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Trading basics

Absolute return

The absolute return or simply return is a measure of the gain or loss on an investment portfolio expressed as a percentage of invested capital. The adjective "absolute" is used to stress the distinction with the relative return measures (often used by long-only stock funds) that are based on comparison to a benchmark.

Payments & settlement

ACH Network

In the United States, the ACH Network is the national automated clearing house (ACH) for electronic funds transfers established in the 1960s and 1970s. It is a financial utility owned by US banks, and is one of the largest payments networks in the United States, both by volume and by customer reach; virtually every bank account in the US, whether personal or commercial, is connected to t

Trading basics

Active management

Active management (also called active investing) is an approach to investing. In an actively managed portfolio of investments, the investor selects the investments that make up the portfolio. Active management is often compared to passive management or index investing.

Trading basics

Algorithmic trading

Algorithmic trading is a method of executing orders using automated pre-programmed trading instructions accounting for variables such as time, price, and volume. This type of trading attempts to leverage the speed and computational resources of computers relative to human traders. In the twenty-first century, algorithmic trading has been gaining traction with both retail and institutiona

Finance

Alpha (finance)

Alpha is a measure of the active return on an investment, the performance of that investment compared with a suitable market index. An alpha of 1% means the investment's return on investment over a selected period of time was 1% better than the market during that same period; a negative alpha means the investment underperformed the market.

Trading basics

Alternative investment

An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding capital stocks, bonds, and cash.

Trading basics

Alternative trading system

Alternative trading system (ATS) is a US and Canadian regulatory term for a non-exchange trading venue that matches buyers and sellers to find counterparties for transactions. Alternative trading systems are typically regulated as broker-dealers rather than as exchanges (although an alternative trading system can apply to be regulated as a securities exchange). In general, for regulatory

Trading basics

Arbitrage

Arbitrage ( , UK also ) is the practice of taking advantage of a difference in prices in two or more markets – striking a combination of matching deals to capitalize on the difference, the profit being the difference between the market prices at which the unit is traded. Arbitrage has the effect of causing prices of the same or very similar assets in different markets to converge.

Trading basics

Arbitrage pricing theory

In finance, arbitrage pricing theory (APT) is a multi-factor model for asset pricing which relates various macro-economic (systematic) risk variables to the pricing of financial assets. Proposed by economist Stephen Ross in 1976, it is widely believed to be an improved alternative to its predecessor, the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). APT is founded upon the law of one price, which

Trading basics

Artificial intelligence in insurance

Artificial intelligence in insurance is the use of machine learning and other artificial intelligence (AI) techniques by insurance companies and intermediaries, for tasks such as underwriting, pricing, claims handling, fraud detection and customer service. Insurers have used statistical models to classify and price risks for decades, and actuaries adopted generalized linear models in the

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

Trading basics

Asset allocation

Asset allocation is the implementation of an investment strategy that attempts to balance risk versus reward by adjusting the percentage of each asset in an investment portfolio according to the investor's risk tolerance, goals and investment time frame. The focus is on the characteristics of the overall portfolio. Such a strategy contrasts with an approach that focuses on individual as

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.

Securities & exchanges

Asset swap

The term asset swap has a number of different meanings:

Trading basics

Assets under management

Assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management (FUD), refers in finance to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institution—or a decentralized network protocol manages and invests, typically on behalf of its clients. Funds may be managed for clients, platform users, or

Payments & settlement

ATM

An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance or account information inquiries, at any time and without the need for direct interaction with bank staff.

Trading basics

ATM card

An ATM card is a dedicated payment card issued by a financial institution (i.e. a bank) which enables a customer to access their financial accounts via its and others' automated teller machines (ATMs) and, in some countries, to make approved point of purchase retail transactions. Many ATM cards also doubled as cheque guarantee cards. ATM cards are not credit or debit cards, however most

Trading basics

Australian Securities Exchange

Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange. The ASX was formed on 1 April 1987, through incorporation under legislation by the Parliament of Australia as an amalgamation of the six state securities exchanges. It merged with the Sydney Futures Exchange in 2006.

