Growth Investing Stock Market Glossary
From A for ‘Asset’ to Z for the ‘Zero-Coupon Yield Curve’ — your comprehensive guide to everything that matters in the markets.
OAS (Option-Adjusted Spread)
Yield spread of a bond after adjustment for embedded options relative to the yield curve.
OBV (On-Balance-Volume)
Volume indicator that cumulates inflows and outflows based on closing price direction.
Odd Lot
Quantity smaller than the market standard trading unit.
OECD
International organization for economic policy cooperation and data provision.
Off-Balance-Sheet
Off-balance sheet items such as guarantees or special purpose entities outside of the balance sheet.
Off-Exchange Trade
Trading reported outside the central order book, often referred to as a block trade.
Off-Market transaction
Transaction outside regular market mechanisms or without current market price reference.
Official trading market
Regulated market segment with special admission requirements and transparency requirements.
Offset
Countertrade to smooth or neutralize an existing risk.
Offshore bond
Emission in einer Fremdwährung oder außerhalb des Heimat-Rechtsraums des Emittenten.
Emission in a foreign currency or outside the issuer's home legal jurisdiction.
OIF (Order Imbalance Factor)
Indicator of the strength of the imbalance between buy and sell orders.
Oil Price
Reference price for crude oil varieties such as Brent or WTI as a global macro driver.
OIS (Overnight Index Swap)
Interest rate swap based on an overnight reference rate such as €STR or SOFR.
OMO (Open Market Operations)
Collective term for central banks' monetary policy open market operations.
OMT (Outright Monetary Transactions)
Potential bond purchase program by the Eurosystem subject to conditions.
On-balance sheet
Transparent orders placed in the visible order book.
On-Balance-Sheet
Assets and liabilities reported in the balance sheet.
Onboarding (Customers/KYC)
Admission process with identification and suitability/appropriateness checks.
One-Cancels-Other
Order pair, where the execution of one order automatically cancels the other.
Ongoing charges figure (OCF)
Annual ongoing costs of a fund in relation to the average fund assets.
Onshore/Offshore (Foreign Exchange)
Differentiation of FX markets according to regulatory and capital flow regimes.
Open Interest
Number of open futures/options contracts that have not yet been closed.
Open Market Operation
Central bank operations to control liquidity in the banking system.
Open Source Data (Finance)
Free usable data sources for research, backtesting, and replication.
Open-End Certificate
Ohne feste Laufzeit ausgestaltetes Zertifikat mit fortlaufender Preisstellung.
Without a fixed term structured certificate with continuous pricing.
Open-End Fund
Investment funds with continuous issue and redemption of units at NAV.
Open-ended real estate fund
Funds vehicle with primary investment in real estate and regular evaluation.
Open-To-Buy (OTB)
**Shopping space in retail; used analogously as a budget control measure in portfolios.**
Opening Auction
Price determination at the beginning of trading based on aggregated orders.
Opening auction
Auction after trading interruption for orderly price discovery.
Operating Cash Flow (OCF)
Net cash flow from operating activities before investments and financing.
Operating Income
EBIT as a measure of operational profitability.
Operating Leverage
Elasticity of results to changes in sales due to fixed cost share.
Operating Margin
Ratio of operating profit to revenue as a measure of profitability.
Operational Risk
Risk of loss from processes, systems, people, or external events.
Opportunity Cost
Foregone benefit of the best alternative not chosen.
Opportunity Set
Amount of available investment or project opportunities under restrictions.
Option
Purchase option with the right to acquire the underlying asset up to/at maturity at the agreed price.
Option
Conditional right to buy or sell an underlying asset at a predetermined price.
Option
Put option with the right to sell the underlying asset at the specified price.
Option Chain
Table of tradable option series per strike and maturity.
Option price model (Black-Scholes and others).
Evaluation model for determining the fair option price.
Options premium
Price of an option consisting of intrinsic and extrinsic value.
Order
Instruction to the broker for the execution of a transaction with parameters such as quantity, price, and validity.
Order backlog
Outstanding orders that have already been recorded in the order entry.
Order Book
Overview of open buy/sell orders per price level of a trading venue.
Order book depth
Visible quantity capacity in the order book per price level.
Order Effect
Distortion of behavior due to the presentation order of information.
Order execution
Activity of the specialist to ensure fair prices.
Order Imbalance Auction
Auction process for significant order imbalance for orderly price discovery.
Order intake
Newly received orders of a company as precursors of future revenues.
Order matching
Rules for price determination in floor trading.
Orderflow
Incoming order flow affecting short-term prices and spreads.
Orderflow-Toxizität
Maß, wie informationsgetrieben Orderfluss ist und Market Maker belastet.
Ordergültigkeit
Temporal validity of an order such as Day, GTC, or GTD.
Orderrouting
Assignment of an order to execution venues or algorithms based on best execution criteria.
Ordertyp
Execution logic of an order such as Market, Limit, Stop, or Iceberg.
Origin currency
Starting currency in which a security is issued or a transaction is denominated.
Origin principle
Tax/legal principle according to which obligations are based on the country of origin.
Original Issue Discount
Emission with a discount on the nominal value; treated fiscally as accrued interest income.
OTC (Over-The-Counter)
Over-the-counter trading bilaterally between parties.
OTF (Organised Trading Facility)
Organized, non-exchange trading platform in accordance with MiFID II.
Out-Of-Sample
Test area outside the training data set for model validation.
Out-Of-The-Money (OTM)
Options status without intrinsic value.
Outlier (Ausreißer)
Observation far outside the expected distribution.
Outperformance
Better performance than the reference index or benchmark.
Outright-Position
Directional single position without hedging through a counter transaction.
Outsourcing
Outsourcing of processes or functions to external service providers.
Outstanding Shares (Ausstehende Aktien)
Number of shares outstanding of a company.
Outstandings (Ausstehende Beträge)
Still outstanding claims, liabilities, or contracts.
Over-Collateralization (OC)
Overinsurance in securitization structures for risk reduction.
Overbought (Überkauft)
Market condition with statistically overextended prices to the upside.
Overdraft
Overdraft with agreed credit line and interest charges.
Overhang (Aktienüberhang)
Expected additional selling pressure due to lock-up expirations or placements.
Overreaction
Overreaction of course to news with potential mean reversion.
Overround
Summed implicit probabilities over 100% as a margin measure in the bookmaker/options context.
Oversold (Überverkauft)
Market condition with statistically overstretched prices to the downside.
Oversubscription (Überzeichnung)
Demand above the offered volume for issuances.
Overvaluation (**Überbewertung**)
Course level above the estimated fair or intrinsic value.
Overweight/Underweight
Abweichende Positionsgewichte gegenüber der Benchmark.
Owner Earnings
Cashflow concept according to Buffett, which approximates the real payout capability for owners.
Owner share
Share where the holder is considered a shareholder without being registered in the name register.
Ownership Structure
Distribution of voting and capital shares of a company.
