A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

B

back office
Brokerage  administrative functions that support securities trading, including trade confirmation and settlement, recordkeeping, and regulatory compliance.

back-test
Financial modeling used to determine the effectiveness of an investment strategy by applying the strategy to past periods and comparing those results with the actual performance of other strategies.

basis point
One hundredth of a percentage point (0.01%).

beta

A measure of the volatility of a stock or fund relative to the overall market. A beta of <1 indicates lower risk than the market; a beta of >1 indicates higher risk than the market. Nasdaq.com uses the S&P 500 as the underlying index to measure the overall market for beta. A beta of 0.8 indicates that the fund has experienced gains and losses that are 80% of the benchmark's changes. A beta of 1.3 means the total return is likely to move up or down 30% more than the index. A fund with a beta of 1.0 is expected to move in concert with the index.

bottom-up investment strategy
A strategy that seeks to identify investments that will produce strong returns, prior to assessing the influence that economic factors will have on those assets.

breakdown
A portfolio breakdown analysis displays how a portfolio is invested by currency, style, strategy, region, sector, etc.