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Alternative Trading System
Alternative trading system (ATS) is a US and Canadian regulatory term for a non-exchange trading venue that matches buyers and sellers to find counterparties for transactions. Alternative trading systems are typically regulated as broker-dealers rather than as exchanges (although an alternative trading system can apply to be regulated as a securities exchange). In general, for regulatory purposes, an alternative trading system is an organization or system that provides or maintains a market place or facilities for bringing together purchasers and sellers of securities, but does not set rules for subscribers (other than rules for the conduct of subscribers trading on the system). An ATS must be approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is an alternative to a traditional stock exchange. The equivalent term under European legislation is a multilateral trading facility (MTF). These venues play an important role in public markets for allowing alternati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Financial Regulation
Financial regulation is a broad set of policies that apply to the financial sector in most jurisdictions, justified by two main features of finance: systemic risk, which implies that the failure of financial firms involves public interest considerations; and information asymmetry, which justifies curbs on freedom of contract in selected areas of financial services, particularly those that involve retail clients and/or principal–agent problems. An integral part of financial regulation is the supervision of designated financial firms and markets by specialized authorities such as securities commissions and bank supervision, bank supervisors. In some jurisdictions, certain aspects of financial supervision are delegated to self-regulatory organizations. Financial regulation forms one of three legal categories which constitutes the content of financial law, the other two being market practices and case law. History In the early modern period, the Dutch were the pioneers in finan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trading Venue
An exchange, bourse (), trading exchange or trading venue is an organized market (economics), market where (especially) tradable securities, commodity, commodities, foreign exchange market, foreign exchange, futures contract, futures, and option (finance), options contracts are bought and sold. History 12th century: Brokers on the Grand Bridge, France In the twelfth century, foreign exchange dealers in France were responsible for controlling and regulating the debts of agricultural communities on behalf of banks. These were actually the first brokers. They met on the Grand Bridge in Paris, the current Pont au Change. It takes its name from the forex brokers. 13th century: ''Huis ter Beurze'', Belgium The term ''bourse'' is related to the 13th-century inn named "''Bourse at Bruges, Huis ter Beurze''" owned by family in Bruges, Belgium, where traders and foreign merchants from across Europe, especially the Italian Republics of Republic of Genoa, Genoa, Republic of Florence, Fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broker-dealer
In financial services, a broker-dealer is a natural person, company or other organization that engages in the business of trading securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. Broker-dealers are at the heart of the securities and derivatives trading process. Although many broker-dealers are "independent" firms solely involved in broker-dealer services, many others are business units or subsidiaries of commercial banks, investment banks or investment companies. When executing trade orders on behalf of a customer, the institution is said to be acting as a broker. When executing trades for its own account, the institution is said to be acting as a dealer. Securities bought from clients or other firms in the capacity of dealer may be sold to clients or other firms acting again in the capacity of dealer, or they may become a part of the firm's holdings. In addition to execution of securities transactions, broker-dealers are also the main sellers and distributors o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exchange (organized Market)
An exchange, bourse (), trading exchange or trading venue is an organized market (economics), market where (especially) tradable securities, commodity, commodities, foreign exchange market, foreign exchange, futures contract, futures, and option (finance), options contracts are bought and sold. History 12th century: Brokers on the Grand Bridge, France In the twelfth century, foreign exchange dealers in France were responsible for controlling and regulating the debts of agricultural communities on behalf of banks. These were actually the first brokers. They met on the Grand Bridge in Paris, the current Pont au Change. It takes its name from the forex brokers. 13th century: ''Huis ter Beurze'', Belgium The term ''bourse'' is related to the 13th-century inn named "''Bourse at Bruges, Huis ter Beurze''" owned by family in Bruges, Belgium, where traders and foreign merchants from across Europe, especially the Italian Republics of Republic of Genoa, Genoa, Republic of Florence, Fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stock Exchange
A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of such securities and instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividends. Securities traded on a stock exchange include stock issued by listed companies, unit trusts, derivatives, pooled investment products and bonds. Stock exchanges often function as "continuous auction" markets with buyers and sellers consummating transactions via open outcry at a central location such as the floor of the exchange or by using an electronic system to process financial transactions. To be able to trade a security on a particular stock exchange, the security must be listed there. Usually, there is a central location for record keeping, but trade is increasingly less linked to a physical place as mod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multilateral Trading Facility
