Letter O Dictionary

OASDI: Acronym for Old age, survivors, and disability insurance, which refers to the...
objective: The desired result by an investor or mutual fund, such as current income or...
obligation: Any debt, written promise, or obligation.
obligation bond: A mortgage bond whose face value is greater than the value of the underlying...
obligor: A person or firm that owes debt to another individual or firm, as a result of...
obsolescence: The loss in the utility of an asset as a result of the development of improved...
OCC: Acronym for Options Clearing Corporation, which refers to the organization that...
occupancy agreement: An agreement that permits a buyer to occupy a property prior to escrow closing.
occupation: Any job or profession.
occupational hazard: A working condition that has the potential to lead to illness or death.
October Effect: The false perception of the idea that the stock market tends to do poorly in October.
odd lot: Having the quality of holding less than 100 shares of a stock, or less than...
odd lot buy/sell ratio: An indicator of small-investor sentiment, and calculated by the following: Amount...
odd-lot theory: A technical analysis theory based on using odd-lot trading behavior as a contrary...
OECD: Acronym for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which refers...
OECD Leading Indicator - Euro-zone: A measure of the economic outlook for the Euro-zone. As one of the most respected...
OEM: Acronym for Original Equipment Manufacturer, which refers to a producer that...
OEX: Acronym for the Standard & Poor's 100, an index of stocks whose options trade on the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
of record: As shown by the record.
off the books: Quantities of payments for which no formal record is kept.
off-balance-sheet financing: Any kind of financing from sources outside of debt and equity offerings (i.e....
off-board: Any form of financing originating from sources other than debt and equity offerings...
off-floor order: An order placed by a client with a broker that does not occur on the floor of an exchange.
off-the-run Treasuries: Any form of treasury securities that are traded in a secondary market, as opposed to the set most recently issued to investors.
offer: The lowest price for which an investor or dealer is willing to sell a given...
offering: The process of making available a new securities issue to the public via an underwriting. Also known as public offering.
offering circular: A legal document offering securities or mutual fund shares for sale, as required...
offering date: The specified date on which an offering will become available to the public.
offering price: The ask price, or the price at which the first investors are able to purchase shares.
offering scale: The prices, or yields to maturity, at which different maturities of a serial bond issue are offered to the public.
Office of Thrift Supervision: The agency of the U.S. treasury department, responsible for monitoring the savings and loan industry.
officer: An executive of a firm who shares legal liability for his or her firm's actions.
official: See authorized.
Official Reserve Assets - Japan: The wealth controlled by the Bank of Japan. Japan holds enormous reserves of...
offset: The elimination or reduction of a current long or short position by making a...
offshore company: A firm incorporated in a country where there are minimal government control and low tax rates.
OID: Acronym for Original Issue Discount, which refers to the discount from par value at the time a bond is issued.
old age, survivors, and disability insurance: The official name for Social Security.
oligopoly: A type of market in microeconomic theory, where a small number of participants...
oligopsony: A type of market with a small number of buyers.
Omani Rial: The currency of Oman. Learn more about Oman and the Omani Rial at GoCurrency.com
omit: To leave out.
omitted dividend: A dividend that was initially expected, but not declared, generally due to financial difficulties. Also known as passed dividend.
omnibus account: A type of account that one futures commission merchant carries for another....
OMR: The ISO currency code for the Omani Rial. Learn more about Oman and the Omani Rial at GoCurrency.com
on account: The condition of being in partial payment of a debt.
on balance: The overall effect.
