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Trading basics

Automated trading system

An automated trading system (ATS), a subset of algorithmic trading, uses a computer program to create buy and sell orders and automatically submits the orders to a market center or exchange. The computer program will automatically generate orders based on predefined set of rules using a trading strategy which is based on technical analysis, advanced statistical and mathematical computati

Trading basics

Bitcoin scalability

Bitcoin scalability refers to the capability of the Bitcoin network to handle large amounts of transaction data on its platform. Records (known as blocks) in the Bitcoin blockchain are limited in size and frequency to prioritize security and decentralization by keeping the cost of running a Bitcoin node affordable. With an average block creation time of 10 minutes and a block size limit

Securities & exchanges

Circular trading

Circular trading is a type of securities fraud that can take place in stock markets, causing price manipulation and often related to pump and dump schemes. Circular trading occurs when identical buy and sell orders are entered at the same time with the same number of shares and the same price. As a result, there is no change in ownership of shares, but there is the appearance of an incre

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

Contactless payment

Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC) for making secure payments. The embedded integrated circuit chip and antenna enable consumers to wave their card, fob, or handheld device over a reader at the

Finance

Convergence trade

Convergence trade is a trading strategy consisting of two positions: buying one asset forward—i.e., for delivery in future (going long the asset)—and selling a similar asset forward (going short the asset) for a higher price, in the expectation that by the time the assets must be delivered, the prices will have become closer to equal (will have converged), and thus one profits by the amo

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.

Fiat currencies

Covered interest arbitrage

Covered interest arbitrage is an arbitrage trading strategy whereby an investor capitalizes on the interest rate differential between two countries by using a forward contract to cover (eliminate exposure to) exchange rate risk. Using forward contracts enables arbitrageurs such as individual investors or banks to make use of the forward premium (or discount) to earn a riskless profit fro

Finance

Datalogic

Datalogic S.p.A. is an Italian company working in the automatic data capture and process automation markets. The group specializes in the design and production of barcode readers, mobile computers, radio-frequency identification, sensors for detection, measurement and safety, vision and laser marking systems. Datalogic products are used in many supermarkets and points of sale, at airpor

Finance

Default trap

The default traps in sovereign borrowing refers to the idea that once a country falls into a default, it is more likely to default again in the future, compared to another country with identical future output ability. The idea of default traps is related with the asymmetric information between the borrower and the lender about the expectation of borrower's future output (GDP), the negati

Trading basics

E-TAG

e-TAG is a free-flow tolling electronic toll collection system used on all tollways throughout Australia. It was originally developed by Transurban for use on their CityLink tollway in the late 1990s, with the system since adopted by all toll roads, bridges and tunnels in Australia. The technology had different names depending on the issuer, such as Linkt (Transurban, includes former nam

Finance

Electronic trading

Electronic trading, sometimes called e-trading, is the buying and selling of stocks, bonds, foreign currencies, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, and other financial instruments online. This is typically done using electronic trading platforms where traders can place orders and have them executed at a trading venue such as a stock market, either directly or via a broker.

Securities & exchanges

Event-driven investing

Event-driven investing or Event-driven trading is a broad term encompassing hedge fund investment strategies that seeks to exploit pricing inefficiencies that may occur before or after an event. Examples of such events could be an earnings call, bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, or spinoff. In more recent times market practitioners have expanded this definition to include additional event

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

Finance

Fixed income arbitrage

Fixed-income arbitrage is a group of market-neutral-investment strategies that are designed to take advantage of differences in interest rates between varying fixed-income securities or contracts (Jefferson, 2007). Arbitrage in terms of investment strategy, involves buying securities on one market for immediate resale on another market in order to profit from a price discrepancy.

Trading basics

Fixed-income relative-value investing

Fixed-Income Relative-Value Investing (FI-RV) is a hedge fund investment strategy made popular by the failed hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management.

Finance

Flash crash

In modern finance, a flash crash is a very rapid, deep, and volatile fall in security prices occurring within a very short time period followed by a quick recovery. Flash crashes are frequently blamed by media on trades executed by black-box trading, combined with high-frequency trading, whose speed and interconnectedness can result in the loss and recovery of billions of dollars in a ma

Trading basics

Frequency (marketing)

In marketing and advertising, frequency refers to the number of times a target audience is exposed to a particular message or advertisement within a given time frame. This concept is a fundamental element of marketing communication strategies, aiming to enhance brand recall, create awareness, and influence consumer behavior through repeated exposure.

