What is an account balance?

The amount of money a user has stored in a financial repository.

Account balance with a bank account

When you check your account balance at your bank, it will show the amount of cash you have stored with the bank.

If you have pending transactions, your account balance might be greater than the amount that is actually available to you. That is because the money needed to make those transactions has not yet been removed from your account.

Account balance with a stockbroker

An account balance with a brokerage is likely to look different from a bank account balance. That’s because you don’t just keep cash with a broker.

Instead, the account balance that you see when you check your brokerage account will be the sum of any cash you hold and any stocks you have bought.

Because the value of stocks changes all the time, your account balance will also vary more frequently with stockbroker than a bank.

More terms

Fundamentals

The data or information that is likely to impact a company's stock price.
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OEIC

Unique to the UK, these funds pool together money to invest from multiple investors.
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Yield to maturity (YTM)

What is yield to maturity and why is it useful?
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UK Treasury bill

A debt instrument issued by the UK government with a maturity of less than one year.
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Key Information Document (KID)

A document issued by an investment fund to help investors determine if it's the right fund for them.
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Diversification

An investment strategy in which money is put into a variety assets.
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Arithmetic Mean

The sum of a set of numbers added together and then divided by the total amount of numbers in that set.
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Xetra

A trading venue operated by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
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Over-The-Counter (OTC)

A security that is sold outside of an exchange.
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