Definition of OTC

OTC

See: over-the-counter.

Over-the-counter market (OTC)

A decentralized market (as opposed to an exchange market) where
geographically dispersed dealers are linked together by telephones and computer screens. The market is for
securities not listed on a stock or bond exchange. The NASDAQ market is an otc market for U.S. stocks.

over-the-counter (OTC)

Shares traded off an organized exchange.
Also used to refer to the Nasdaq market.

NASDAQ

National Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation System. An electronic quotation
system that provides price quotations to market participants about the more actively traded common stock
issues in the otc market. About 4,000 common stock issues are included in the NASDAQ system.

Specialist

On an exchange, the member firm that is designated as the market maker (or dealer for a listed
common stock). Only one specialist can be designated for a given stock, but dealers may be specialists for
several stocks. In contrast, there can be multiple market makers in the otc market.

Third market

Exchange-listed securities trading in the otc market.

Unmatched book

If the average maturity of a bank's liabilities is less than that of its assets, it is said to be
running an unmatched book. The term is commonly used with the Euromarket. Term also refers to the
condition when a firm enters into otc derivatives contracts and chooses to hedge that risk by not making
trades in the opposite direction to another financial intermediary. In this case, the firm with an unmatched
book hedges its net market risk with futures and options, usually.
Related expressions: open book and short book.

DLOM (discount for lack of marketability)

an amount or percentage deducted from an equity interest to reflect lack of marketability.

QMDM (quantitative marketability discount model)

model for calculating DLOM for minority interests r the discount rate

Accelerated cost recovery system (ACRS)

Schedule of depreciation rates allowed for tax purposes.

Accounts receivable turnover

The ratio of net credit sales to average accounts receivable, a measure of how
quickly customers pay their bills.

Asset-coverage test

A bond indenture restriction that permits additional borrowing on if the ratio of assets to
debt does not fall below a specified minimum.

Asset turnover

The ratio of net sales to total assets.

Auction markets

markets in which the prevailing price is determined through the free interaction of
prospective buyers and sellers, as on the floor of the stock exchange.

Bear market

Any market in which prices are in a declining trend.

Black market

An illegal market.

Brokered market

A market where an intermediary offers search services to buyers and sellers.

Bull market

Any market in which prices are in an upward trend.

Bulldog market

The foreign market in the United Kingdom.

Capital market

The market for trading long-term debt instruments (those that mature in more than one year).

Capital market efficiency

Reflects the relative amount of wealth wasted in making transactions. An efficient
capital market allows the transfer of assets with little wealth loss. See: efficient market hypothesis.

Capital market imperfections view

The view that issuing debt is generally valuable but that the firm's
optimal choice of capital structure is a dynamic process that involves the other views of capital structure (net
corporate/personal tax, agency cost, bankruptcy cost, and pecking order), which result from considerations of
asymmetric information, asymmetric taxes, and transaction costs.

Capital market line (CML)

The line defined by every combination of the risk-free asset and the market portfolio.

Cash flow coverage ratio

The number of times that financial obligations (for interest, principal payments,
preferred stock dividends, and rental payments) are covered by earnings before interest, taxes, rental
payments, and depreciation.

Cash markets

Also called spot markets, these are markets that involve the immediate delivery of a security
or instrument.
Related: derivative markets.

Common market

An agreement between two or more countries that permits the free movement of capital
and labor as well as goods and services.

Common stock market

The market for trading equities, not including preferred stock.

Complete capital market

A market in which there is a distinct marketable security for each and every
possible outcome.

Corner A Market

To purchase enough of the available supply of a commodity or stock in order to
manipulate its price.

Counter trade

The exchange of goods for other goods rather than for cash; barter.

Counterpart items

In the balance of payments, counterpart items are analogous to unrequited transfers in the
current account. They arise because the double-entry system in balance of payments accounting and refer to
adjustments in reserves owing to monetization or demonetization of gold, allocation or cancellation of SDRs,
and revaluation of the various components of total reserves.

Counterparties

The parties to an interest rate swap.

Counterparty Party

on the other side of a trade or transaction.

Counterparty risk

The risk that the other party to an agreement will default. In an options contract, the risk
to the option buyer that the option writer will not buy or sell the underlying as agreed.
Country economic risk Developments in a national economy that can affect the outcome of an international
financial transaction.

Cover

The purchase of a contract to offset a previously established short position.

Coverage ratios

Ratios used to test the adequacy of cash flows generated through earnings for purposes of
meeting debt and lease obligations, including the interest coverage ratio and the fixed charge coverage ratio.

Covered call

A short call option position in which the writer owns the number of shares of the underlying
stock represented by the option contracts. Covered calls generally limit the risk the writer takes because the
stock does not have to be bought at the market price, if the holder of that option decides to exercise it.

