19 terms
Dictionary: Q
- Quadruple witching
- The third Friday of March, June, September and December, when stock index futures, index options, single-stock options and single-stock futures all expire together.
- Qualified dividend
- A US dividend taxed at long-term capital gains rates rather than ordinary income rates, subject to a minimum holding period.
- Qualified dividend holding period
- To tax a US dividend at long-term rates the share must be held more than 60 days in the 121-day window around the ex-dividend date, with hedged days excluded.
- Qualified purchaser
- A higher US wealth threshold, generally $5 million in investments for individuals, that lets a private fund rely on the 3(c)(7) exemption without a 100-investor cap.
- Quality factor
- A tilt toward companies with stable earnings, low leverage, high profitability and conservative accounting, on the view that the market underprices durability.
- Quantitative easing (QE)
- A central bank buying bonds and other assets with newly created reserves to push down long-term rates and add liquidity.
- Quantitative tightening (QT)
- A central bank shrinking its balance sheet by letting bonds mature or selling them, draining liquidity from the system.
- Quarterly options
- Contracts expiring on the last business day of a calendar quarter, used mainly by funds that report and rebalance on quarter-end.
- Quarterly refunding announcement
- The Treasury's quarterly statement of how much it will borrow and in which maturities, published in early February, May, August and November.
- Queue position
- Where a resting limit order stands among all orders at the same price, which under price-time priority determines whether it fills at all.
- Quick ratio
- Cash, short-term investments and receivables divided by current liabilities; the current ratio with inventory removed.
- Quiet period
- The window around an offering when the issuer and its underwriters are restricted in what they may say publicly beyond the prospectus.
- Quiet period
- The stretch before results when a company stops commenting on current trading, typically running from a few weeks after quarter end until the release.
- Quit point
- A pre-agreed line - in money, time, or drawdown - at which you stop trading a strategy, an account, or the attempt altogether.
- Quorum
- The minimum participation a governance vote needs to count. Set too high and nothing passes; too low and a small group can decide everything.
- Quote currency
- The second currency in a pair, in which the price of one unit of the base currency is expressed.
- Quote data
- The record of best bid and offer over time, as opposed to executed trades. What you need to know what price was actually available.
- Quote fade
- Displayed liquidity disappearing in the instant you try to take it, so the price you clicked is not the price you get.
- Quote stuffing
- Flooding a venue with orders and cancels to congest its systems and slow competitors' data, an abusive practice prohibited by exchange rules and regulators.
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