See: Intermediate Term; Maturity Date; Treasuries; U.S. Government Securities

Tombstone
An announcement that gives basic information about a public offering of securities to potential investors. It is not an offer to purchase the securities, but rather a notice that a prospectus is available.

Topping Out
A market or security that has reached a point where its price is no longer rising. It is expected to plateau or decline.

See: Resistance Level; Technical Analysis

Total Return
An investments annual return based on appreciation and dividends or interest.

See: Appreciation; Dividend; Price/Earnings Ratio; Return; Yield To Maturity

Trade
The completion of an order to buy or sell securities--that is, an order is executed.

See: Execution; Trade Date; Settlement Date

Trade Date
The day on which a securities order to buy or sell is executed.

See: Settlement Date

Trader
An investor who buys and sells securities to take advantage of small price changes within a short time period--sometimes days or hours. A trader may also be an employee of a broker-dealer or financial institution who buys and sells securities for their firm's accounts or for the firm's clients.

See: Broker-Dealer; Day Trade; Floor Broker; Speculation; Speculator

Trading Authorization
Written document that permits a third party to do transactions on the behalf of the account owners. The document must be signed by all account owners. In brokerage, a full trading authorization allows the third party to place security orders and remove assets from the account. A limited authorization just allows buying and selling of securities--assets cannot be removed from the account.

See: Power Of Attorney

Trading Floor
The area of an exchange where securities are bought and sold.

See: Floor Broker; Security; Stock Exchange

Trading Halt
A security that has temporarily stopped trading because of a major news announcement or an imbalance of orders to buy and sell.

See: Delayed Opening; Suspended Trading

Trading Range
A security's highest and lowest price in which it has traded over a specified time. Technical analysts watch trading ranges carefully as they believe It is of great importance when a security breaks out of its trading range--high or low end.

See: Chartist; Historical Trading Range; Resistance Level; Support Level; Technical Analysis

Trading Unit
Number of shares, bonds, or commodities that is considered the normal unit of trading on an exchange. For stocks, it is usually a round lot (100 shares). For corporate bonds, it is usually $1,000 or $5,000 par value. Commodities do not have a set unit--it varies depending upon the actual commodity.

See: Commodities; Corporate Bond; Normal Trading Unit; Odd Lot; Par Value; Round Lot

Transaction
An order to buy or sell securities that has been executed.

See: Execution; Trade

Transfer
1: Process whereby a seller's broker delivers the certificates to the buyer's broker to effect a legal change of ownership.

2: To record the change of ownership on a corporation's books by its transfer agent. The buyer's name is recorded and all dividends, financial reports, proxies, and other literature are mailed directly to the new owner.

See: Legal Transfer; Transfer Agent; Transfer And Hold; Transfer And Ship

Transfer Agent
Appointed by a corporation, an agent keeps records on registered shareholders, cancels sold certificates, issues new certificates to new owners, and resolves any problems arising from lost, stolen or damaged certificates.

See: Registrar; Transfer

Transfer And Hold
A designation made to a client's account to denote that securities are to be registered in the client's name and are to be kept for the client in the brokerage firm's vault. When the security is sold, the client will need to sign a stock/bond power allowing transferal to the new owner.

See: Bond Power; Legal Transfer; Stock Power; Transfer; Transfer And Ship

Transfer And Ship
A designation made to a client's account to denote that securities are to be registered in the client's name. The certificates are then mailed directly to the client at the address on record. This process normally takes two to six weeks. Upon receiving the certificate, the client must find a safe location to keep the certificates. If they are lost, stolen or damaged, it is the shareholder's responsibility to have the certificates replaced, which is a labor intensive process.

See: Certificate; Transfer; Transfer And Hold

Treasuries
Negotiable debt obligations backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. The obligation's maturity date determines whether it is a Treasury bill, Treasury bond or Treasury Note. All income generated from Treasuries are exempt from state and local taxes, but not federal.

