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'At limit' orders
Involve placing an order to buy or sell shares at a specified price. 'At limit' orders can be effective for say two to three weeks and can also be placed outside market hours.
'At market' orders
Buy or sell orders executed as soon as the order is placed. 'At limit' orders, on the other hand, involve placing an order to buy or sell shares at a specified price.
Account statements
Cash settlement account statement showing deposit and receipt of funds to / from your broker for trades conducted.
Adviser access
While some full service brokers offer an online service at a discount, if you're looking for advice on which stocks to buy or sell you can expect to be charged higher brokerage fee.
Alternate security
Traders may deposit shares and other securities instead of cash into a cash settlement account to cover the value of purchases.
ASX announcement
Companies are required to make announcements regarding price-sensitive developments to the ASX. Some brokers may provide a service whereby ASX anouncements are placed upon the brokers website or emailed to members.
Broker recommendations
Brokers opinions - buy/hold/sell - on particular stocks. Treat with caution.
Brokerage fees
The fees charged by brokers for buying and selling shares on the stock exchange on the investor's behalf. In our Online Broking tables it refers to the minimum charge by the online broker for trades up to a specified limit. For trades greater than this limit a percentage brokerage fee will usually be charged. Eg. 0.1% for trades greater than ,000.
In our protected equity tables in Margin lending, the "Brokerage" column reveals whether lenders pass on the brokerage fees incurred for shares bought in the loan portfolio. On sale, they may also pass on the brokerage fees or absorb them.
Cash settlement account
Each broker requires investors nominate a bank account, or establish an account specified by the broker, into which you must deposit funds before being able to trade. The proceeds of sale transactions will also be deposited into this account.
Charting tools
Displays pricing history of shares and indices in graph form.
CHESS
CHESS stands for Clearing House Electronic Sub-register System; it is the Australian Stock Exchange's computer-based share transaction and settlement system. It provides a central book-entry register using electronic transfer of share ownership - your holdings are recorded in a secure database. Instead of holding physical share certificates, you receive an easy-to-read holding statement, similar to a bank statement. You no longer have to send in your share certificates when you decide to sell. It does not cost to join CHESS. It is a safer way to transfer titles and settle transactions, it also means that you no longer risk losing certificates.
Course of trades
A history of your trading activity.
Dynamic data
Prices automatically updated on your screen as changes occur in the market. Real time prices are only updated by refreshing each page. or delivered with a 20 minute delay ( or previous day).
End-of-day
Usually refers to share price and market data update frequency being after the conclusion of the day's trading. Faster are Dynamic data and Real-time data
Exchange-traded options (ETOs)
Exchange-Traded Options (ETOs) are a derivative product issued over existing shares with each option being for a parcel of 1,000 shares in the underlying companies shares. There are two kinds of ETOs - CALL options, giving the buyer the RIGHT to buy shares at a specific time and price, and PUT options, giving the buyer the right to sell shares in the company. All ETOs will have a Strike Price and an Expiry Date. They are generally only issued over large cap stocks with good liquidity.
Floats
New listings of companies, called Initial Public Offerings (IPOs). Some discount brokers may receive allocations for floats for distribution amongst their trading clients.
Frequent-trader discounts
Discounted brokerage fees for those who trade often. Where an investor exceeds a specified volume of trades within a given time period, they may be eligible for a reduction on the usual brokerage charged, either a percentage discount of flat dollar amount.
International shares
Usually means US shares on the NASDAQ and NYSE markets, however, some brokers now allow you to trade on European and Asian exchanges.
Managed funds
An alternative to direct investment, managed funds offer exposure to a broad range of shares, both domestic and international. Investors make a single investment in a fund which is in turn invested across a range of stocks by the fund manager. They are increasingly offered online and some online brokers will rebate the entry fees into these funds.
Manual processing
Manual processing sees your trades go to a human being in the broker's office to be processed first before being submitted to the market - your online trading is not automatic. See straight-through processing
Margin trading
Buying shares with a combination of cash and borrowed funds. Depending upon the underlying share portfolio, margin lending institutions will lend up to 80% of the face value of the underlying security.
Market commentary
Daily summary of movements in stocks and sectors of the sharemarket.
Market depth
The number of buy and sell orders and the prices offered for a particular stock
Market depth
Shows the number of orders - or bids and offers - on the buy and sell sides of a stock at set price intervals. Market depth therefore gives an indication of whether the greater price pressure is on the buy or sell side.
Minimum balance
Lowest cash balance allowed in a trading account at any one time.
Minimum initial deposit
Minimum amount of cleared funds to be deposited into a transaction account before trading can commence. May also take the form of shares in some circumstances.
Online trading
Placing of buy and sell stock orders over the internet via a website.
Options
Options give the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the underlying security, often shares, by a specified date.
Phone trading
Placing of buy and sell stock orders over the phone. It's a good idea to have an online broker that offers phone trading as a backup - websites have a habit of going down at inopportune times.
Portfolio valuation
Calcualtion of the value of a trader's combined share holdings, performed either 'live' or end of day.
Price alert
Service offered by online brokers, either by email or phone, to notify investors when a share reaches a pre-specified price level.
Profiles
Financials, service information and performance indicators on companies, funds and brokers themselves
Real-time data
Up-to-the-minute price and trading data. However, users must refresh their web page to see these prices. Dynamic prices are automatically updated on your screen as changes occur in the market without having to refresh.
Research reports
Market news, commentary, information services and perhaps stock or managed fund research to help traders with their investment decisions.
Sponsorship
All shareholdings on CHESS (Clearing House Electronic Sub-register System) have a sponsor. The sponsor will be a broker or an issuer (listed company). Your shares will be issuer-sponsored if you bought the shares direct from the company through an initial public offering ('float'). You can be sponsored on CHESS by more than one broker or issuer and maintain holdings in the same security under different sponsorships. When you are buying and selling shares through a particular broker they may require you to be sponsored on CHESS by them. This can be achieved by completing a CHESS Sponsorship Transfer Form during the application process.
Stop-loss orders
A sell order to be triggered automatically once a preset price level is reached.
Straight-through processing
Fully automated processing of transactions so that trades are placed directly into the market. Straight-through processing places the responsibility of inputting the order with the investor, making it important to check orders before they're submitted. Manual processing of a trade is similar to making a trade by fax or phone, where someone at the broker's office places the trade according to the order you submit.
Trading credits
Most brokers will allow trades to be made on the top 150 stocks up without cleared funds in the trading account. But these 'trading credits' are subject to a limit. The broker effectively uses these shares as security against the investor defaulting on settlement.
Warrants
A warrant is a 'derivative' security which gives the holder the opportunity to buy or sell shares (or other securities) at a future date for a fixed price. The two basic types of Warrants are "call warrants" and "put warrants".
Watch lists
A service offered by online brokers allowing investors to conveniently monitor of a list of share prices.
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