Securities & exchanges

Front running

Front running, also known as tailgating, is the practice of entering into an equity (stock) trade, option, futures contract, derivative, or security-based swap to capitalize on advance, nonpublic knowledge of a large ("block") pending transaction that will influence the price of the underlying security. In essence, it means the use of knowledge of an impending trade to engage in a person

Trading basics

Global macro trading

Global macro trading is an investment strategy that leverages macroeconomic and geopolitical data to analyze and predict moves in financial markets. Large-scale or "macro" political and economic events can disproportionately impact certain sectors, such as the energy, commodity, and currency markets, over others. The strategy typically employs forecasts and analysis of interest rate tren

Securities & exchanges

GTS (company)

Global Trading Systems, which uses the trade name GTS, is an American proprietary trading and market making firm headquartered in New York. The firm accounts for 3 to 5 percent of the daily turnover of US equities and has handled over 250 IPO listings since 2013.

Finance

High frequency data

High frequency data refers to time-series data collected at an extremely fine scale. As a result of advanced computational power in recent decades, high frequency data can be accurately collected at an efficient rate for analysis. Largely used in the financial field, high frequency data provides observations at very frequent intervals that can be used to understand market behaviors, dyna

Finance

High-frequency trading

High-frequency trading (HFT) is a type of algorithmic automated trading system in finance characterized by high speeds, high turnover rates, and high order-to-trade ratios that leverages high-frequency financial data and electronic trading tools. While there is no single definition of HFT, among its key attributes are highly sophisticated algorithms, co-location, and very short-term inve

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.

Trading basics

Interest rate

An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed. Interest rate periods are ordinarily a year and are often annualized when not. Alongside interest rates, three other variables determine total interest: principal sum, compounding frequency, and length of time.

Securities & exchanges

Jane Street Capital

Jane Street Capital is an American electronic market making company headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. It is one of the largest market making firms in the United States along with Virtu and Citadel Securities. It employs approximately 3,000 people across its global offices, and trades across more than twenty countries.

Trading basics

KGS (electronic toll collection)

KGS, acronym for Kartlı Geçiş Sistemi (literally: Pass System with Card), was an electronic toll collection system of contactless smart card type available on toll roads and toll bridges in Turkey. It was abolished on 1 February 2013. The system was adopted to avoid traffic congestion at toll plazas. An alternative to KGS is the OGS system of radio-frequency identification (RFID) transpo

Finance

Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Bill

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

Finance

Long/short equity

Long/short equity is an investment strategy generally associated with hedge funds. It involves buying equities that are expected to increase in value and selling short equities that are expected to decrease in value. This is different from the risk reversal strategies where investors will simultaneously buy a call option and sell a put option to simulate being long in a stock.

Trading basics

Managed futures account

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),

Finance

Market data

In finance, market data is price and other related data for a financial instrument reported by a trading venue such as a stock exchange. Market data allows traders and investors to know the latest price and see historical trends for instruments such as equities, fixed-income products, derivatives, and currencies.

Finance

Multi-manager investment

A multi-manager fund is an investment product that consists of multiple specialized funds. Each specialized fund may invest across different sectors and markets, or in the same asset class but have different investment styles. For example, large cap value fund versus large cap growth fund.

Finance

Negative probability

The probability of the outcome of an experiment is never negative, although a quasiprobability distribution allows a negative probability, or quasiprobability for some events. These distributions may apply to unobservable events or conditional probabilities.

Trading basics

OGS (electronic toll collection)

OGS (Turkish: Otomatik Geçiş Sistemi English: Automated Transit System) was an electronic toll collection system of RFID transponder type available on toll roads and toll bridges in Turkey. The system was adopted to avoid traffic congestion at toll plazas. The successor to OGS is the HGS system of RFID tag type implemented later on at the same toll plazas.

Trading basics

Quantitative fund

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

Finance

Quote stuffing

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

Networks

Regulation of algorithms

Regulation of algorithms, or algorithmic regulation, is the creation of laws, rules and public sector policies for promotion and regulation of algorithms, particularly in artificial intelligence and machine learning. For the subset of AI algorithms, the term regulation of artificial intelligence is used. The regulatory and policy landscape for artificial intelligence (AI) is an emerging

Finance

Risk arbitrage

Risk arbitrage, also known as merger arbitrage, is an investment strategy that speculates on the successful completion of mergers and acquisitions. An investor that employs this strategy is known as an arbitrageur. Risk arbitrage is a type of event-driven investing in that it attempts to exploit pricing inefficiencies caused by a corporate event.

