Day Order:
An order that expires automatically at the end of the trading session on the day it was entered if it is not executed.

Day Traders:
Traders who establish and liquidate positions in one trading day, leaving them with no open positions.

Debit Balance:
State of a customer’s account where the trading losses exceed the amount of equity.

Deck:
All of the currently unexecuted orders in a floor broker’s possession.

Default:
In futures markets, the failure to carry out a futures contract as required by exchange rules, such as a failure to meet a margin call or to make or take delivery.

Deferred Months:
The more distant delivery months in which futures trading is taking place, as distinguished from the nearby delivery months.

Deflation:
A decline in the overall price level of goods and services, which results in increased purchasing power of money. The opposite of inflation.

Delivery:
In settlement of a futures contract, the tender and receipt of an actual commodity or other negotiable instrument covering such commodity.

Delivery Month:
The calendar month during which a futures contract may be settled and delivered. See Contract Month.

Delivery Notice:
A clearinghouse notice of a seller’s intention to deliver the physical commodity against a short futures position.

Delivery Price:
The official settlement price of the trading session during which the buyer of futures contracts receives delivery notice of the seller’s intention to deliver and the price the buyer must pay for the contract’s underlying commodity.

Delta:
The delta of an option indicates how much the option should move for every one-point movement in the underlying stock.

Demand:
A consumer’s desire and willingness to pay for a good or service. See also Supply.

Derivative:
A financial instrument whose value is determined in part from the value and characteristics of another instrument, the underlying. For example, a single stock futures contract is a derivative of the underlying stock on which it is based.

Discount:
1) A description of the futures contract price where it is less than the cash price of the underlying. For example, Bank of America single stock futures trade at a discount to Bank of America stocks. See also Parity and Premium. 2) A reduction in the expected price of a financial instrument produced by various factors.

Discretionary Account:
An arrangement by which an account holder authorizes another, often a broker, to make buying and selling decisions without notification to the holder; often referred to as a managed account or controlled account.

Dividend:
A corporation’s payment to its stockholders.

Dow Jones Averages:
The most widely quoted and oldest measures of change in stock prices, based on a narrow group of “blue chip” stocks.

Downtick:
A state where a financial instrument sells for less than its previous transaction price. In securities markets, the downtick rule currently prevents the short sale of stock on a downtick.

Downtrend:
A price trend of a series of lower highs and lower lows.