| Odd
Lots |
The mutual
fund's investment strategy category as stated in the prospectus.
There are more than 20 standardized categories. |
| Odd
Lots |
Stock
transactions that involve less than 100 shares. |
| Off-board |
This
term may refer to transactions over-the counter in unlisted securities
or to a transaction of listed shares that is not executed on a national
securities exchange. |
| Offer |
The
price at which a person is ready to sell. Opposed to bid, the price
at which one is ready to buy. (see Bid
and Asked) |
| Open
Order |
An
order to buy or sell a security that remains in effect until it is
either canceled by the customer or executed. |
| Open-End
Investment Company |
(see Investment
Company) |
| Open
Interest |
In
options and futures trading,
the number of outstanding option contracts, at a given point in time,
which have not been exercised and have not yet reached expiration. |
| Open
Order |
(see Good
'Til Cancelled Order) |
| Operating
Expense Ratio (OER) |
(see Expense
Ratio) |
| Options |
Gives
the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell stock
at a set price on or before a given date. Investors, not companies,
issue options. Investors who purchase call
options bet the stock will be worth more than the price set by
the option (the strike
price), plus the price they paid for the option itself. Buyers
of put options bet
the stock's price will go down below the price set by the option.
If the right to buy or sell the options' underlying security is not
exercised with-in a specific period of time, the option expires and
the buyer forfeits the money. |
| Orders |
Specific
instructions for handling transactions. |
| Out-of-the-Money |
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. |
| Overbought |
An
opinion as to price levels. May refer to a security that has had
a sharp rise or to the market as a whole after a period of vigorous
buying which, it may be argued, has left prices "too high." |
| Oversold |
The
reverse of overbought. A single security or a market which, it is
believed, has declined to an unreasonable level. |
| Over-The-Counter
(OTC) |
A
market for securities made up of dealers who may or may not be members
of a securities exchange. The OTC market is conducted over the telephone
and deals mainly with stocks of companies without sufficient shares,
stockholders or earnings to warrant listing on an exchange. OTC firms
may act either as principals or dealers (buying or selling stock
from their own inventory and charging a mark-up) or as a broker or
agent and charging a commission. |
