Trading Terms

Index or Indices

A tracking calculation of a selection of stocks, bonds, or any investments. Example Dow Jones Index, Straits Times Index, Hang Seng Index

Stocks

Ownership of a company that can be determined by quantity. You can own 1,000 shares of HSBC Bank

Forex

Stands for Foreign Exchange

Buy

Unable to explain

Sell

Unable to explain

Bull

Investments are going up or expected to go up

Bear

Investments are going down or expected to go down

Long

Buy

Short

Sell

Rally

Prices are going up or gone up

Decline

Prices are coming down or came down

Tank

Came down / Dropping

Call Option

An option to buy at an agreed price ($) and date, only if the option buyer wants to buy

Put Option

An option to sell at an agreed price ($) and date, only if the option buyer wants to sell

Quote

A buyer or seller putting up a price, which is known as the quote

Bid

Prices queuing to Buy

Offer

Prices queuing to Sell

Spread

Price difference between Bid and Offer

GTC

Good Till Cancel

Market Order

Buy or Sell at Market Price (whatever price that is first in queue)

Limit Order

Buy or Sell Price at a pre-determined price

Stop

Buy or Sell to exit an existing trade or investment

Stop Loss

An action to exit trade when the trade or investment has negative returns

Profit Take

An action to exit trade when the trade or investment has positive returns

Hedge

An action taken to reduce or protect price movement of the investment

Settlement

The formal completion of the traded transaction. Example, T+3 which means settlement of cash or securities in 3 working days.

Margin Call

Trading capital that has gone below the required amount due to negative price movements or change in margin level

OTC

Stands for Over-the-counter. Any trades that is private between two parties by a dealer, without going through a regulated exchange are not transacted via a regulated exchange

Technical Analysis

Use past behaviors to predict future behaviors through the use of charts, trendlines and related analysis

Value Investing

An investment style that focus on fundamental analysis. Make popular by Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett.

Fundamental Analysis

Using basic finance, accounting, investment, economic concepts to predict future price movements

Cable
Exchange rate between Pound and Dollar (GBP/USD)
Origin:
In 1880s, exchange rate for GBP/USD was transmitted across the Atlantic ocean floor by a large cable, the Transatlantic Cable. The steel cable was laid in 1858, allowing messages with currency prices to be transmitted between the London and New York Exchanges. The Times publish the first exchange rate on 10 August 1866.

CD (Cum-dividend)
The period of time when a dividend is declared by a company, but has not been paid out yet.

XD (Ex-dividend)
The date at which the dividend is paid to the shareholder.

OTC (Over-the-counter)
A transaction involving securities that are not publicly listed on an exchange.

CFD (Contract for Difference)
A contract between two people to pay the difference in the value of a security from now till a later date. If the price goes up, A will pay B the difference, and if it goes down, B will pay A.