Trading terms glossary
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O

OCO (one cancels the other)
OCO allows many orders to be placed at once. Whichever order is filled first will cancel the other automatically. OCO can be used to close an existing position or take advantage of market volatility.

Off book trades
An “off-book” trade refers to trading shares outside of an exchange or regulated body. Off-book traders are usually executed via the over-the-counter (OTC) market, and made directly between two parties.

Offer
The term “offer” describes when one trader expresses an intention to buy a financial instrument or asset from another trader.

On exchange
On exchange refers to a trade is taking place directly on an order book.

On-balance volume (OBV)
On-balance volume is a method of technical analysis where traders make predictions about an asset’s future price movements based on its previous trading volume. OBV is regularly used in shares trading as volume has a large influence how a share price moves.

OPEC (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)
OPEC was founded in 1960 by Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Kuwait, Venezuela. Other countries that have since joined OPEC since include the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo and Ecuador.

Open (Market)
The market “open” can refer to the daily opening of an exchange

Open (order/position)
An open order refers to an outstanding trading order/position that has not yet been filled/closed. When a trade is executed, or a position closed, the profits and losses a are realised and the trade is no longer open.

Option
Options are a type of derivative specifically linked to an underlying asset. The Buyer of an option has the choice of whether or not to receive futures relating to an asset at a predetermined price, volume and expiry date.

Order
An “order” is a request sent to a broker or trading platform instructing them to execute a particular trade.

OTC trade (Over the Counter)
An OTC trade is an agreement between two parties,  not executed through an exchange. This allows increased flexibility compared to trading on the market, as contractual terms can be negotiated directly between the two parties. 

Overexposure
Overexposure refers to a trader taking on too much risk. A typical instance of this is when a trader invests too much capital in a single position or market; putting the trader in the position where an unfavorable movement of a single instrument can result in dramatic losses.