On Balance Volume: On Balance Volume can be used to either confirm the current price trend or warn...
on budget: The condition of being within anticipated costs, as for a project.
on close: A market order or limit order to be executed before the close of a trading session,...
on consignment: See consignment.
on demand: The condition of being present when needed.
on margin: See buying on margin.
on open: An order to buy or sell a given equity at the price, when the market opens....
on order: The condition of being ordered but not yet paid for.
on spec: The condition of working without any guarantee of a salary, with the hope of winning future business.
on the close order: An order to buy or sell a given number of shares in a given stock at that day's closing price.
on the opening: An order to buy or sell a given equity at the opening price. If the transaction...
on-floor order: An order that is placed by a member of an exchange for his or her own account.
on-the-run Treasuries: The most recent set of Treasury securities of a given maturity.
on-the-spot loan: A preapproved line of credit, bypassing the need for a credit history report.
one man picture: A price quote, consisting of a bid and ask, stemming from a single market maker.
one time charge: An expense that a given firm acknowledges in a single reporting period, but claims is unlikely to reoccur in the future.
one-share one-vote rule: The restriction on NYSE, AMEX, and Nasdaq companies that prohibits them from...
online banking: Very simply, online banking refers to the performance of banking activities...
online broker: A brokerage that provides trading services to its clients over the Internet.
online trading: The increasingly popular activity of buying and selling financial securities...
OPEC: Acronym for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which refers to a...
open: The initial price of a given security or commodity in a trading session. Also known as opening.
open economy: An economy that is largely free of trade restrictions.
open ended: The quality of having no set limit, either in time or money.
open interest: The total number of futures contracts or option contracts that have yet to be exercised, expired, or fulfilled by delivery.
open market: An market accessible to all investors or consumers.
open market operation: The buying and selling of government securities by a central bank (i.e. the Federal Reserve Bank in the U.S.).
open mortgage: A mortgage that can be paid off prior to maturity without penalty. In general,...
open order: An order to buy or sell securities, which have not been executed or canceled....
open outcry: A method used at public auction in which verbal bids and offers are made in...
open position: A position that has yet to be closed.
open repo: A repo that can be terminated by either party at any time, and contains an unspecified repurchase date.
open shop: A firm or factory for which employment is not restricted to a particular trade union membership.
open trade equity: The unrealized gain or loss on an open position.
open-end credit: An agreement by a particular bank, stipulating its lending of a specific amount...
open-end fund: A type of fund operated by an investment firm, which raises money from shareholders...
open-end lease: A lease that calls for an additional payment, the amount of which will depend...
open-end management company: An investment firm that sells mutual funds to the public.
open-end mortgage: A type of mortgage in which the mortgagor is allowed to re-borrow against principal, once that has been paid in full.
opening: See open.
opening bell: The beginning of a trading session on an exchange.
opening block: The initial transaction of a given security after the opening bell; generally,...
opening purchase: A transaction in which the buyer's intention is to create or increase a long...
opening sale: A transaction in which the seller's intention is to establish or increase a...
opening transaction: The trade, either long or short, that starts a position, whether long or short.
operating: Having the quality of working or functioning.
operating asset: An asset that contributes to the regular income from a firm's operations.
operating cash flows: A measure of a firm’s cash flows, calculated by the following: [Net profit +...
operating costs: The day-to-day expenses that a firm must incur. Also known as operating expenses.
operating cycle: The average time between purchasing or acquiring inventory and receiving cash proceeds from its sale.
operating expense: The day-to-day expenses that a firm must incur (i.e. an office electricity bill).
operating income: A measure of a firm's earning power from ongoing operations, calculated by the...
operating lease: A lease for which the lessee acquires the property for only a small portion...
operating leverage: The percentage of fixed costs in a firm's cost structure. Generally, the higher...
operating margin: The operating income divided by revenues, expressed as a percentage.
operating profit: A measure of a firm's earning power from ongoing operations, calculated by the...
operating profit margin: The operating profit for a certain period divided by the total revenues for...
operating rate: The percentage of total production capacity of some entity, such as a country or a firm being utilized at a given time.
operating ratio: A firm's operating expenses as a ratio of its operating revenues.
operating surplus: An estimated measure of a firm's operating cash flow based on data from the...
operation: A unit or function within a firm.
operational risk: The risk associated with the possibility of systems failure in a given market.
operationally efficient market: A market in which investors can obtain transactions and related services at...
opinion of title: A legal document confirming that a property title is clear and marketable.
opportunity cost: The cost associated with passing up the next best choice when making a decision....
opportunity risk: The risk that a more profitable opportunity may surface after an irreversible decision has been made.
