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This is a market order where the investor gives the floor trader the discretion to execute the order when he feels it is best. If the floor trader feels that the market will decline, he may hold the order to try to get a better fill. This order may not get filled.

An investor involved in financing a company’s operations before going public in exchange for an ownership percentage.

This is an instruction you can give your broker when placing a buy or a sell order. This instruction ensures that your order will be filled in its entirety or not at all. This prevents having a partial execution of your trade.

The date when a securities buyer must pay for a purchase or a seller must deliver the securities sold. Settlement must be made on or before the third business day following the transaction date in most cases.

This is an order to be executed at the market price when the market closes. Institutions frequently use this method to buy or sell large numbers of shares, e.g., when a stock is to be added or deleted from an index and the institution must buy or sell the stock for an index fund. These orders are also used on day trades in order to close a position at the end of the session regardless of the price. It can also be used when you want to exit a position that day, but do not want to cut off a stock that is running during the day-place a market on close order and your trade will be executed at the closing price. As with all market orders, there is risk in that the stock that was rising and hit a target you would be happy at selling at, but then falls right before the close.

When the market or security tends to vary often and wildly in prices, it is said to be volatile.

An order that must be filled completely or the trade will not take place.

A paper certificate that represents the number of shares an investor owns.

Similar to a real estate investment trust (REIT), except MLPs are not limited to a specific industry compared to REITs which must invest in real estate. Both types trade like stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, and both types must distribute most of their earnings in the form of dividends. 

The measurement of how much an underlying security fluctuates over a period of time.