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Arbitrage
Arbitrage is the technique of simultaneously buying at a lower price in one market and selling at a higher price in another market to make a profit on the spread between the prices. Although the price difference may be very small, arbitrageurs, or arbs, typically trade regularly and in huge volume, so they can make sizable profits. But the strategy, which depends on split-second timing, can also backfire if... -
Asset Allocation
Asset allocation is a strategy, advocated by modern portfolio theory, for reducing risk in your investment portfolio in order to maximize return. Specifically, asset allocation means dividing your assets among different broad categories of investments, called asset classes. Stock, bonds, and cash are examples of asset classes, as are real estate and derivatives such as options and futures contracts. (Source: Yahoo! Finance) -
Asset Backed Security
A financial security backed by a loan, lease or receivables against assets other than real estate and mortgage-backed securities. For investors, asset-backed securities are an alternative to investing in corporate debt. An ABS is essentially the same thing as a mortgage-backed security, except that the securities backing it are assets such as loans, leases, credit card debt, a company’s receivables, royalties and so on, and not mortgage-based securities. (Source:... -
Authorized Participant (AP)
An entity chosen by an exchange-traded fund’s (ETF) sponsor to undertake the responsibility of obtaining the underlying assets needed to create an ETF. Authorized participants are typically large institutional organizations, such as market makers or specialists. The authorized participant plays a critical role in the construction of an ETF’s creation unit (large blocks of the ETF’s underlying shares of equity or other assets). After acquiring all the underlying stocks... -
Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index
The Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is to fixed income investors what the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) or S&P 500 is for stock traders. It is the most commonly used benchmark for determining the relative performance of bond or fixed income portfolios. It is also a major indicator for the overall health of the fixed income investing market. (Source: InvestingAnswers, Inc.) -
Basis Point
Measurement used to quote bonds. One basis point is equal to 0.01%, or one one-hundredth of one percent. 100 basis points is equal to 1%, whereas 50 basis points would equal one half percent, or 0.50%. (Source ETF Guide) -
Benchmark
An investment benchmark is a standard against which the performance of an individual security or group of securities is measured. For example, the average annual performance of a class of securities over time is a benchmark against which current performance of members of that class and the class itself is measured. When the benchmark is an index tracking a specific segment of the market, the changing value of the...
