AIMA

A clearing organization or similar entity that, in respect to a contract (1) enables each party to the contract to substitute, through novation or otherwise, the credit of the derivatives clearing organization for the credit of the parties; (2) arranges or provides, on a multilateral basis, for the settlement or netting of obligations resulting from such contracts; or (3) otherwise provides clearing services or arrangements that mutualise or transfer among participants in the derivatives clearing organization the credit risk arising from such contracts.

A document providing access to any information relevant and necessary for an investor to make an informed decision about the viability and suitability of an investment. Disclosure documents are heavily regulated and must include the exact nature and extent of the risks associated with a particular investment. See Prospectus.

An arrangement by which the holder of an account gives written power of attorney to someone else, often a Commodity Trading Advisor, to buy and sell without prior approval of the holder; often referred to as a "managed account" or controlled account.

Generally refers to the variety of investments in a fund's portfolio. Risk-averse fund managers seek to combine investments that are unlikely to all move in the same direction at the same time.

Similar to the loss standard deviation except the downside deviation considers only returns that fall below a defined Minimum Acceptable Return (MAR) rather then the arithmetic mean. For example, if the MAR were assumed to be 10%, the downside deviation would measure the variation of each period that falls below 10%. (The loss standard deviation, on the other hand, would take only losing periods, calculate an average return for the losing periods, and then measure the variation between each losing return and the losing return average).