Covered call writing strategy

A strategy that involves writing a call option on securities that the investor
owns in his or her portfolio. See covered or hedge option strategies.

Covered interest arbitrage

A portfolio manager invests dollars in an instrument denominated in a foreign
currency and hedges his resulting foreign exchange risk by selling the proceeds of the investment forward for
dollars.

Covered or hedge option strategies

Strategies that involve a position in an option as well as a position in the
underlying stock, designed so that one position will help offset any unfavorable price movement in the other,
including covered call writing and protective put buying. Related: naked strategies

Covered Put

A put option position in which the option writer also is short the corresponding stock or has
deposited, in a cash account, cash or cash equivalents equal to the exercise of the option. This limits the
option writer's risk because money or stock is already set aside. In the event that the holder of the put option
decides to exercise the option, the writer's risk is more limited than it would be on an uncovered or naked put
option.

Crossover rate

The return at which two alternative projects have the same net present value.

Dealer market

A market where traders specializing in particular commodities buy and sell assets for their
own accounts.

Debt market

The market for trading debt instruments.

Debt-service coverage ratio

Earnings before interest and income taxes plus one-third rental charges, divided
by interest expense plus one-third rental charges plus the quantity of principal repayments divided by one
minus the tax rate.

Derivative markets

markets for derivative instruments.

Direct search market

Buyers and sellers seek each other directly and transact directly.

Doctrine of sovereign immunity

Doctrine that says a nation may not be tried in the courts of another country
without its consent.

Domestic market

Part of a nation's internal market representing the mechanisms for issuing and trading
securities of entities domiciled within that nation. Compare external market and foreign market.

Efficient capital market

A market in which new information is very quickly reflected accurately in share
prices.

Efficient Market Hypothesis

In general the hypothesis states that all relevant information is fully and
immediately reflected in a security's market price thereby assuming that an investor will obtain an equilibrium
rate of return. In other words, an investor should not expect to earn an abnormal return (above the market
return) through either technical analysis or fundamental analysis. Three forms of efficient market hypothesis
exist: weak form (stock prices reflect all information of past prices), semi-strong form (stock prices reflect all
publicly available information) and strong form (stock prices reflect all relevant information including insider
information).

Either-way market

In the interbank Eurodollar deposit market, an either-way market is one in which the bid
and offered rates are identical.

Emerging markets

The financial markets of developing economies.

Equilibrium market price of risk

The slope of the capital market line (CML). Since the CML represents the
return offered to compensate for a perceived level of risk, each point on the line is a balanced market
condition, or equilibrium. The slope of the line determines the additional return needed to compensate for a
unit change in risk.

Equity market

Related:Stock market

Eurocurrency market

The money market for borrowing and lending currencies that are held in the form of
deposits in banks located outside the countries of the currencies issued as legal tender.

Excess return on the market portfolio

The difference between the return on the market portfolio and the
riskless rate.

External market

Also referred to as the international market, the offshore market, or, more popularly, the
Euromarket, the mechanism for trading securities that (1) at issuance are offered simultaneously to investors
in a number of countries and (2) are issued outside the jurisdiction of any single country. Related: internal
market

Fair market price

Amount at which an asset would change hands between two parties, both having
knowledge of the relevant facts. Also referred to as market price.

Federal funds market

The market where banks can borrow or lend reserves, allowing banks temporarily
short of their required reserves to borrow reserves from banks that have excess reserves.

Financial market

An organized institutional structure or mechanism for creating and exchanging financial assets.

Fixed asset turnover ratio

The ratio of sales to fixed assets.

Fixed-charge coverage ratio

A measure of a firm's ability to meet its fixed-charge obligations: the ratio of
(net earnings before taxes plus interest charges paid plus long-term lease payments) to (interest charges paid
plus long-term lease payments).

Fixed-income market

The market for trading bonds and preferred stock.

Foreign banking market

That portion of domestic bank loans supplied to foreigners for use abroad.

Foreign bond market

That portion of the domestic bond market that represents issues floated by foreign
companies to governments.

Foreign equity market

That portion of the domestic equity market that represents issues floated by foreign companies.

Foreign market

Part of a nation's internal market, representing the mechanisms for issuing and trading
securities of entities domiciled outside that nation. Compare external market and domestic market.

Foreign market beta

A measure of foreign market risk that is derived from the capital asset pricing model.

Forward cover

Purchase or sale of forward foreign currency in order to offset a known future cash flow.

Forward market

A market in which participants agree to trade some commodity, security, or foreign
exchange at a fixed price for future delivery.

Fourth market

Direct trading in exchange-listed securities between investors without the use of a broker.

Futures market

A market in which contracts for future delivery of a commodity or a security are bought or sold.

Government bond

See: Government securities.

Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae)

A wholly owned U.S. government corporation
within the Department of Housing & Urban Development. Ginnie Mae guarantees the timely payment of
principal and interest on securities issued by approved servicers that are collateralized by FHA-issued, VAguaranteed,
or Farmers Home Administration (FmHA)-guaranteed mortgages.

Government sponsored enterprises

Privately owned, publicly chartered entities, such as the Student Loan
marketing Association, created by Congress to reduce the cost of capital for certain borrowing sectors of the
economy including farmers, homeowners, and students.

Government securities

Negotiable U.S. Treasury securities.

Gray market

Purchases and sales of eurobonds that occur before the issue price is finally set.

Index and Option Market (IOM)

A division of the CME established in 1982 for trading stock index
products and options. Related: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

Interest coverage ratio

The ratio of the earnings before interest and taxes to the annual interest expense. This
ratio measures a firm's ability to pay interest.

Interest coverage test

A debt limitation that prohibits the issuance of additional long-term debt if the issuer's
interest coverage would, as a result of the issue, fall below some specified minimum.

Intermarket sector

spread The spread between the interest rate offered in two sectors of the bond market for
issues of the same maturity.

Intermarket spread swaps

An exchange of one bond for another based on the manager's projection of a
realignment of spreads between sectors of the bond market.

Internal market

The mechanisms for issuing and trading securities within a nation, including its domestic
market and foreign market.
Compare: external market.

Internally efficient market

Operationally efficient market.

International market

Related: See external market.

International Monetary Market (IMM)

A division of the CME established in 1972 for trading financial
futures. Related: Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

Intramarket sector spread

The spread between two issues of the same maturity within a market sector. For
instance, the difference in interest rates offered for five-year industrial corporate bonds and five-year utility
corporate bonds.

Inventory turnover

The ratio of annual sales to average inventory which measures the speed that inventory
is produced and sold. Low turnover is an unhealthy sign, indicating excess stocks and/or poor sales.

Inverted market

A futures market in which the nearer months are selling at price premiums to the more
distant months. Related: premium.

Locked market

A market is locked if the bid = ask price. This can occur, for example, if the market is
brokered and brokerage is paid by one side only, the initiator of the transaction.

Make a market

A dealer is said to make a market when he quotes bid and offered prices at which he stands
ready to buy and sell.

Mark-to-market

The process whereby the book value or collateral value of a security is adjusted to reflect
current market value.

Marked-to-market

An arrangement whereby the profits or losses on a futures contract are settled each day.

Market capitalization

The total dollar value of all outstanding shares. Computed as shares times current
market price. It is a measure of corporate size.

Market capitalization rate

Expected return on a security. The market-consensus estimate of the appropriate
discount rate for a firm's cash flows.

Market clearing

Total demand for loans by borrowers equals total supply of loans from lenders. The market,
any market, clears at the equilibrium rate of interest or price.

Market conversion price

Also called conversion parity price, the price that an investor effectively pays for
common stock by purchasing a convertible security and then exercising the conversion option. This price is
equal to the market price of the convertible security divided by the conversion ratio.

Market cycle

The period between the 2 latest highs or lows of the S&P 500, showing net performance of a
fund through both an up and a down market. A market cycle is complete when the S&P is 15% below the
highest point or 15% above the lowest point (ending a down market). The dates of the last market cycle are:
12/04/87 to 10/11/90 (low to low).

Market impact costs

Also called price impact costs, the result of a bid/ask spread and a dealer's price concession.

Market model

This relationship is sometimes called the single-index model. The market model says that the
return on a security depends on the return on the market portfolio and the extent of the security's
responsiveness as measured, by beta. In addition, the return will also depend on conditions that are unique to
the firm. Graphically, the market model can be depicted as a line fitted to a plot of asset returns against
returns on the market portfolio.

Market order

This is an order to immediately buy or sell a security at the current trading price.

Market overhang

The theory that in certain situations, institutions wish to sell their shares but postpone the
share sales because large orders under current market conditions would drive down the share price and that
the consequent threat of securities sales will tend to retard the rate of share price appreciation. Support for this
theory is largely anecdotal.

Market portfolio

A portfolio consisting of all assets available to investors, with each asset held -in
proportion to its market value relative to the total market value of all assets.

Market price of risk

A measure of the extra return, or risk premium, that investors demand to bear risk. The
reward-to-risk ratio of the market portfolio.

Market prices

The amount of money that a willing buyer pays to acquire something from a willing seller,
when a buyer and seller are independent and when such an exchange is motivated by only commercial
consideration.

Related to : financial, finance, business, accounting, payroll, inventory, investment, money, inventory control, stock trading, financial advisor, tax advisor, credit.