A multilateral trading facility (MTF) is a European Union regulatory term for a self-regulated financial trading venue. These are alternatives to the traditional stock exchanges where a market is made in securities, typically using electronic systems. The concept was introduced within the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), a European Directive designed to harmonise retail investors protection and allow investment firms to provide services throughout the EU. Article 4 (15) of MiFID describes MTF as a “multilateral system, operated by an investment firm or a market operator, which brings together multiple third-party buying and selling interests in financial instruments – in the system and in accordance with non-discretionary rules – in a way that results in a contract”. The term 'non-discretionary rules' means that the investment firm operating an MTF has no discretion as to how interests may interact. Interests are brought together by forming a contra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Market Liquidity
In business, economics or investment, market liquidity is a market's feature whereby an individual or firm can quickly purchase or sell an asset without causing a drastic change in the asset's price. Liquidity involves the trade-off between the price at which an asset can be sold, and how quickly it can be sold. In a liquid market, the trade-off is mild: one can sell quickly without having to accept a significantly lower price. In a relatively illiquid market, an asset must be discounted in order to sell quickly. A liquid asset is an asset which can be converted into cash within a relatively short period of time, or cash itself, which can be considered the most liquid asset because it can be exchanged for goods and services instantly at face value. Overview A liquid asset has some or all of the following features: it can be sold rapidly, with minimal loss of value, anytime within market hours. The essential characteristic of a liquid market is that there are always ready and wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Market Capitalization
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by the number of common shares outstanding. Description Market capitalization is sometimes used to rank the size of companies. It measures only the equity component of a company's capital structure, and does not reflect management's decision as to how much debt (or leverage) is used to finance the firm. A more comprehensive measure of a firm's size is enterprise value (EV), which gives effect to outstanding debt, preferred stock, and other factors. For insurance firms, a value called the embedded value (EV) has been used. It is also used in ranking the relative size of stock exchanges, being a measure of the sum of the market capitalizations of all companies listed on each stock exchange. The total capitalization of stock markets or eco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trading Volume
In capital markets, volume, or trading volume, is the amount (total number) of a security (or a given set of securities, or an entire market) that was traded during a given period of time. In the context of a single stock trading on a stock exchange, the volume is commonly reported as the number of shares that changed hands during a given day. The transactions are measured on stocks, bonds, options contracts, futures contracts and commodities. The average volume of a security over a longer period of time is the total amount traded in that period, divided by the length of the period. Therefore, the unit of measurement for average volume is shares per unit of time, typically per trading day. The volume of trade is a measure of the market's activity and liquidity during a set period of time. Higher trading volumes are considered more positive than lower trading volumes because they mean more liquidity and better order execution. Significance Trading volume is usually higher when t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electronic Communication Network
An electronic communication network (ECN) is a type of computerized forum or network that facilitates the trading of financial products outside traditional stock exchanges. An ECN is generally an electronic system accessed by an electronic trading platform that widely disseminates orders entered by market makers to third parties and permits the orders to be executed against them in whole or in part. The primary products that are traded on ECNs are stocks and currencies. ECNs are generally passive computer-driven networks that internally match limit orders and charge a very small per share transaction fee (often a fraction of a cent per share). The first ECN, Instinet, was created in 1969. ECNs increase competition among trading firms by lowering transaction costs, giving clients full access to their order books, and offering order matching outside traditional exchange hours. ECNs are sometimes also referred to as alternative trading systems or alternative trading networks. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multiunit Auction
A multiunit auction is an auction in which several homogeneous items are sold. The units can be sold each at the same price (a uniform price auction) or at different prices (a discriminatory price auction). Uniform price auction A uniform price auction otherwise known as a "clearing price auction", pay-as-clear or marginal price auction, "marginal price system" (MPS), is a multiunit auction in which a fixed number of identical units of a homogenous commodity are sold for the same price. Each bidder in the auction may submit (possibly multiple) bids, designating both the number of units desired and the price he/she is willing to pay per unit. Typically these bids are sealed, not revealed to the other buyers until the auction closes. The auctioneer then serves the highest bidder first, giving them the number of units requested, then the second-highest bidder and so forth until the supply of the commodity is exhausted. All bidders then pay a per unit price equal to the lowest win ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
