ICO | Intial Coin Offering, an IPO for cryptocurrencies as a method to raise funds. It is also where people can first buy the corresponding token or crypto currency. |
Illiquid Market | A market with relatively less aggregate volume in the order book. In an illiquid market, a small amount of business often moves prices by a disproportionate amount and bid and offer prices can be far apart. |
Inflation | Increase in the general price of goods and services. |
Interest Rate Swap | An agreement between two parties (known as counterparties) where one stream of future interest payments is exchanged for another based on a specified principal amount. Interest rate swaps often exchange a fixed payment for a floating payment that is linked to an interest rate (most often the LIBOR). A company will typically use interest rate swaps to limit or manage exposure to fluctuations in interest rates, or to obtain a marginally lower interest rate than it would have been able to get without the swap. Interest rate swaps are simply the exchange of one set of cash flows (based on interest rate specifications) for another. Because they trade OTC, they are just contracts set up between two or more parties, and thus can be customized in any number of ways. Swaps are sought by firms that desire a type of interest rate structure that another firm can provide less expensively. For example, let’s say Cory’s Tequila Company (CTC) is seeking to loan funds at a fixed interest rate, but Tom’s Sports Inc. (TSI) has access to marginally cheaper fixed-rate funds. Tom’s Sports can issue debt to investors at its low fixed rate and then trade the fixed-rate cash flow obligations to CTC for floating-rate obligations issued by TSI. Even though TSI may have a higher floating rate than CTC, by swapping the interest structures they are best able to obtain, their combined costs are decreased – a benefit that can be shared by both parties. |
Introducing Broker (IB) | A futures broker who has a direct relationship with a client but delegates the work of the floor operation and trade execution to another futures merchant. The merchant firm is usually a close partner of the IB. This is done to increase efficiency and lower the workload for futures brokers. It allows the IB to focus on the client while the futures merchant focuses on trading floor operations.
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Institutional Investor | A non-bank person or organization that trades securities in large enough share quantities or dollar amounts that they qualify for preferential treatment and lower commissions. Institutional investors face fewer protective regulations because it is assumed that they are more knowledgeable and better able to protect themselves. Watching what the big money is buying can sometimes be a good indicator, as they (supposedly) know what they are doing. Some examples of institutional investors are pension funds and life insurance companies. More Information: |
Interbank Rates | Interbank rates can refer to either (1) the FX rates quoted to each other by international banks, or (2) the rate of interest which banks charge each other on a short-term basis. |
Intraday Trading | Trading where positions are opened and then closed out within the same trading day. |