Date by which securities must be lodged with the company's office to qualify for dividends rights or other corporate actions.

The price at which a certain share was last traded. This information is normally reported on the price page of your newspaper in a column headed "last". It is sometimes called the "closing" or "ruling" price. Normally, papers report on the position at the end of the morning or afternoon session.

These are indicators, which tend to anticipate movements in other indicators. For example, the paper and packaging industry tends to start experiencing better conditions before the rest of the economy because almost all products have to be packaged before they can be sold.

The ability to hold an investment position of greater value than that of your equity (collateral). When leveraging (also called gearing) your investment, you need only deposit a fraction of the current value of the instrument you are investing in. For example if the commodity you are trading in requires a margin of 5%, this allows you to leverage (or gear) your investment 20 times. In other words, a deposit of USD 10,000 can hold a position of USD 200,000.

Limit orders are commonly used to enter a market and to take profit at predefined levels. Limit orders to buy are placed below the current market price and are executed when the ask price hits or breaches the price level specified. (If placed above the current market price, the order is filled instantly at the best available price below or at the limit price.) Limit orders to sell are placed above the current market price, and are executed when the bid price breaches the price level specified. (If placed below the current market price, the order is filled instantly at the best available price above or at the limit price.) When a limit order is triggered, it is filled as soon as possible at the price obtainable on the market. Note that the price at which your order is filled may differ from the price you set for the order if the opening price of the market is better than your limit price.

Limitation by a company's memorandum of a member's (shareholder's liability to the amount, if any, unpaid on shares held by him. The principle of limited liability is essential to the formation of a joint stock company.

Price charts that connect the closing prices of a given market over a span of time that form a curving line on the chart.

The capacity to be converted easily and with minimum loss into cash. Ultra-short-dated treasury notes are an example of a liquid investment. A liquid market is one in which there is enough activity to satisfy both buyers and sellers.

The process whereby a company is dissolved. The court, the company itself, a shareholder, the Master of the court, the judicial manager, a creditor, or the minister may initiate such dissolution. A liquidator is appointed, who arranges to sell off all the assets of the company and uses the proceeds to pay its creditors (firstly the secured creditors and then the unsecured ones). Once the creditors have been paid then the preferential shareholders are paid, and then finally the ordinary shareholders.

Official granting of a quotation of a company's shares on a Stock exchange. (A listing is granted when a company has fulfilled the Stock exchange's rules and requirements for listing.)

In general, going long is buying, and going short is selling. A long position will increase in value if market prices increase. For example, in Forex trading, going long is buying the trade currency of the Forex currency pair. If you were going long on USDJPY, you would be buying USD by selling JPY. For securities, going long is taking ownership of a security through buying it, as opposed to going short where you sell the security without owning it.

The result of a trader having bought more than he has sold in any particular market/commodity/instrument/contract.

A debt, which is to be, repaid over years rather than months. A good example of this would be debentures, which carry a fixed percentage, return and are redeemable by the company at some future date. Long-term Liabilities are found on the liabilities side of the balance sheet immediately below share capital and reserves.

Used in Futures contract trading to define a fixed contract size corresponding to a fixed amount of the item that will be traded in the future.