Accumulation – in technical analysis: The first phase of a bull market. While most investors are discouraged with the market, and earnings are at their worst, some investors start buying shares. Another meaning: an addition to a trader's position.

Additional Offering – an offering that is subsequent to an initial public offering and adds to the outstanding number of shares a company has issued previously.

ADRs – American Depository Receipts – certificates issued by a U.S. Depositary Bank, representing foreign shares held by the bank, usually by a branch or correspondent in the country of issue. If the ADRs are "sponsored," the corporation provides financial information and other assistance to the bank and may subsidize the administration of the ADRs. "Unsponsored" ADRs do not receive such assistance. Typically each ADR represents a multiple or a fraction of one share of the foreign security, so that each security trades within the normal price range for its home market. Arbitrage keeps the ADRs and foreign shares essentially identically priced. Foreign companies use ADRs in order to access the US capital market, since it is larger and more liquid than others. Finland's Nokia (NOK) is an example of a stock that trades ADRs on the NYSE, as well as on its home country exchange, the Helsinki exchange.

Affiliated Company – a company with less than 50% of its shares owned by another corporation, or one whose stock, with that of another corporation, is owned by the same controlling interests.

Aftermarket – the "aftermarket", which refers to trading in the shares after the Initial Public Offering (IPO), is characterized by very high levels of trading initially. The thing is that some of the institutional investors who requested shares may have been cut back to so few shares that it would not be worth their time to continue to monitor the position, and so they sell. Others who were cut back to less than they need for a minimum-size position elect to buy more shares. Some institutional investors are dedicated "flippers" (see "flipping"). The underwriters may actually encourage them to "flip" as a way to assure that a market will develop, but in turn the underwriters may expect them to take shares of less popular deals. In the last few years, the aftermarket for Internet IPOs has been characterized by much larger initial jumps than has historically been the case. Prior to this phenomenon, the typical aftermarket gain was around 12% to 15%.

Aftermarket Performance – the performance of a newly issued stock in the period shortly after the IPO. Depending on the context, can refer to a period of about 30 days, up to a year or so.

All Or None (AON) – an order type instructing the broker to execute the complete order, or else do nothing. If an order is not designated "All Or None", then a partial fill may result in which some of the shares are bought or sold. See also "Fill or Kill".

Alpha – a statistical measure of a stock's return in excess of the return explained by the change in the market. This is usually measured in terms of the Dow Jones Industrials or the S&P 500. In the regression equation described in the definition of beta, beta is the slope of the line and alpha is the vertical intercept. A positive alpha means the stock has outperformed the market, adjusted for risk, and a negative alpha means it has underperformed the market, adjusted for risk.

American Stock Exchange (AMEX) – New York City exchange known for listing companies smaller than that of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

American-Style Option – an option contract that can be exercised at any time between the date of purchase and the expiration date. Most exchange-traded options are American style.

Amortization – gradually writing off the value of an intangible asset over a period of time. Commonly applied to items such as goodwill, improvements to leased promises, or expenses of a new stock or bond issue.

Analyst – one who works full time analyzing the prices and values of various financial instruments including stocks, bonds, industries, countries or the markets themselves.

Annualizing – converting an amount that applies to a period of less than a year into the amount that would correspond to the full year. For example, if a company has reported revenues for 8 months, the calculation is to multiply the results by (12/8).

Annual Meeting – The official meeting at which shareholders vote to elect the board of directors, approve the auditors, and approve other business requiring a shareholder vote. These meetings are required by law and are in many cases only a formality. Some companies elect to use their annual meetings to provide substantive presentations, however.

Annual Report – yearly record of a publicly held company's financial condition. It includes a description of the firm's operations, its balance sheet and income statement. SEC rules require that it be distributed to all shareholders. A more detailed version is called a 10-K.

Annuity – usually refers to insurance related investment products that guarantee or aim to pay a stated amount to the holder every year. The payments may be at a fixed interest rate (Fixed Annuity) or a variable rate (Variable Annuity). The insurance annuity usually offers tax deferral benefits as well.

Arbitrage – the simultaneous buying and selling of two or more different, but closely related securities, in different markets to take advantage of price disparities.

Area Pattern – in technical analysis: a situation when a stock or commodities upward or downward trend has stalled. The sideways movement in price, which follows, forms a pattern. Some of these patterns may have predictive value. Examples of these patterns are head & shoulders, triangles, pennants, flags, wedges, and broadening formations.

Arms Index – in technical analysis: an indicator that relies on advances and declines in the stock market. Also known as TRading INdex (TRIN). Values below 1.00 or in some software 100, indicate bullish demand, while readings asome 1.00 or in some software 100, indicate a bearish market. In the normal course of trading, this number is usually between about 40 and 60. Very high or very low numbers occur infrequently. The formula for calculating the Arms Index is as follows: ((# of advancing issues/ # of declining issues)/ (Total up volume/ Total down volume)).

Ascending Trend Channel – in technical analysis: a situation when the tops of an ascending price line develop along a line parallel to the trendline which slopes upward across the bottoms of the down waves.

Ask – the price at which shares of a given stock are being offered for sale. The lowest price a seller is willing to accept. (And therefore the price a buyer will pay, assuming no change in the bid and ask prices.) See also Bid

Assets – anything a company owns, including buildings, land, inventories, equipment, cash, trademarks, patents, and goodwill. See also Current Assets, Long Term Assets.

Assignment – the receipt of an exercise notice by an options writer that requires him to sell (in the case of a call) or purchase (in the case of a put) the underlying security at the specified strike price.

At-the-money – the situation when the strike price of a given option is equal to the market price of the underlying security. For example, if xyz stock is trading at 45, then the xyz 45 option is at-the-money.