List of Glossary Terms
The PDSnet Glossary of Terms contains definitions and explanations for over 2600 financial market terms. These definitions are constantly kept up-to-date with current topical examples from the markets. They are also updated for changes in legislation and current events like COVID19 and the July 2021 civil unrest.
The terms in the Glossary are directly linked to all PDSnet articles, confidential reports, lecture modules and other material. This means that a client reading one of our publications can immediately see which terms are defined in the Glossary and click through to read the definition. Terms within the definitions in the glossary are similarly linked, which gives the Glossary an enormous educational depth share market investors.
| G20 |
A group of 19 countries and the European Union which replaced the G7 and includes the larger emerging economies such as China and South Africa. Its... read more |
| G30 |
An international group 24 of academics, financial leaders and economists that aims to improve the world economy through a better understanding of economic... read more |
| G7 |
This was a group of 7 countries - America, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. It was established in in 1975 and was formed from the "Group... read more |
| GAAP |
Section 19 of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS) requires that "...the financial statements be prepared in conformity with... read more |
| GAMMA |
The degree by which the delta changes with respect to changes in the underlying instrument's price. |
| GANN THEORY |
Various analytical techniques developed by legendary trader W.D. Gann. His first prophecy is believed to have happened during World War I when he... read more |
| GANN WILLIAM |
An American trader of securities who developed a complex system of charts using astrology, geometry and archaic maths. He died in 1955, but left... read more |
| GANN'S SQUARE OF 9 |
A trading tool that relates numbers, such as a share price, to degrees on a circle. The Square of 9 is basically a spiral of numbers. The... read more |
| GAP |
A day in which the daily range is completely above or below the previous day's daily range. This term normally refers to a bar chart where the low... read more |
| GARNISHEE |
A court order which obliges an employer to deduct money from an employee's salary or wage for payment to a creditor. In South Africa a garnishee... read more |
| GARNISHEE ORDER |
This is an order handed down by a court in terms of which an amount may be deducted from an employee's income for the repayment of a creditor. Thousands of salary-earners... read more |
| GAS |
Natural gas is a clean burning hydrocarbon, producing far less carbon dioxide and air pollutants compared to coal, when used to generate electricity. It... read more |
| GAUSSIAN |
A Chinese actuary and quantitative analyst who is best known for his application of gaussian copulas for securitised mortgage bonds leading to the... read more |
| GAZETTE |
A web site where the government publishes all official notices. Certain legal notices must also be published on this site to be legally binding. |
| GCI |
The global competitiveness index (GCI) is prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF) annually and it ranks 141 countries on how competitive they... read more |
| GDI |
An economics concept which is the total income created by the production of final goods and services within the economy. |
| GDP |
The GDP of a country is defined as the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time. It... read more |
| GEARING |
(1) The relationship of a company's borrowings or debt to ordinary shareholders' funds. The American term for gearing is "leverage". A company... read more |
| GEMSTONE |
A cut and polished semi-precious stone used in the making of jewellery. Gemstones can include amber, and pearls which are not stones but organic in origin. On... read more |
| GENERAL EQUITY UNIT TRUST |
A unit trust which focuses on listed shares - as opposed to fixed interest investments or other types of investments. The performance... read more |
| GENERAL FUEL LEVY |
A general tax changed per litre of petrol sold. This tax is administered by the National Treasury, and despite most people thinking it is used to maintain... read more |
| GENERAL MEETING |
This is a meeting of the shareholders of a company, which is required in terms of section 61 of the Companies Act (71 of 2008). The AGM must... read more |
| GENERAL MINING |
The extraction and exploitation of metals and minerals from the ground. This activity in South Africa is controlled by the Mineral and Petroleum Resource Development... read more |
| GENERAL OFFER |
An offer made to all shareholders of a company for the purchase of their shares. The purchase price could be in cash or in shares of a predator... read more |
| GENERALLY ACCEPTED ACCOUNTING PRACTICE |
Section 19 of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS) requires that "...the financial statements be prepared in conformity with... read more |
| GENERIC SCORECARD |
In terms of the BBBEE (Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment) Act, companies over a certain size are required to maintain a scorecard in which black... read more |
| GEPF |
A pension fund for government employees, the GEPF is the single largest investor on the JSE owning about 12,5% of its market capitalisation... read more |
| GFCF |
The net increase in fixed capital in the economy, usually over the fiscal year. Basically this includes all new assets in the economy... read more |
| GFECRA |
The gross gold and foreign exchange contingency reserves account (GFECRA) of the government is published every month. For example, in January 2024... read more |
| GIC |
A single lump-sum deposit that earns a guaranteed interest until a known maturity date. GICs are issued by insurance companies. |
| GILT |
Any fixed interest security which has very low risk and relatively low return. Government bonds are considered to be gilts,... read more |
| GIVE-UP |
When a broker executes an order for another broker's client and the two brokers split the commission; the client pays nothing extra. |
| GLA |
The area which a property company has available for rent. Real estate investment trusts (REIT) and property companies typically quote this... read more |
