A temporary stoppage of trading of the listed securities of an issuer, which may be imposed by the Exchange, its agent (Market Regulation Services Inc. (RS)), or voluntarily requested by the issuer. Usually an issuer’s listed securities are halted pending a public announcement of material information about the issuer, but the Exchange or RS may also impose a halt if the issuer is not in compliance with Exchange requirements or if the Exchange determines that it is in the public interest to do so.
Archives
Head & Shoulders Pattern
This is a reversal signature pattern. It can be either negative (typical head and shoulders), or positive (inverted head and shoulders). A head and shoulders pattern is one of the more common and reliable patterns. It is comprised of a rally which ends a fairly extensive advance. It is followed by a reaction on less volume. This is the left shoulder. The head is comprised of a rally up on high volume exceeding the price of the previous rally. And the head is comprised of a reaction down to the previous bottom on light volume. The right shoulder is comprised of a rally up which fails to exceed the height of the head. It is then followed by a reaction down. If the right shoulder does not reach the height of the left shoulder, this indicates that the fall could be even more severe. This last reaction down should break a horizontal line drawn along the bottoms of the previous lows from the left shoulder and head. This is the point in which the major decline begins. The major difference between a head and shoulder top and bottom is that the bottom should have a large burst of activity on the breakout.
Hypothecation
Pledging of assets as collateral.
If, As & When Issued Trading
Occurs when new securities are posted for trading, and trading takes place before the closing (formal original issuance) of the prospectus. Also known as the “grey market”. The term is used only for listing of new securities, either on a listing of a new issuer, a supplemental listing, or an additional listing of existing listed securities. Settlement occurs on the closing of the prospectus. The time from posting for trading to closing is generally within a week.
Implied Volatility
A measurement of the volatility of a stock. Current price rather than historical price is used. Generally, if the price of an option rises without a corresponding rise in the underlying equity, implied volatility is considered to have risen.
Fed
Federal Reserve Board.
Filing Statement
A disclosure document submitted by a listed company to outline material changes in its affairs. Filing statements are not used for the purposes of a financing.
Fill or Kill (FOK) Order
A tradable limit order marked “FOK” will trade as much stock as possible upon entry, but will immediately cancel or kill any unfilled volume.
Financial Leverage Ratio
The leverage ratio, which is total assets divided by shareholders’ equity, is an all-purpose debt gauge. A company with no debt would have a ratio of one, and the higher the ratio, the more debt.
Financials
Financial statements including operating statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows.