Stock Market Help
Here is a list of common financial terms. Click on the letter that corresponds with the first letter of the financial term to get the definition.
Odd Lot
Purchase or sale of less than the round lot unit of 100 shares.
Offering Price
The net asset value plus the sales charge. Offering price is what a buyer (you) would have to pay to buy one share of a given mutual fund.
Open Lot
Open lots are the components that make up open investments and can be long (buy) or short (short sell). A lot in general is a group of identical units (for securities) or nearly identical units (for collectibles) of an investment that are traded at the same time and price.
Open Order
Orders that have been placed with the broker but have yet been executed or canceled.
Open Price
The price at which a given stock opened for the current trading day. For weekend days or holidays, this would be the opening price for the previous trading day.
Opening Commission
The commission added to the proceeds before calculating realized gain or loss. It is the fee charged by broker to execute your trade. May be a composite of several fees & charges.
Opportunity Cost
The rate of return you likely would have achieved for capital in an alternative investment from the one you chose. If the current investment underperforms the foregone investment, then you have paid an opportunity cost greater than the current rate of return and you made a bad choice.
Option
A contract that gives the owner the right, if exercised, to buy or sell a security or basket of securities (index) at a specific price within a specific time limit. Usually, they are traded as securities themselves, with buyers and sellers trying to profit from price changes. They are generally available for 1 to 9 months, with some longer term options (called LEAPS) also available for selected securities. Stock option contracts are generally for the right to buy or sell 100 shares of the underlying stock (100 is the multiplier). Trading in options should only be undertaken by sophisticated investors.
Option Premium
The premium is the price at which the contract trades. The premium is the price of the option and is paid by the buyer to the writer, or seller, of the option. In return, the writer of the call option is obligated to deliver the underlying security to an option buyer if the call is exercised or buy the underlying security if the put is exercised. The writer keeps the premium whether or not the option is exercised.
Option Schedule
In brokerage, a list of the options available for the underlying stock symbol you enter.
Options
An item in the stock database that indicates whether a given stock also has options that can be traded. See Option.
OTC Stock
A security not listed on a major exchange.
Out-of-State Deposit
Indicates whether an institution will accept out of state deposits from customers.
Out-of-the Money Option
A call option is out-of- the-money if the strike price is greater than the market price of the underlying security. A put option is out-of-the money if the strike price is less than the market price of the underlying security.
Outstanding Bond Amount
The dollar amount of a bond outstanding as of the latest available balance sheet of a given corporation.