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Glossary of Investment Terms: D

Day Trader  
Speculators who take positions in commodities which are then liquidated prior to the close of the same trading day.

Deal Ticket/Deal Slip  
The primary method of recording the basic information relating to a transaction.

Dealer
An individual or firm acting as a principal, rather than as an agent, in the purchase and/or sale of securities. Dealers trade for their own account and risk.

Dealing Systems
On-line computers which link the contributing banks around the world on a one-on-one basis

Declaration Date
The latest day or time by which the buyer of an option must indicate to the seller his intention to the option.

Default
The latest day or time by which the buyer of an option must indicate to the seller his intention to the option.

Deficit
A negative balance of trade or payments.

Delivery Date
The date of maturity of the contract, when the exchange of the currencies is made. This date is more commonly known as the value date in the FX or Money markets.

Delivery Month
The calendar month in which a futures contract comes to maturity and becomes deliverable.

Delivery Points
Those locations designated by futures exchanges at which the currency represented by a futures contract may be delivered in fulfilment of the contract.

Delivery Risk
A term to describe when a counterparty will not be able to complete his side of the deal, although willing to do so.

Delivery
The settlement of a futures contract by receipt or tender of a financial instrument or currency.

Depreciation
A fall in the value of a currency due to market forces.

Derivative
A contract that changes in value in relation to the price movements of a related or underlying security, future or other physical instrument. An Option is the most common derivative instrument.

Devaluation
Deliberate downward adjustment of a currency against its fixed parities or bands, normally by formal announcement.

Delta
The change in the value of the option premium made fully paid by the capitalisation of reserves and given relative to the instantaneous change in the value of the; underlying instrument, expressed as a coefficient.

Direct Quotation
Quoting in fixed units of foreign currency against variable amounts of the domestic currency.

Discount Rate
The interest rate at which eligible depository institutions may borrow funds directly from the Federal Reserve Banks. This rate is controlled by the Federal Reserve and is not subject to trading.

Discount
Forward rate is lower than spot rate (2) an option that is trading for less than its intrinsic value.

Double
An option either to buy or sell an instrument or currency at a specified price. The exercise of the right to sell causes the right to buy to expire and vice versa.

Durable Goods Order
An economic indicator which measures the changes in sales of products with a life span in excess of three years.