finance

Corporate Enforcement Authority

The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) is the competent authority in Ireland for the general promotion of compliance with the Companies Acts, the investigation of breaches of the Companies Acts and the taking of any necessary enforcement actions to ensure continued compliance.

Finance

Covered option

A covered option is a financial transaction in which the holder of securities sells (or "writes") an options contract, either a "call option" or a "put option", against stock that they own or are short, respectively.

Finance

Credit default option

In finance, a default option, credit default swaption or credit default option is an option to buy protection (payer option) or sell protection (receiver option) as a credit default swap on a specific reference credit with a specific maturity. The option is usually European, exercisable only at one date in the future at a specific strike price defined as a coupon on the credit default s

Finance

Credit union

A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit cooperative financial institution. It may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (checking accounts), credit cards, credit, share term certificates (certificates of deposit), and online banking. Normally, only a member of a credit union may deposit or borr

Finance

Crossing network

A crossing network is an alternative trading system (ATS) that matches buy and sell orders electronically for execution without first routing the order to an exchange or other public displayed market such as an electronic communication network (ECN). Such crossing networks are a type of dark pool that employ computerized systems to match buyers and sellers of large blocks of shares with

Assets

Crypto.com

Crypto.com is a Singaporean cryptocurrency exchange company that offers various financial services, including an app, exchange, and noncustodial DeFi wallet, NFT marketplace, and direct payment service in cryptocurrency. As of June 2023, the company reportedly had 100 million customers and 4,000 employees.

Trading basics

CurrencyFair

CurrencyFair is an online currency exchange platform that specialises in high value transfers. CurrencyFair is headquartered in Ireland and also has employees in the UK, Australia, Greece, Hong Kong, Poland and Singapore.

Finance

Cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio

The cyclically adjusted price-to-earnings ratio (CAPE, Shiller P/E, or P/E 10 ratio) is a stock valuation measure usually applied to the US S&P 500 equity market. It is defined as price divided by the average of ten years of earnings (moving average), adjusted for inflation. As such, it is principally used to assess likely future returns from equities over timescales of 10 to 20 years, w

Trading basics

Dahabshiil

Dahabshiil (Somali: Dahabshiil, Arabic: دهب شيل) is a Somali funds transfer company, headquartered in Dubai, UAE, and is the largest money-transfer business in Africa. Formed in 2004, the firm operates from over 24,000 outlets and employs more than 2,000 people across 126 countries. It provides financial services to international organisations, as well as to both large and small business

Trading basics

Dartford Crossing

The Dartford–Thurrock River Crossing, commonly known as the Dartford Crossing and until 1991 the Dartford Tunnel, is a major road crossing of the River Thames in England, carrying the A282 road between Dartford in Kent in the south and Thurrock in Essex in the north.

Finance

Debt-to-equity ratio

A company's debt-to-equity ratio (D/E) is a financial ratio indicating the relative proportion of shareholders' equity and debt used to finance the company's assets. Closely related to leveraging, the ratio is also known as risk ratio, gearing ratio or leverage ratio. The two components are often taken from the firm's balance sheet or statement of financial position (so-called book value

Trading basics

Defined benefit pension plan

A defined benefit (DB) pension plan is a type of pension plan in which an employer/sponsor promises a specified pension payment, lump-sum, or combination thereof on retirement that depends on an employee's earnings history, tenure of service and age, rather than depending directly on individual investment returns. Traditionally, many governmental and public entities, as well as a large n

Trading basics

Defined contribution plan

A defined contribution (DC) plan is a type of retirement plan in which the employer, employee or both make contributions on a regular basis. Individual accounts are set up for participants and benefits are based on the amounts credited to these accounts (through employee contributions and, if applicable, employer contributions) plus any investment earnings on the money in the account. In

Trading basics

Demand-pull inflation

Demand-pull inflation occurs when aggregate demand in an economy is more than aggregate supply. It involves inflation rising as real gross domestic product rises and unemployment falls, as the economy moves along the Phillips curve. This is commonly described as "too much money chasing too few goods". More accurately, it should be described as involving "too much money spent chasing too

Finance

Department of Budget and Management

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM; Filipino: Kagawaran ng Badyet at Pamamahala) is an executive body under the Office of the President of the Philippines. It is responsible for the sound and efficient use of government resources for national development and also as an instrument for the meeting of national socio-economic and political development goals.

Finance

Department of Finance (Australia)

The Department of Finance is a department of the Australian Government that is responsible for assisting the government across a wide range of policy areas to ensure its outcomes are met, particularly with regard to expenditure, fiscal management and operations of government.

Finance

Department of Finance (Ireland)

The Department of Finance (Irish: An Roinn Airgeadais) is a department of the Government of Ireland. It is led by the Minister for Finance.

