Offer - An indication of willingness to sell at a given price; opposite of bid.

Offset - Liquidating a purchase of futures contracts through the sale of an equal number of contracts of the same delivery month, or covering a short sale of futures through the purchase of an equal number of contracts of the same delivery month. See Cover.

Omnibus Account - An account carried by one futures commission merchant with another futures commission merchant in which the transactions of two or more persons are combined and carried in the name of the originating broker rather than designated separately.

On Track (or Track Country Station) - (1) A type of deferred delivery in which the price is set f.o.b. seller's location, and the buyer agrees to pay freight costs to his destination; (2) commodities loaded in railroad cars on track.

Opening Price (or Range) - The price (or price range) recorded during the period designated by the exchange as the official opening.

Opening, The - The period at the beginning of the trading session officially designated by the exchange during which all transactions are considered made "at the opening."

Open Interest - The total number of futures contracts long or short in a delivery month or market that have been entered into and not yet liquidated by an offsetting transaction or fulfilled by delivery. Also called Open Contracts or Open Commitments.

Open Order (or Orders) - An order that remains in force until it is cancelled or until the futures contracts expire. See Good 'Til Cancelled and Good This Week orders.

Open Outcry - Method of public auction required to make bids and offers in the trading pits or rings of commodity exchanges.

Option - (1) A commodity option is a unilateral contract which gives the buyer the right to buy or sell a specified quantity of a commodity at a specific price within a specified period of time, regardless of the market price of that commodity. Also see Put and Call (2) A term sometimes erroneously applied to a futures contract. It may refer to a specific delivery month, as the "July Option."

Option Buyer - The person who buys calls, puts, or any combination of calls and puts.

Option Grantor - The person who originates an option contract by promising to perform a certain obligation in return for the price of the option. Also known as Option Writer.

Original Margin - Term applied to the initial deposit of margin money each clearing member firm is required to make according to clearing house rules based upon positions carried, determined separately for customer and proprietary positions, similar in concept to the initial margin or security deposit required of customers by exchange regulations. See Initial Margin.

Out-Of-The-Money - A term used to describe an option that has no intrinsic value. For example, a call at $400 on gold trading at $390 is out-of-the money 10 dollars.

Out Trade - A trade which cannot be cleared by a clearinghouse because the trade data submitted by the two clearing members involved in the trade differs in some respect (e.g., price and/or quantity). In such cases, the two clearing members or brokers involved must reconcile the discrepancy, if possible, and resubmit the trade for clearing. If an agreement cannot be reached by the two clearing members or brokers involved, the dispute would be settled by an appropriate exchange committee.

Overbought - A technical opinion that the market price has risen too steeply and too fast in relation to underlying fundamental factors. Rank and file traders who were bullish and long have turned bearish.

Overnight Trade - A trade which is not liquidated on the same trading day in which it was established.

Oversold - A technical opinion that the market price has declined too steeply and too fast in relation to underlying fundamental factors. Rank and file traders who were bearish and short have turned bullish.