OPRA: Acronym for Options Prices Reporting Authority, which refers to a subscription...
opt: To choose or decide.
optimization: The putting together of a portfolio in such a way that return is maximized for...
optimize: To position an economic entity such that it functions at an optimal level despite the constraints to which it might be subjected.
optimum capacity: The production capacity at which cost per unit is minimized. This is generally...
option: A privilege sold by one party to another that offers the buyer the right, but...
option account: A brokerage account that is approved for options trading.
option chain: A comprehensive listing of the set of options available for a particular security....
option contract: See option
option exchange: The physical or virtual site at which options are traded.
option holder: An individual who has purchased an option, but has yet to exercise or sell it.
option income fund: A type of mutual fund that attempts to increase current income by continual option writing.
option margin: A margin requirement, as specified by Regulation T, that depends upon the type...
option pool: The shares set aside at a private firm for possible issuance to employees at a later date.
option premium: The amount per share that an option buyer pays to the seller, affected by the...
option price: See option premium.
option pricing curve: A graphical model of the price of an option as a function of time.
option series: A set of options of the same class, strike price, and maturity. Also known as series or series of options.
option spread: See spread.
option writer: The seller of an option contract. Also known as grantor or writer.
optionable stock: A stock on which listed options may be traded.
optional dividend: The dividend payment that the shareholder can choose to receive as either cash or stock.
optionee: An individual who holds of an option.
Options Clearing Corporation: Abbreviated as OCC, refers to the organization that handles clearing of the...
Options Prices Reporting Authority: Abbreviated as OPRA, refers to a subscription service that disseminates inside quotations and last sale data for options.
or better: The condition on an order, requiring the broker to buy at or below the specified...
order: A request from a client to a broker to change a position on a security. The...
order book official: The member of an exchange who maintains a book of public orders and sees that the appropriate transactions are executed.
order flow: The total small securities orders that brokers send to dealers, often in exchange for cash payments.
order imbalance: A case in which buy orders for a specific security outnumber sell orders, or...
order ticket: A form completed by a Registered Representative of a brokerage, upon the receipt...
ordinance: A local law or edict.
ordinary income: Any form of income outside than capital gains.
ordinary interest: The interest, as calculated on a 360-day-a-year basis.
ordinary loss: Any form of loss other than a capital loss.
org chart: A graphical representation depicting the hierarchy of authority within a firm,...
organization: A firm, business, firm, or association.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries: Abbreviated as OPEC, refers to a collective of countries founded in 1960 that...
organizational chart: A graphical representation depicting the hierarchy of authority within a firm, and each official’s respective responsibilities.
organized labor: A group of employees represented by a union. Also known as labor.
original cost: The total costs associated with the purchase of an asset, in accounting terms.
original equipment manufacturer: Abbreviated as OEM, refers to a producer that provides a product to its clients,...
Original Issue Discount: Accumulation Bonds do not make regular payments of interest â?? instead accumulating...
original issue stock: Securities issued when a firm is first incorporated.
original margin: The amount of cash or required securities required by the Federal Reserve Board...
original maturity: The amount of time between a bond's issue date and its maturity date, as opposed to its current maturity.
original principal balance: The total amount of principal owed on a mortgage prior to its payment.
origination fee: A fee charged by a lender for processing a loan application, expressed as a percentage of the mortgage amount.
originator: The first investment bank to propagate a proposed new securities issue, and often becomes the lead underwriter for that offering.
orphan stock: A stock that has been largely disregarded by research analysts, but may be undiscovered bargains. Also known as wallflower.
oscillator: An oscillator is a type of technical analysis indicator, bound by an upper...
OTC: Acronym for Over-the-Counter, which refers to a security that is not traded...