Trading basics

Automated clearing house

An automated clearing house (ACH) is a computer-based electronic network for processing transactions, usually domestic low-value payments, between participating financial institutions. It may support both credit transfers and direct debits. The ACH system is designed to process batches of payments containing numerous transactions, and it charges fees low enough to encourage its use for l

Trading basics

B3 (stock exchange)

B3 S.A. – Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (in English, B3 – Brazil Stock Exchange and Over-the-Counter Market), formerly BM&FBOVESPA, is a stock exchange located in São Paulo, Brazil, and the second oldest in the country.

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.

Securities & exchanges

Backwardation

Backwardation is a market condition where the price of a commodity's forward or futures contract price is trading below the spot price.

Banking

Bai Salam

Bai Salam (Arabic بيع سلم, more accurately transliterated as Bai us Salami) is an Islamic contract in which full payment is made in advance for specific goods (often agricultural products) to be delivered at a future date. It is necessary that the quality of the commodity intended to be purchased is fully specified leaving no ambiguity leading to dispute. Bai salam covers almost every

Trading basics

Baltic Exchange

The Baltic Exchange (incorporated as The Baltic Exchange Limited) is a British financial services company and membership organisation for the maritime industry, and freight market information provider for the trading and settlement of chartering and derivative contracts.

Banking

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.

Banking

Bank account

A bank account is a financial account maintained by a bank or other financial institution in which the financial transactions between the bank and a customer are recorded. Each financial institution sets the terms and conditions for each type of account it offers, which are classified in commonly understood types, such as deposit accounts, credit card accounts, current accounts, loan ac

Banking

Bank rate

Bank rate, also known as discount rate in American English, and (familiarly) the base rate in European English, is the rate of interest which a central bank charges on its loans and advances to a commercial bank. The bank rate is known by a number of different terms depending on the country, and has changed over time in some countries as the mechanisms used to manage the rate have change

Finance

Bank regulation and supervision

Bank regulation and supervision refers to a form of financial regulation which subjects banks to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, enforced by a financial supervisory authority or supervisor, with semantic variations across jurisdictions. By and large, bank regulation and supervision aims at ensuring the stability of the banking sector and at fostering transparency betwe

Banking

Bank secrecy

Banking secrecy, alternatively known as financial privacy, banking discretion, or bank safety, is a conditional agreement between a bank and its clients that all foregoing activities remain secure, confidential, and private. Most often associated with banking in Switzerland, banking secrecy is prevalent in Luxembourg, Monaco, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, and Lebanon, among other off-sh

Banking

Bank transaction tax

A bank transaction tax is a tax levied on debit (and/or credit) entries on bank accounts. In 1989, at the Buenos Aires meetings of the International Institute of Public Finance, University of Wisconsin–Madison Professor of Economics Edgar L. Feige proposed extending the tax reform ideas of John Maynard Keynes, James Tobin and Lawrence Summers, to their logical conclusion, namely to tax a

Banking

Banker's right to combine accounts

Under English law, a bank has a general right to combine accounts where a customer has multiple accounts with the same bank. The right has been recognised since at least 1860. However it was not until the 1975 House of Lords decision in National Westminster Bank Ltd v Halesowen Presswork & Assemblies Ltd [1972] AC 785 that it was finally determined that this was a type of set-off righ

Banking

Banking in India

Modern banking in India began in the mid-18th century. Among the first banks were the Bank of Hindustan, which was established in 1770 and liquidated in 1829–32; and the General Bank of India, established in 1786 but failed in 1791.

Banking

Banq

"Banq" and "banc" are alternative spellings used in company names to evade legal restrictions on the use of the word 'bank' while maintaining a similar pronunciation. This practice is common in the financial services industry, particularly in the United States.

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.

Finance

Base erosion and profit shifting

Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) is a category of corporate tax avoidance strategies used by multinationals to "shift" profits from higher-tax jurisdictions to lower-tax jurisdictions or no-tax locations where there is little or no economic activity, thus "eroding" the "tax-base" of the higher-tax jurisdictions using deductible payments such as interest or royalties. For the gover

Trading basics

Basis risk

Basis risk in finance is the risk associated with imperfect hedging due to the variables or characteristics that affect the difference between the futures contract and the underlying "cash" position. It arises because of the difference between the price of the asset to be hedged and the price of the asset serving as the hedge before expiration, namely b = S - F. Barring idiosyncratic inf

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.

