An initial filing statement made by every director, officer or shareholder with holdings of 10% or more. Also flags the person's relationship to the company.

Intent of an insider to sell restricted or unregistered stock. Provides useful business intelligence, especially if multiple insiders file this form around the same time. The filing is due at least 3 days prior to the sale of the security.

Statement of change filing, usually associated with the actual insider sale or purchase of the security. Every director, officer or shareholder with holdings of 10% or more files a Form 4.

This filing reports unscheduled corporate changes or significant events that could be important to the SEC or shareholders. Typical examples include acquisitions, resignations of directors, etc. This is a very useful report.

Company's quarterly report publicly detailing its financial performance in the prior 3-month period. The filing is due within 45 days of each of the first 3 quarters, with no required filing for the fourth quarter.

Holdings report. Can provide insight into the largest owners of the security and changes in their positions.

This is a company's annual report that provides a comprehensive overview of the company during the preceding year. The filing is due within 90 days of the close of the company's normal fiscal year. It contains information about the company like history, organization, financial performance/data, officers of the company, competition and executive compensation.

Schedule 13D discloses beneficial ownership of certain registered equity securities. Any person or group of persons who acquire a beneficial ownership of more than 5% of a class of registered equity securities of certain issuers must file a Schedule 13D reporting such acquisition together with other specified information within ten days after such acquisition. Note: The Commission's rules define the term "beneficial owner" to be any person who directly or indirectly shares voting power or investment power (the power to sell the security).

This is a registration statement submitted by a private company to file its intent to go public.

This statement is submitted for the registration of securities issued in business merger or acquisition transactions.

This statement is submitted when securities are to be offered to employees as benefit plans such as stock options.

Allows an individual to keep certain exempt property while the remaining property is sold to repay creditors.

Allows a business to continue operations while formulating a plan to repay its creditors.

Allows a plan to be worked out to meet the needs of financially distressed family farmers.

Allows creditors to be repaid in installments, in full or in part, over a 3 to 5 year period.

A warrant (also known as a "stock-purchase warrant") is a type of security that gives you the right to purchase an amount of common stock in the future at a set price (which will usually be higher than the current market price at the time the company issues the warrant). You can buy or sell warrants in the open market on many of the major exchanges. Some warrants last indefinitely; others have a specified expiration date.

A shelf registration allows a company to prepare its registration materials but then delay making an offering of new securities for up to 2 years. The company can keep the registration "on the shelf" and go to market quickly as the need for new capital arises or as market conditions become favorable for an offering.

A short sale (or "short selling") is generally the sale of a stock you do not own. You might decide to sell short if you believe the price of the stock will soon fall. If you're right and the price drops, you can buy the stock at the lower price before settlement and make a profit. But if the price of the stock rises and you're stuck buying it at the higher price, you will incur a loss.

When you sell short, your brokerage firm loans you the stock. The stock you borrow comes from either the firm's own inventory, the margin account of another of the firm's clients, or another brokerage firm. As with buying stock on margin, your brokerage firm will charge you interest on the loan, and you are subject to the margin rules. If the stock you borrow pays a dividend, you must pay the dividend to the person or firm making the loan.

Junk bonds (also known as "high-yield", "high-risk", and "below investment grade" bonds) are bonds that have a credit rating of BB or below. Bonds that have a "junk" rating are often issued by companies or municipalities that have a bad or uncertain credit rating.

"Overbought" stock describes a stock that has had a recent sharp increase in price and may be considered to be over-valued. "Oversold" stock describes the opposite situation (i.e., the stock's price has fallen dramatically, and the stock may be considered under-valued).

The "spread" is the difference between the "bid" price and the "ask" price on over-the-counter market securities. The term "bid" refers to the highest price a market maker will pay at any given time to purchase a specified number of shares of a stock. The term "ask" refers to the lowest price at which a market maker will sell the stock.

"Curbs" are used to describe when trading is curtailed. A trading curb is a temporary restriction in trading in a particular security, usually to reduce dramatic price movements. The securities and futures markets have circuit breakers that provide for brief, coordinated, cross-market trading halts during a severe market decline as measured by a single day decrease in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). There are three circuit breaker thresholds (10%, 20%, and 30%) set by the markets at point levels that are calculated at the beginning of each quarter.

The sale of securities made directly to institutional investors, such as banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, pension funds, and foundations. It does not require SEC registration, provided the securities are bought for investment purposes rather than resale, as specified in the investment letter.