See: Full Faith And Credit; Maturity Date; Negotiable; Tax Exempt Security; Treasury Bill; Treasury Bond; Treasury Note; U.S. Government Securities

Treasury Bill (T-Bill)
A short term debt obligation of the US government that is purchased at a discount from face value--that is, they are bought at a discounted price and mature at face value. The amount of the discount is considered the interest. They are sold in denominations of $10,000 to $1 million and have maturities of either 13 weeks, 26 weeks or 52 weeks. Treasury bills are commonly abbreviated as "T-bills".

See: Denomination; Discount; Face Value; Maturity Date; Short Term Debt; Treasuries; U.S. Government Securities

Treasury Bond (T-Bond)
A long term debt obligation of the US government that has a maturity of more than 10 years. They are issued in $1,000 denominations and pay interest semiannually. Treasury bonds are commonly abbreviated as "T-bonds".

See: Denomination; Long Term Debt; Maturity Date; Treasuries; U.S. Government Securities

Treasury Note (T-Note)
A intermediate term debt obligation of the US government that has a maturity from one to ten years. They are issued in $1,000 denominations and pay interest semiannually. Treasury notes are commonly abbreviated as "T-notes".

See: Intermediate Term; Maturity Date; Treasuries; U.S. Government Securities

Treasury Stock
Issued stock that has been re-acquired by the corporation from the stockholders--it is not outstanding. The stock is not eligible to receive dividends or to vote. These shares may be held by the company indefinitely, reissued to the public or retired. Among other reasons, treasury stock may be created to counter a tender offer and to provide shares for the exercise of stock options, warrants and convertible securities.

See: Acquisition; Outstanding Stock; Retirement; Tender Offer; Voting Right

Trend
The direction in which price and trading volume are moving over a short or long term basis. The movement may either be up, down or sideways. Technical analysts study market and security trends to forecast future movements.

See: Chartist; Sideways Market; Technical Analysis; Volume

Trendline
A chart used by technical analysts. A line is drawn by connecting the highest or lowest prices to which a security has risen or fallen within a period. The line's angle shows whether the security is in a downtrend or an uptrend. If the security's price rises above a downward sloping line or drops below a rising uptrend line, analysts believe the security will start to move in a new direction.

See: Chartist; Technical Analysis

Trin
A measure of stock market strength that relates the number of stocks that advanced or declined to the total number of shares that advanced or declined. A trin under 1.00 is bullish and a trin over 1.00 is bearish.

See: Bear Market; Bull Market

Triple Tax Exempt
Municipal bonds in which interest is free from federal, state, or local taxes for residents of the states and localities that issue them. If the bondholder is not a resident of the state, the interest is only exempt from federal taxes. Typically, bonds issued by US territories are triple tax exempt.

See: Municipal Bond; Tax Exempt Security

Triple Witching Hour
The last trading hour on the third Friday on which stock options, stock index options, and stock index futures all expire simultaneously. This occurs in the months of March, June, September and December. There may be a large amount of trading as traders and investors attempt to close their positions in the option and/or the underlying stock. This may create a volatile market.

See: Close A Position; Futures Contract; Index; Noise; Options; Volatility; Underlying Security

Trust Indenture Act of 1939
The federal law which regulates the issuance of corporate and other debt instruments. It requires that these debt securities be issued under a written contract or indenture and that a bank or trust company be appointed to serve as trustee in order to protect the interests of the bondholders.

12B-1 Fees
A fee that is levied by a mutual fund--usually on a yearly basis and is usually about 1% or less of a fund's assets. The monies collected are usually used to pay broker-dealers for servicing accounts. A mutual fund that charges a 12B-1 fee must disclose this in writing. Mutual funds that assess 12B-1 fees generally are no-load funds.

See: Mutual Fund; No Load Mutual Fund

Two Dollar Broker
A floor broker who executes orders for other brokers--hence, sometimes called a "broker's broker".

See: Broker's Broker; Floor Broker; Independent Broker