Offshore
What is 'Offshore' Offshore identifies any item that is located or based outside of one's national boundaries. The term "offshore" is used to describe foreign banks, corporations, investments and deposits. A company may legitimately move offshore for the purpose of tax avoidance or to enjoy relaxed regulations. Offshore financial institutions can also be used for illicit purposes...
Offline Debit Card
What is 'Offline Debit Card' A card that combines characteristics of both a traditional (online) debit card and a credit card, allowing the cardholder to pay for goods and services directly from his or her bank account. As with a traditional debit card, a transaction using the offline debit card creates a debit against the cardholder's bank...
Offsetting Transaction
What is an 'Offsetting Transaction' In trading, an activity that exactly cancels the risks and benefits of another instrument in the portfolio. An offsetting transaction is used when it is not possible to simply close the original transaction as desired. This frequently occurs with options and other more complex financial instruments. In this way, a...
Oil ETF
What is 'Oil ETF' A category of exchange-traded funds that invest in companies engaged in oil and gas discovery, production, distribution and retail. Some oil ETFs may be set up as commodity pools – with limited partnership interests instead of shares – and invest in derivative contracts such as futures and options. The benchmark target for...
Omega
What is 'Omega' In finance, omega represents the percentage change in an option's value with respect to the percentage change in the underlying price. Omega (Ω) measures the leverage of an options position. Explaining 'Omega' For example, if Ford Motor Co (F) shares increase 7% in a given period and a Ford call option increases 3%...
Off-Floor Order
What is 'Off-Floor Order' An investor's directive to buy or sell securities when that directive is given to a broker, not to a trader working on the trading floor of an exchange. Exchange rules require off-floor orders, which are made on behalf of customers, to be executed before on-floor orders, which are made for exchange members'own accounts....
Offtake Agreement
What is an 'Offtake Agreement' In the case of a resource, an offtake agreement is an agreement between the resource's producer and the buyer of the resource that allows the buyer to acquire or sell sections of the producer's future production. An offtake agreement is often arranged prior to the building of a facility, such as a mine, in order...
Oil Sands
DefinitionOil sands, also known as tar sands or crude bitumen, or more technically bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, saturated with a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen. Natural bitumen...
On-The-Run Treasuries
What are 'On-The-Run Treasuries' On-the-run Treasuries are the most recently issued U.S. Treasury bonds or notes of a particular maturity. "On-the-run" Treasuries are the opposite of "off-the-run" Treasuries, which refer to Treasury securities that have been issued before the most recent issue and are still outstanding. Media mentions about Treasury yields and prices generally reference "on-the-run" Treasuries....
Office Of The Comptroller Of The Currency (OCC)
What is 'Office Of The Comptroller Of The Currency - OCC' A U.S. federal agency that serves to charter, regulate and supervise the national banks and the federal branches and agencies of foreign banks. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is headed by the Comptroller of the Currency, who is appointed by the president...