Auction Market: A market in which buyers enter competitive bids and sellers enter competitive offers simultaneously. Most stock and bond markets, including those on the NYSE, function this way.

Bear Market: A declining stock market over a prolonged period of time usually caused by a weak economy and subsequent decreased corporate profits.

Bull: An investor who believes that a market is rising or is expected to rise.

Stock Exchange or Stock Market: An organized marketplace where buyers and sellers are brought together to buy and sell stocks.

Secondary Market: A market that provides for the purchase or sale of previously sold or bought options through closing transactions.

Seasonal Market: A market with a consistent but short-lived rise or drop in market activity due to predictable changes in climate or calendar.

Quote: The price being offered or bid by a market maker or broker-dealer for a particular security.

Primary Market: For securities that are traded in more than one market, the primary market is usually the exchange where trading volume in that security is highest.

Primary Market: For securities that are traded in more than one market, the primary market is usually the exchange where trading volume in that security is highest.

Primary Market: For securities that are traded in more than one market, the primary market is usually the exchange where trading volume in that security is highest.

Primary Market: For securities that are traded in more than one market, the primary market is usually the exchange where trading volume in that security is highest.

Market Not Held Order: Also a market order, but the investor is allowing the floor broker who is executing the order to use his own discretion as to the exact timing of the execution. If the floor broker expects a decline in price and he is holding a "market not held buy order", he (she) may wait to buy, figuring that a better price will soon be available. There is no guarantee that a "market not held order" will be filled.

Price: Price of a share of common stock on the date shown. Highs and lows are based on the highest and lowest intra-day trading price.

Price: Price of a share of common stock on the date shown. Highs and lows are based on the highest and lowest intra-day trading price.

Price: Price of a share of common stock on the date shown. Highs and lows are based on the highest and lowest intra-day trading price.

Price: Price of a share of common stock on the date shown. Highs and lows are based on the highest and lowest intra-day trading price.

Market Value: The price at which investors buy or sell a share of common stock or a bond at a given time. Market value is determined by the interaction between buyers and sellers.

Spread: A trade in which two related contracts/stocks/bonds/options are traded to exploit the relative difference in price change between the two. A trading strategy in which a trader offsets the purchase of one trading unit against another.

Market quote: A quotation of the current best bid / ask prices for an option or stock in the marketplace (an exchange trading floor). This information is usually obtained by the investor from someone at a brokerage firm. However, for listed options and stocks, these quotes are widely disseminated and available through various commercial quotation services.

Market Price: The most recent price at which a security transaction took place.

Market Order: An order to buy or sell securities at the current market. The order will be filled as long as there is a market for the security. A market order is to be executed immediately at the best available price, and is the only order that guarantees execution.

Market on Close: An order specification that requires the broker to get the best price available on the close of trading, usually during the last five minutes of trading.

Market Not Held Order: Also a market order, but the investor is allowing the floor broker who is executing the order to use his own discretion as to the exact timing of the execution. If the floor broker expects a decline in price and he is holding a "market not held buy order", he (she) may wait to buy, figuring that a better price will soon be available. There is no guarantee that a "market not held order" will be filled.

Market Maker: An independent trader or trading firm that is prepared to buy and sell shares or contracts in a designated market. Market makers must make a 2-sided market (bid and ask) in order to facilitate trading.

Market Basket: A portfolio of common stocks whose performance is intended to simulate the performance of a specific index.

Marked to Market: At the end of each business day the open positions carried in an account held at a brokerage firm are credited or debited funds based on the settlement price of the open positions that day.

Marked to Market: At the end of each business day the open positions carried in an account held at a brokerage firm are credited or debited funds based on the settlement price of the open positions that day.

Make a Market: A market maker stands ready to buy or sell a particular security for his/her own account to keep the market liquid.

Locked Market: A market where trading has been halted because prices have reached their daily trading limit.

Liquid Market: A trading environment characterized by high trading volume, a narrow spread between the bid and ask prices, and the ability to trade larger sized orders without significant price changes.

Liquid Market: A trading environment characterized by high trading volume, a narrow spread between the bid and ask prices, and the ability to trade larger sized orders without significant price changes.

Liquid Market: A trading environment characterized by high trading volume, a narrow spread between the bid and ask prices, and the ability to trade larger sized orders without significant price changes.

Illiquid Market: Market which has no volume that subsequently creates a lot of slippage due to lack of trading volume.

Hammering the Market: The intense selling of stocks by speculators who think the market is about to drop because they think prices are inflated.

Fast Markets: A declaration that market conditions, in the futures pit, are so disorderly temporarily to the extent that floor brokers are not held responsible for the execution of orders.

Fair Market Value: The value of an asset under normal conditions.

Bull Market: A rising stock market over a prolonged period of time usually caused by a strong economy and subsequent increased corporate profits.