Finance

Beta (finance)

In finance, the beta (β or market beta or beta coefficient) is a statistic that measures the expected increase or decrease of an individual stock price in proportion to movements of the stock market as a whole. Beta can be used to indicate the contribution of an individual asset to the market risk of a portfolio when it is added in small quantity. It refers to an asset's non-diversifiabl

Trading basics

Bid–ask spread

The bid–ask spread (also bid–offer or bid/ask and buy/sell in the case of a market maker) is the difference between the prices quoted (either by a single market maker or in a limit order book) for an immediate sale (ask) and an immediate purchase (bid) for stocks, futures contracts, options, or currency pairs in some auction scenario. The size of the bid–ask spread in a security is one m

Securities & exchanges

Binary option

A binary option is a financial exotic option in which the payoff is either some fixed monetary amount or nothing at all. The two main types of binary options are the cash-or-nothing binary option and the asset-or-nothing binary option. The former pays some fixed amount of cash if the option expires in-the-money while the latter pays the value of the underlying security. They are also cal

Finance

Binomial options pricing model

In finance, the binomial options pricing model (BOPM) provides a generalizable numerical method for the valuation of options. Essentially, the model uses a "discrete-time" (lattice based) model of the varying price over time of the underlying financial instrument, addressing cases where the closed-form Black–Scholes formula is wanting, which in general does not exist for the BOPM.

Finance

Black model

The Black model (also known as the Black-76 model) is a variant of the Black–Scholes option pricing model. Its primary applications are for pricing options on future contracts, bond options, interest rate cap and floors, and swaptions. It was first presented in a paper written by Fischer Black in 1976.

Finance

Black–Derman–Toy model

In mathematical finance, the Black–Derman–Toy model (BDT) is a popular short-rate model used in the pricing of bond options, swaptions and other interest rate derivatives; see Lattice model (finance) § Interest rate derivatives. It is a one-factor model; that is, a single stochastic factor—the short rate—determines the future evolution of all interest rates. It was the first model to com

Securities & exchanges

Black–Scholes model

The Black–Scholes or Black–Scholes–Merton model is a mathematical model for the dynamics of a financial market containing derivative investment instruments. From the parabolic partial differential equation in the model, known as the Black–Scholes equation, one can deduce the Black–Scholes formula, which gives a theoretical estimate of the price of European-style options and shows that t

Trading basics

Block trade

A block trade is a high-volume transaction in a security that is privately negotiated and executed outside of the open market for that security. Major broker-dealers often provide "block trading" services—sometimes known as "upstairs trading desks"—to their institutional clients. In the United States and Canada a block trade is usually at least 10,000 shares of a stock or $100,000 of bo

Finance

Bond option

In finance, a bond option is an option to buy or sell a bond at a certain price on or before the option expiry date. These instruments are typically traded OTC.

Finance

Borsa Italiana

Borsa Italiana (lit. 'Italian Stock Exchange') or Borsa di Milano (lit. 'Milan Stock Exchange') is the Italian stock exchange based in Milan at Palazzo Mezzanotte. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervising disclosures for listed companies.

Banking

Boutique investment bank

A boutique investment bank is a small investment bank that specializes in at least one aspect of investment banking, generally corporate finance, although some banks' strengths are retail in nature, such as Charles Schwab. Of those involved in corporate finance, capital raising, mergers and acquisitions and restructuring and reorganizations are their primary activities. Boutiques usually

Securities & exchanges

Box spread

In options trading, a box spread is a combination of positions that has a certain (i.e., riskless) payoff, considered to be simply "delta neutral interest rate position". For example, a bull spread constructed from calls (e.g., long a 50 call, short a 60 call) combined with a bear spread constructed from puts (e.g., long a 60 put, short a 50 put) has a constant payoff of the difference

Finance

Brass plate company

A brass plate company, or brass plate trust, is a legally constituted company lacking meaningful connection with the location of incorporation. Brass plate refers to the only tangible existence of an organization in its jurisdiction of incorporation being a nameplate attached to the wall outside its registered office. The registered office is often the same office and address of the loca

Payments & settlement

BRICS Pay

BRICS Pay (stylized as BRICS PAY) is a decentralized and independent payment messaging mechanism system that is affiliated with the BRICS organization.

Finance

Broker

A broker is a person or entity that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller. This may be done for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confused with that of an agent—one who acts on behalf of a principal party in a deal.

Trading basics

Broker-dealer

In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and derivatives trading process.