Payments & settlement

Speedpass

Speedpass was a keychain radio-frequency identification (RFID) device introduced in 1997 by Mobil (which merged with Exxon to become ExxonMobil in 1999) for electronic payment. It was originally developed by Verifone. By 2004, more than seven million people possessed Speedpass tags, which could be used at approximately 10,000 Exxon, Mobil and Esso gas stations worldwide.

Finance

Spoofing (finance)

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

Finance

Spread Networks

Spread Networks is a company founded by Dan Spivey and backed by James L. Barksdale (former CEO of Netscape ) that claims to offer Internet connectivity between Chicago and New York City at ultra-low latency (i.e. speeds that are very close to the speed of light), high bandwidth, and high reliability, using dark fiber. Its customers are primarily firms engaged in high-frequency trading,

Securities & exchanges

Squarepoint Capital

Squarepoint Capital ("Squarepoint") is a global investment management firm headquartered in New York City & London. The firm is known for its quantitative finance approach to investing. Squarepoint has additional offices in Bangalore, Boston, Dubai, Geneva, Hong Kong, Houston, Jersey, London, Madrid, Montreal, New York, Paris, Singapore, and Zug.

Trading basics

Statistical arbitrage

In finance, statistical arbitrage (Stat Arb or StatArb) is a class of short-term financial trading strategies that employ mean reversion models involving broadly diversified portfolios of securities (hundreds to thousands) held for short periods of time (generally seconds to days). These strategies are supported by substantial mathematical, computational, and trading platforms.

Payments & settlement

SumUp

SumUp is a British financial technology company headquartered in London. SumUp’s primary product is an EMV card reader and a number of online payment and bank account system for merchants and businesses.

Trading basics

SunPass

SunPass is an electronic toll collection system within the state of Florida, United States. It was created in 1999 by the Florida Department of Transportation's (FDOT's) Office of Toll Operations, which operates as a division of Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). The system utilizes windshield-mounted RFID transponders manufactured by TransCore and lane equipment designed by companies

Payments & settlement

Telephone card

A telephone card (also telecard, teleca, calling card or phone card for short) is a credit card-size plastic or paper card used to pay for telephone services (often international or long-distance calling). It is not necessary to have the physical card except with a stored-value system; knowledge of the access telephone number to dial and the PIN is sufficient. Standard cards which can be

Trading basics

TFI Leap Card

The TFI Leap Card is a contactless smart card for automated fare collection overseen by the National Transport Authority (NTA) under the Transport for Ireland (TFI) brand.

Payments & settlement

Ticketing and Reservation System

Ticketing and Reservation System (TRS, 铁路客票发售和预订系统) is software used for rail ticketing in China Railways. It was developed by the China Academy of Railway Sciences. The first release was in 1996. As of December 2009, the version in use was version 5.2. It was named SMART before (excluding) version 4.0. It runs on Microsoft Windows.

Trading basics

Touch 'n Go

Touch 'n Go is a contactless smart card system used for electronic payments in Malaysia. The system was introduced in 1997 and is widely used for toll payments on highways, public transportation, parking, and other services. The card is equipped with a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip that allows users to make payments by simply tapping the card on a reader device. Touch 'n Go

Trading basics

Trondheim toll scheme

Trondheim Toll Scheme or Trondheim Package (Norwegian: Trondheimspakken) was the result of that in the 1980s politicians and road authorities in Trondheim Municipality, Norway wanted to accelerate the investments in roads and motorways around the city through an investment package and toll scheme to ease construction and generate more funds. Between 1991 and 2005, there were more than 24

Trading basics

Vem

The VEM (Acronym of Vale eletrônico Metropolitano, Electronic Metropolitan Ticket) is a Smart card system used in bus, train and metro of the metropolitan area of Recife, Brazil.

Payments & settlement

Yang Cheng Tong

Yang Cheng Tong (Chinese: 羊城通; Jyutping: joeng4 sing4 tung1; pinyin: Yáng chéng tōng; lit. 'Ram City Pass') is a contactless rechargeable stored value smartcard designed for paying the travel fares in the metro, buses, taxis and ferries in Guangzhou, China, along with most other cities in Guangdong, with the exception of Shenzhen. It was developed and managed by Guangzhou Yang Cheng Tong

Trading basics

York Capital Management

York Capital Management (York Capital) is an American investment management company, founded by James Dinan and headquartered in New York City.