To determine whether you should get a dividend, you need to look at two important dates. They are the "record date" or "date of record" and the "ex-dividend date" or "ex-date."

When a company declares a dividend, it sets a record date when you must be on the company's books as a shareholder to receive the dividend. Companies also use this date to determine who is sent proxy statements, financial reports, and other information.

Investors must complete or "settle" their security transactions within two business days. This settlement cycle is known as "T+2," shorthand for "trade date plus two days." 

T+2 means that when you buy a security, your payment must be received by your brokerage firm no later than two business days after the trade is executed. When you sell a security, you must deliver to your brokerage firm your securities certificate no later than two business days after the sale. 

A binary option is a type of options contract in which the payout depends entirely on the outcome of a yes/no proposition and typically relates to whether the price of a particular asset will rise above or fall below a specified amount.   Once the option is acquired, there is no further decision for the holder to make regarding the exercise of the binary option because binary options exercise automatically.  Unlike other types of options, a binary option does not give the holder the right to buy or sell the specified asset.  When the binary option expires, the option hol

A foreign currency exchange rate is a price that represents how much it costs to buy the currency of one country using the currency of another country. Currency traders buy and sell currencies through forex transactions based on how they expect currency exchange rates will fluctuate. When the value of one currency rises relative to another, traders will earn profits if they purchased the appreciating currency, or suffer losses if they sold the appreciating currency.

Additional Information

When a broker-dealer sells you securities out of its inventory, the broker-dealer acts as a principal in the transaction (that is, selling to you directly the securities it holds).  When acting in a principal capacity the broker-dealer generally will be compensated by selling the security to you at a price that is higher than the market price (the difference is called a markup), or by buying the security from you at a price that is lower than the market price (the difference is called a markdown).

A tender offer is typically an active and widespread solicitation by a company or third party (often called the “bidder” or “offeror”) to purchase a substantial percentage of the company’s securities.  Bidders may conduct tender offers to acquire equity (common stock) in a particular company or debt issued by the company.  A tender offer where the company seeks to acquire its own securities is often referred to as an issuer tender offer.  A tender offer where a third party seeks to acquire another company’s securities is referred to as a third party tender offer.  

The profit earned by a company after all expenses and taxes have been deducted from revenue. A simple way to think about net income is it’s the price of a widget multiplied by the number of widgets sold (this result is revenue) minus the cost to make and sell the widgets, other expenses and any interest or taxes.

The total amount of money, or gross income, generated by a company from selling its goods and services. A simple way to think about revenue is it’s the price of a widget multiplied by the number of widgets sold.

Information about a company’s financial condition and business that it makes public. Investors can use this information to make informed investment decisions about the company’s securities. 

A broker is a