| GLASS STEAGAL |
These are four provisions of the US Banking Act which were sponsored by Senator Glass and Representative Steagall. These provisions separated commercial banking... read more |
| GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS INDEX |
The global competitiveness index (GCI) is prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF) annually and it ranks 141 countries on how competitive they... read more |
| GLOBAL DOW |
An index created and maintained by the Dow Jones company which tracks the average movement of 150 blue chip shares from... read more |
| GLOBAL ECONOMIC SYSTEM |
The combined economies of all the countries of the world also called the global economic system. It is important for the private investor... read more |
| GLOBAL ECONOMY |
The combined economies of all the countries of the world also called the global economic system. It is important for the private investor... read more |
| GLOBAL INFLATION |
This is the average inflation rate of the world tracked by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The global inflation rate fell from the... read more |
| GLOBE TRADE CENTRE S.A |
21 - 08 - 2020 GTC is a property group operating in central and Eastern Europe. The company has properties in Poland, Bucharest, Budapest, Belgrade, Sophia and Zagreb. It manages 46 buildings... read more |
| GLOBEX |
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange's electronic trading platform. Some futures contracts are available for trading on Globex only during the U.S. evening... read more |
| GOING CONCERN |
A profitable business which is expected to be able to continue in business because it has sufficient cash-flow to meet its commitments. It is not... read more |
| GOING PUBLIC |
A term used to describe the sale of shares of a privately-held company to the public for the first time. |
| GOING SHORT |
A sale of shares before they are purchased. A bear sale (or short sale) is the sale of an undertaking to supply a certain number of shares at a specified date in the future.... read more |
| GOLD |
A precious metal that has been known and kept for thousands of years as a currency and a way to store value. All the gold ever mined throughout history... read more |
| GOLD AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE CONTINGENCY RESERVE ACCOUNT |
The gross gold and foreign exchange contingency reserves account (GFECRA) of the government is published every month. For example, in January 2024... read more |
| GOLD FIX |
The result of a twice-a-day dedicated conference between the 15 members of the London Gold Market Fixing Ltd. Previously this meeting was held at the premises... read more |
| GOLD SHARES |
South Africa has traditionally been a gold-producing country and gold shares used to make a large proportion of the JSE, but today, the gold... read more |
| GOLD STANDARD |
A past financial discipline whereby a country's currency was directly linked to that country's gold reserves. Form 1989 until 1933 America was on the gold... read more |
| GOLDEN CROSS |
The point at which the 50-day simple moving average (MA) crosses up through the 200-day simple MA. Many technical analysts believe that this is a... read more |
| GOLDEN MEAN |
The ratio of any two consecutive numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, known as phi and equal to 0.618; a proportion that is an important phenomenon... read more |
| GOLDEN RATIO |
The ratio of any two consecutive numbers in the Fibonacci sequence, known as phi and equal to 0.618; a proportion that is an important phenomenon... read more |
| GOLDEN SECTION |
Any length divided so that the ratio of the smaller to the larger part is equivalent to the ratio between the larger part and the whole and is always 0.618.... read more |
| GOOD |
An economic term meaning a product with value. Economists talk about the "goods" and services in the economy. A good can be anything from... read more |
| GOOD THRU DATE |
Good Thru Date order. This order works until executed or cancelled, or until the end of the trading session on the date specified by the trader. |
| GOOD TILL CANCELLED |
Good Till Cancelled order. This order works until executed or cancelled, unlike a Day order, which, if not filled, expires automatically at the end... read more |
| GOODWILL |
An intangible asset which arises when a holding company pays more for a subsidiary than its book value. Goodwill is also called a "premium arising on acquisition"... read more |
| GOVERNMENT BONDS |
Instruments for short-term borrowing employed by governments. The bills are issued by tender to the money market. Usually, when economists refer... read more |
| GOVERNMENT BORROWING |
This is the difference between government revenue and expenditure. Typically, governments spend more than they receive from taxes and other types... read more |
| GOVERNMENT DEBT |
This is the difference between government revenue and expenditure. Typically, governments spend more than they receive from taxes and other types... read more |
| GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES PENSION FUND |
A pension fund for government employees, the GEPF is the single largest investor on the JSE owning about 12,5% of its market capitalisation... read more |
| GOVERNMENT GUARANTEE |
A formal assurance issued by the South African government—typically through the National Treasury—that it will assume... read more |
| GOVERNMENT GUARANTEED DEBT |
The government is constantly trying to balance the books. This means that they are always looking for additional sources of money to accommodate competing needs.... read more |
| GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS |
State Owed Enterprises (SOE) are corporations owned and controlled by the government. In South Africa there are about 700 SOE's which deal with everything... read more |
| GRADE |
The number of grams per ton of ore milled, usually in a gold mine or other precious metals mine. Mines are categorised by their average grade... read more |
| GRAHAM BENJAMIN |
Benjamin Graham is the author of "Security Analysis" and "The Intelligent Investor", two books which Warren Buffett said had a great influence... read more |
| GRAMM RUDMAN |
An American Act, "The Balanced and Emergency Budget Deficit Control Act" was designed to bring the American budget into balance by 1991 or a series of budget... read more |
