Odd Lots
Stock transactions that involve less than 100 shares.
Open-end fund
Type of fund that continually creates new shares on demand, although an open-end fund may close itself to new investors when its management decides that it is too large. Open-end fund shareholders buy the shares at net asset value and can redeem them at any time at the prevailing market price, which may be higher or lower than the price at which the investor bought.
Option
An option is a contract between two parties giving the taker (buyer) the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a particular price on or before a particular date.
Ordinary share
Holders of ordinary shares are part-owners of a company and may receive payments in cash, called dividends, if the company has profit. A class of shares which have no preferential rights as to either dividends out of profits or capital on a winding up.
ORS
Order Routing System
OTC
Over-the-counter
Out-of-the-money
A call with an exercise price higher or a put with an exercise price lower than the market price of the underlying security. A call option is out-of-the-money when the strike price is above the price of the underlying security. Likewise, a put option is out-of-the-money when the exercise price is below the price of the underlying security. An out-of-the-money option is one that has no intrinsic value.
Over-The-Counter/OTC
A market for securities made up of dealers who may or may not be members of a securities exchange. OTC firms conduct business over the telephone and act either as principals or dealers (buying and selling stock from their own inventory and charging a markup) or as a broker or agent and charging a commission.