Trading basics

Budapest Stock Exchange

Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) (Hungarian: Budapesti Értéktőzsde, pronounced [ˈbudɒpɛʃti ˈeːrteːktøːʒdɛ] (BÉT)) is the third largest stock exchange in Central and Eastern Europe by market capitalization and liquidity. It is located at 55 Krisztina Boulevard, Budapest, Hungary, in the Buda Centre of the Hungarian National Bank Previously, from 1864, during the Austro-Hungarian Empire it wa

Finance

Buffett indicator

The Buffett indicator (or the Buffett metric, or the Market capitalization-to-GDP ratio) is a valuation multiple used to assess how expensive or cheap the aggregate stock market is at a given point in time. It was proposed as a metric by investor Warren Buffett in 2001, who called it "probably the best single measure of where valuations stand at any given moment", and its modern form co

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 valuation

Business valuation is a process and a set of procedures used to estimate the economic value of an owner's interest in a business. Here various valuation techniques are used by the interested counterparties to determine the price they are willing to pay or receive to effect a sale of the business. In addition to estimating the selling price of a business, the same valuation tools are ofte

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.

Trading basics

Buy and hold

Buy and hold, also called position trading, is an investment strategy whereby an investor buys financial assets or non-financial assets such as real estate, to hold them long term, with the goal of realizing price appreciation, despite volatility.

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

Finance

Canada Savings Bond

The Canada Savings Bond (French: Obligations d’épargne du Canada) was an investment instrument offered by the Government of Canada from 1945 to 2017, sold between early October and December 1 of every year. It was issued by the Bank of Canada and was intended to offer a competitive interest rate, and had a guaranteed minimum interest rate.

Securities & exchanges

Canadian Securities Administrators

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA; French: Autorités canadiennes en valeurs mobilières, ACVM) is an umbrella organization of Canada's provincial and territorial securities regulators whose objective is to improve, coordinate, and harmonize regulation of the Canadian capital markets.

Trading basics

Capital allocation line

Capital allocation line (CAL) is a graph created by investors to measure the risk of risky and risk-free assets. The graph displays the return to be made by taking on a certain level of risk. Its slope is known as the "reward-to-variability ratio".

Finance

Capital asset

A capital asset is defined as property of any kind held by an assessee. It need not be connected to the assesse's business or profession. The term encompasses all kinds of property, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, fixed or circulating. Land and building, plant and machinery, motorcar, furniture, jewellery, route permits, goodwill, tenancy rights, patents, trademarks, shares

Trading basics

Capital asset pricing model

In finance, the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is a model used to determine a theoretically appropriate required rate of return of an asset, to make decisions about adding assets to a well-diversified portfolio. The model takes into account the asset's sensitivity to non-diversifiable risk (also known as systematic risk or market risk), often represented by the quantity beta (β) in t

Trading basics

Capital gain

Capital gain is an economic concept defined as the profit earned on the sale of an asset that has increased in value over the holding period. An asset may be tangible property, a car, a business, or intangible property such as shares.

Trading basics

Capital market line

Capital market line (CML) is the tangent line drawn from the point of the risk-free asset to the feasible region for risky assets. The tangency point M represents the market portfolio, so named since all rational investors (minimum variance criterion) should hold their risky assets in the same proportions as their weights in the market portfolio.

Finance

Car costs

A car's internal costs are all the costs consumers pay to own and operate a car. Normally these expenditures are divided into fixed or standing costs and variable or running costs. Fixed costs are those which do not depend on the distance traveled by the vehicle and which the owner must pay to keep the vehicle ready for use on the road, like insurance or road taxes. Variable or running c

Securities & exchanges

Cashflow matching

Cash flow matching is a process of hedging in which a company or other entity matches its cash outflows (i.e., financial obligations) with its cash inflows over a given time horizon. It is a subset of immunization strategies in finance. Cash flow matching is of particular importance to defined benefit pension plans.