OTC Bulletin Board: An electronic quotation system, used for unlisted, over-the-counter securities.
otc market: See over the counter.
OTCBB: Acronym for OTC Bulletin Board.
other current assets: On a balance sheet, the value of non-cash assets due within one year.
other income: The income from activities other than normal business operations (i.e. investment...
other long term liabilities: The value of leases, future employee benefits, deferred taxes and other obligations...
out of the money: A call option whose strike price is higher than the market price of the underlying...
out-of-cash date: The date at which a firm with a high burn rate will run out of funds if the current burn rate remains constant.
out-of-favor: An unpopular stock, industry, or investment.
outcry: Method of public auction in which verbal bids and offers are made in the trading...
outgo: Expenses.
outlay: Expenditure.
outperform: See performer.
outside broker: A broker who is not a member of a major exchange, or a broker who trades over-the-counter securities.
outside director: A member of a corporation's board of directors who is not an employee of the...
outside financing: The act of financing through the issuance of debt or equity. Also known as outside financing. Opposite of internal financing.
outside market: An over-the-counter market.
outsourcing: A firm’s process of shifting labor to employees that are not full-time workers of the firm.
outstanding: The state of being remaining, in existence. Outstanding debt refers to debt yet to be paid.
outstanding check: A valid check that has been cashed, but not returned to the original financial institution for processing.
outstanding stock: The shares of a firm's stock that have been issued and are in the hands of the public. Also known as shares outstanding.
over the counter market: See over the counter.
over-55 home sale exemption: An exemption granted by the IRS, allowing an individual over the age of 55 to...
Over-the-Counter: Acronym for OTC. A security that is not traded on an exchange, due to an inability...
overadvance: A loan in advance of sales that enables a firm's management to build its inventory prior to peak sales periods.
overage: In excess. Also known as surplus.
overallotment: In the context of an offering, the sale of more securities than available, in anticipation that some orders may not be confirmed.
overbought: A technical analysis term referring to a stock that has risen too much and/or is too expensive.
overbought/oversold indicator: A technical analysis tool that attempts to identify when prices have moved too...
overdraft: The amount by which withdrawals exceed deposits, or the extension of credit...
overdraft protection: A checking account feature in which a person has a line of credit to write checks...
overdue: The state of being unpaid after the payment due date.
overhang: A block of securities or commodities contracts large enough to put downward...
overhead: The fixed, ongoing administrative expenses of a business that are not attributed...
overhead ratio: The ratio of operating expenses to the sum of taxable equivalent net interest...
overheating: The economic situation in which rapid growth provokes the fear of a rise in...
overissue: The situation in which the issuer offers a greater quantity of securities than authorized to offer.
overlapping debt: A situation where more than one authority in a geographic area have the ability to tax the same residents.
overlying mortgage: A type of mortgage that is considered junior, having a subordinate claim to a senior mortgage on the same real estate.
overnight repo: A repo with a term of one day.
oversold: A technical analysis term, referring to a stock that has fallen too far and/or is underpriced.
oversubscribed: A term used to describe a new stock issue in which the buyers want more shares than are available.
Overtime Earnings - Japan: The average earnings per employee for time worked in excess of scheduled working...
overtrading: The excessive trading in a client's account by a broker, seeking to maximize...
overvalued: Having the quality of being perceived as too expensive. Opposite of undervalued.
overweight: See overweighted.
overweighted: Having the quality of putting too much emphasis on one thing relative to other...
overwithholding: A situation, where an individual has had too much income tax withheld from his...
overwriting: The strategy of selling call or put options in quantity, in hope that they will not be exercised.
owe: To be indebted.
own: The state of having the legal right to a property.
owner financing: A home-financing technique in which a buyer borrows from the seller, as opposed...
owner of record: The name of an individual or entity that an issuer carries in its records as the registered holder of the issuer's securities.
owner's equity: The total assets minus total liabilities of an individual or firm. Also known...
owner-employee: A sole proprietor or any individual who has ownership of at least one-fifth...