Finance

Department of Finance (Philippines)

The Department of Finance (DOF; Filipino: Kagawaran ng Pananalapi) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the formulation, institutionalization and administration of fiscal policies, management of the financial resources of the government, supervision of the revenue operations of all local government units, the review, approval and management of all publ

Finance

Department of Finance Canada

The Department of Finance Canada (French: Ministère des Finances Canada) is a central agency of the Government of Canada. The department assists the minister of finance in developing the government's fiscal framework and advises the government on economic and financial issues. A principal role of the department is assisting the government in the development of its annual budget.

Finance

Diagonal spread

In derivatives trading, the term diagonal spread is applied to an options spread position that shares features of both a calendar spread and a vertical spread. It is established by simultaneously buying and selling equal amount of option contracts of the same type (call options or put options) but with different strike prices and expiration dates.

Banking

Digital ruble

The digital ruble (Russian: цифровой рубль, romanized: tsifrovoy rubl') is a central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Central Bank of Russia (Bank of Russia). It represents the third official form of the Russian national currency alongside cash and commercial bank deposits, with all forms legally equivalent and exchangeable at par.

Securities & exchanges

Direct public offering

A direct public offering (DPO) is a method by which a company can offer an investment opportunity directly to the public.

Trading basics

Disability pension

A disability pension is a form of pension given to those people who are permanently or temporarily unable to work due to a disability.

Fiat currencies

Dishoarding

In economics, dishoarding is the opposite of hoarding. In the case of hoarding emphasized most by macroeconomics, someone increases his or her holdings of money as an asset. People may hoard for safety, expected returns, irrationality, or to diversify assets, rather than using money simply as a medium of exchange for buying goods and services. Thus, dishoarding refer to the reduction of

Finance

Dividend payout ratio

The dividend payout ratio is the fraction of net income a firm pays to its stockholders in dividends:

Finance

Durbin amendment

The Durbin amendment, implemented by Regulation II, is a provision of United States federal law, 15 U.S.C. § 1693o-2, that requires the Federal Reserve to limit fees charged to retailers for debit card processing. It was passed as part of the Dodd–Frank financial reform legislation in 2010, as a last-minute addition by Dick Durbin, a senator from Illinois, after whom the amendment is nam

Trading basics

E-toll (South Africa)

e-toll (in South Africa) consisted of the electronic toll collection (ETC) processes employed by South Africa's roads agency SANRAL on selected toll roads or toll lanes in the Gauteng province, subject to the Sanral Act of 1998. SANRAL derives its income both from toll income and the national fiscus, while initial capital outlay for large projects are funded by open market bond issues. I

Finance

Early 1990s depression in Finland

The early 1990s depression in Finland was one of the worst economic crises in Finland's history, by some considered even worse there than the 1930s Great Depression.

Finance

Earnings per share

Earnings per share (EPS) is the monetary value of earnings per outstanding share of common stock for a company during a defined period of time, often a year. It is a key measure of corporate profitability, focusing on the interests of the company's owners (shareholders), and is commonly used to price stocks.

Trading basics

EB-5 visa

The United States EB-5 visa, employment-based fifth preference category or EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program was created in 1990 by the Immigration Act of 1990. It provides a method for eligible immigrant investors to become lawful permanent residents—informally known as "green card" holders—by investing substantial capital to finance a U.S. business (known as a "new commercial enterp

Trading basics

Economic stagnation

Economic stagnation is a prolonged period of slow economic growth, typically measured in GDP per capita growth or median income growth, which is usually accompanied by high unemployment. Under some definitions, slow means significantly slower than potential growth as estimated by macroeconomists, even though the growth rate may be nominally higher than in other countries not experiencing

Payments & settlement

Edenred

Edenred, formerly known as Accor Services, is an international payment service provider based in France. The company focuses on payment services used in the workplace, including employee benefits such as Ticket Restaurant meal vouchers, as well as other business-to-business payment solutions. The company was created following Accor’s split and has been listed on Euronext Paris since 2010

Trading basics

Effective interest rate

The effective interest rate (EIR), effective annual interest rate (EAR), annual equivalent rate (AER) or simply effective rate is the percentage of interest on a loan or financial product if compound interest accumulates in periods different than a year. It is the compound interest payable annually in arrears, based on the nominal interest rate. It is used to compare the interest rates b

Finance

Employee stock option

Employee stock options (ESO or ESOPs) is a label that refers to compensation contracts between an employer and an employee that carries some characteristics of financial options.

Fiat currencies

Employer of last resort

Employers of last resort (ELR) are employers in an economy to whom workers go for jobs when no other jobs are available; the term is by analogy with "lender of last resort". The phrase is used in two senses:

Finance

Empower (financial services)

Empower Annuity Insurance Company of America is a retirement plan recordkeeping financial holding company based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, United States. It is the second-largest retirement plan provider in the United States.