Banking

Central bank

A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, state bank, or monetary authority is a financial institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the monetary base. Many central banks also have supervisory or regulatory powers to ensure the stability of commercial banks in their j

Banking

Certificate of deposit

A certificate of deposit (CD) is a time deposit sold by banks, thrift institutions, and credit unions in the United States. CDs typically differ from savings accounts because the CD has a specific, fixed term before money can be withdrawn without penalty. CDs also generally have higher interest rates than savings accounts. CDs require a minimum deposit and may offer higher rates for larg

Securities & exchanges

Chan–Karolyi–Longstaff–Sanders process

In mathematics, the Chan–Karolyi–Longstaff–Sanders process (abbreviated as CKLS process) is a stochastic process with applications to finance. In particular it has been used to model the term structure of interest rates. The CKLS process can also be viewed as a generalization of the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. It is named after K. C. Chan, G. Andrew Karolyi, Francis A. Longstaff, and Ant

Finance

Chance-constrained portfolio selection

Chance-constrained portfolio selection is an approach to portfolio selection under loss aversion.

Payments & settlement

Charge card

A charge card is a type of credit card that enables the cardholder to make purchases which are paid for by the card issuer, to whom the cardholder becomes indebted. The cardholder is obliged to repay the debt to the card issuer in full by the due date, usually on a monthly basis, or be subject to late fees and restrictions on further card use. Charge cards are distinct from traditional c

Finance

Chartered Financial Analyst

The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program is a postgraduate professional certification offered internationally by the US-based CFA Institute (formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research, or AIMR) to investment and financial professionals. The program teaches a wide range of subjects relating to advanced investment analysis—including business analysis, statistics,

Trading basics

Chen model

In finance, the Chen model is a mathematical model describing the evolution of interest rates. It is a type of "three-factor model" (short-rate model) as it describes interest rate movements as driven by three sources of market risk. It was the first stochastic mean and stochastic volatility model and it was published in 1994 by Lin Chen, PhD from Harvard, former economist of Federal Res

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

Choice Lanes

Choice Lanes are a planned system of express toll lanes on Interstate Highways in urban areas in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The lanes are planned to be financed, built, and maintained by private-sector firms through public–private partnerships (P3s) with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), which will retain ownership of the facilities. Choice Lanes were authorized by the

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.

Banking

Christmas club

A Christmas club is a special-purpose savings account, first offered by various banks and credit unions in the United States beginning in the early 20th century, including the Great Depression. Bank customers would deposit a set amount of money each week into a savings account, and receive the money back at the end of the year for Christmas shopping.

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.

Securities & exchanges

Collateralized debt obligation

A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) is a type of structured asset-backed security (ABS). Originally developed as instruments for the corporate debt markets, after 2002 CDOs became vehicles for refinancing mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Like other private label securities backed by assets, a CDO can be thought of as a promise to pay investors in a prescribed sequence, based on the c

Banking

Collective trust fund

A collective trust fund or collective investment trust (CIT) is a legal trust administered by a bank or trust company that combines assets for multiple investors who meet specific requirements set forth in the fund's declaration of trust. Typically, a collective trust pools assets from corporate and governmental profit sharing, pension and stock bonus plans, and charitable and other tax

Banking

Commercial bank

A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and provides loans to its clients in order to facilitate their commercial affairs, including transactional and trading activities involving monetary and non-monetary exchanges, while generating profit. In common usage, the term bank generally denotes a commercial bank that is authorized to accept deposits

Trading basics

Commodity pool operator

A Commodity pool operator (CPO) is an individual or organization that solicits or receives funds to use in the operation of a commodity pool, syndicate, collective investment vehicle, investment trust, or similar structure, specifically for trading (buying and selling) of and in commodity interests. Such commodity interests include commodity futures, swaps, options and/or leverage transa

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

Securities & exchanges

Common stock

Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Commonwealth realms. This type of share gives the stockholder the right to share in the profits of the company, and to vote on matters of corporate

Banking

Community development bank

A community development bank (CDB) or Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) is a development bank or credit union that focus on serving people who have been locked out of the traditional financial systems such as the unbanked or underbanked in deprived local communities. They emphasize the long term development of communities and provide loans such as micro-finance or ventu

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:

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

Finance

Concentration risk

Concentration risk is a banking term describing the level of risk in a bank's portfolio arising from concentration to a single counterparty, sector or country.

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

Conduit and sink OFCs

Conduit OFC and sink OFC is an empirical quantitative method of classifying corporate tax havens, offshore financial centres (OFCs) and tax havens.

Trading basics

Congestion pricing

Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of charging users of public goods that are subject to congestion through excess demand, such as through higher peak charges for use of bus services, electricity, metros, railways, telephones, and road pricing to reduce traffic congestion; airlines and shipping companies may be charged higher fees for slots at airports and through canal