| GRAND SUPER CYCLE |
First proposed by Russian economist Nikolai Kondratiev in his 1926 book, a very long cycle of around 54 years in commodity prices was... read more |
| GRANTOR |
A person who sells an option and assumes the obligation to sell (in the case of a call option) or buy (in the case of a put option) the underlying... read more |
| GRANVILLE JOSEPH |
A financial public speaker and writer from America, Joseph Granville championed the idea of using volumes as a key technical indicator. He developed... read more |
| GRAPH |
In the context of the share market, this is a display or picture of a security that plots price and/or volume (the number of shares... read more |
| GRAVESTONE DOJI |
A candlestick pattern with a long upper shadow and where the open and close for the day occur at the low for the day.... read more |
| GREAT DEPRESSION |
A economic term which refers to an extended period of very low economic activity. A depression is considerably worse and deeper than a recession. Recessions... read more |
| GREEN BONDS |
A debt instrument with a fixed coupon where the money raised is used for climate and environmental projects. Green bonds can be listed on the JSE provided they... read more |
| GREEN CHIP |
Environmentally friendly companies which are usually in the JSE's Socially Responsible Index. |
| GREEN ENGULFING PATTERN |
A bottom candlestick reversal signal, this is a two candlestick pattern consisting of a large green candle enveloping a preceding red candle. This pattern implies that the trend... read more |
| GREEN FIELDS OPERATIONS |
A business activity, usually in the mining industry, which is a completely new start-up. This is a high-risk, potentially high return undertaking... read more |
| GREEN TAX |
A tax introduced by President Cyril Ramaphosa from 1st June 2020 in terms of the Carbon Tax Act (15 of 2019). In terms of this Act, companies will be taxed... read more |
| GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS |
Those gaseous emissions which contribute to global warming and climate change by trapping solar energy inside the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels... read more |
| GREENSPAN ALAN |
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of America (Fed) from 1987 to 2006. Alan Greenspan is notable because he ushered in the idea of stimulating... read more |
| GREYLISTING |
The Financial Action Task Force is a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog established in 1989 by the G7. It maintains a list of those countries... read more |
| GROSS DOMESTIC EXPENDITURE |
This is an economics term which refers to the total expenditure within the economy. It is a method of calculating gross domestic product.... read more |
| GROSS DOMESTIC INCOME |
An economics concept which is the total income created by the production of final goods and services within the economy. |
| GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT |
The GDP of a country is defined as the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time. It... read more |
| GROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION |
The net increase in fixed capital in the economy, usually over the fiscal year. Basically this includes all new assets in the economy... read more |
| GROSS LETTABLE AREA |
The area which a property company has available for rent. Real estate investment trusts (REIT) and property companies typically quote this... read more |
| GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT |
Gross National Product or GNP is the value of all final goods and services produced within the economy during a specified period. It usually... read more |
| GROSS PROFIT |
A company's profit after its direct or variable costs have been deducted. Typically, the gross profit is the final figure in the company's... read more |
| GROSS SALES |
A figure in the income statement of a company's financial statements which consists of the company's total sales or income figure... read more |
| GROUP |
The holding company of a number of subsidiaries. Such companies produce group consolidated accounts once per annum, showing the consolidated... read more |
| GROUP FINANCIAL STATEMENTS |
In terms of section 30 of the Companies Act, a company is obliged to produce group consolidated financial statements in such a way that inter-company... read more |
| GROUP INVESTOR BEHAVIOUR |
The behaviour of investors as a group. Group investor behaviour creates observable patterns in share prices, indexes and other... read more |
| GROUP OF THIRTY |
An international group 24 of academics, financial leaders and economists that aims to improve the world economy through a better understanding of economic... read more |
| GROWTH |
In the context of economics, this refers to the increase in a country's gross domestic product (GDP). GDP growth is impacted by many things, but mainly... read more |
| GROWTH FUND |
A more speculative mutual fund made up primarily of the growth shares or performance stocks that are expected to appreciate in price... read more |
| GROWTH SHARES |
A growth share is a share in a listed company which is expected to grow rapidly. This term is normally applied to companies which have recently... read more |
| GTC |
21 - 08 - 2020 GTC is a property group operating in central and Eastern Europe. The company has properties in Poland, Bucharest, Budapest, Belgrade, Sophia and Zagreb. It manages 46 buildings... read more |
| GTC |
Good Till Cancelled order. This order works until executed or cancelled, unlike a Day order, which, if not filled, expires automatically at the end... read more |
| GTD |
Good Thru Date order. This order works until executed or cancelled, or until the end of the trading session on the date specified by the trader. |
| GUARANTEE FUND |
A fund which is built and sustained by the stock exchange to cover any counter party risks which may exist in securities trading. For example, the... read more |
| GUARANTEED INVESTMENT CONTRACTS |
A single lump-sum deposit that earns a guaranteed interest until a known maturity date. GICs are issued by insurance companies. |
| GURU |
A person who is thought to be an expert on predicting the future course of the market. At any point in time there are always experts who are called upon... read more |