Securities & exchanges

Equity derivative

In finance, an equity derivative is a class of derivatives whose value is at least partly derived from one or more underlying equity securities. Options and futures are by far the most common equity derivatives, however there are many other types of equity derivatives that are actively traded.

Finance

Equity-linked note

An equity-linked note (ELN) is a debt instrument, usually a bond issued by a financial institution such as an investment bank or a subsidiary of a commercial bank. ELNs are liabilities of the issuer, but the final payout to the investor is based on an unrelated company's stock price, a stock index or a group of stocks or stock indices. The underlying stocks typically have large market ca

Finance

European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) is a standing committee of the European Parliament. It is responsible for economic and monetary policy, the functioning of Economic and Monetary Union, financial services and markets, the free movement of capital and payments, taxation, competition policy and the international monetary and financial system.

Finance

EV/EBITDA

Enterprise value/EBITDA (more commonly referred to by the acronym EV/EBITDA) is a popular valuation multiple used to determine the fair market value of a company. By contrast to the more widely available P/E ratio (price-earnings ratio) it includes debt as part of the value of the company in the numerator and excludes costs such as the need to replace depreciating plant, interest on debt

Finance

Exercise (options)

The owner of an option contract has the right to exercise it, and thus require that the financial transaction specified by the contract is to be carried out immediately between the two parties, whereupon the option contract is terminated. When exercising a call option, the owner of the option purchases the underlying shares (or commodities, fixed interest securities, etc.) at the strike

Finance

Expiration (options)

In finance, the expiration date of an option contract (represented by Greek letter tau, τ) is the last date on which the holder of the option may exercise it according to its terms. In the case of options with "automatic exercise", the net value of the option is credited to the long and debited to the short position holders.

Trading basics

Export Bonus Scheme

The Export Bonus Scheme (EBS) was a dual exchange rate system implemented by the government of Ayub Khan from 1959 to 1972. It was introduced to address foreign exchange shortages and support industrialization. In practice, it amounted to an effective devaluation of the Pakistani rupee for selected sectors. Although the EBS increased manufactured exports, it was later criticized for crea

Trading basics

Extended warranty

An extended warranty, sometimes called a service agreement, a service contract, or a maintenance agreement, is a prolonged warranty offered to consumers in addition to the standard warranty on new items. The extended warranty may be offered by the warranty administrator, the retailer or the manufacturer. Extended warranties cost extra and for a percentage of the item's retail price. Some

Trading basics

FASTag

FASTag is an electronic toll collection system in India, operated by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). It employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it or directly toll owner. It is affixed on the windscreen of the vehicle and enables one to drive through toll plazas without stopp

Fiat currencies

Fear of floating

Fear of floating is the hesitancy of a country to follow a floating exchange rate regime, rather than a fixed exchange rate. This is more relevant in emerging economies, especially when they suffered from financial crisis in the last two decades. In foreign exchange markets of the emerging market economies, there is evidence showing that countries who claim they are floating their curren

Finance

Federal financing for small businesses in Canada

Federal financing for small businesses in Canada is facilitated via a number of programs and agencies. Financing is available in the form of grants (sometimes called "non-repayable contributions"), loans, loan guarantees, income support and subsidized hiring and/or training programs. The government also provides funding for no-cost or subsidized services to small businesses, including wo

Trading basics

Federal funds

In the United States, federal funds are overnight borrowings between banks and other entities to maintain their bank reserves at the Federal Reserve. Banks keep reserves at Federal Reserve Banks to meet their reserve requirements and to clear financial transactions. Transactions in the federal funds market enable depository institutions with reserve balances in excess of reserve requirem

Banking

Federal funds rate

The federal funds rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions (banks and credit unions) lend reserve balances to other depository institutions overnight on an uncollateralized basis. Reserve balances are amounts held at the Federal Reserve. Institutions with surplus balances in their accounts lend those balances to institutions in need of larger balances. The federal funds

Banking

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (French: Agence de la consommation en matière financière du Canada, FCAC) is an agency of the Government of Canada that enforces consumer protection legislation, regulations and industry commitments by federally regulated financial entities. It also provides programs and information to help consumers understand their rights and responsibilities whe

Finance

Financial Information eXchange

The Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol is an electronic communications protocol initiated in 1992 for international real-time exchange of information related to securities transactions and markets. With trillions of dollars traded annually on the NASDAQ alone, financial service entities are employing direct market access (DMA) to increase their speed to financial markets. Mana

Finance

Financial instrument

A financial instrument is a monetary contract between parties. They can be created, traded, modified and settled. They can be cash (currency), evidence of an ownership interest in an entity or a contractual right to receive or deliver in the form of currency (forex); debt (bonds, loans); equity (shares); or derivatives (options, futures, forwards).