| unauthorized trading | The purchase, sale or trade of securities in an investor's account without the investor's prior authorization. | |
| underwriter | An investment banker who assumes the risk of bringing a new securities issue to market. The underwriter will buy the issue from the issuer and guarantee sale of a certain number of shares to investors; this is firm-commitment underwriting. To spread the risk of purchasing the issue, the underwriter often will form a syndicate (underwriting group, purchase group) among other investment firms. If the investment firm is unwilling to buy the issue outright, other underwriting forms may be used. (See best-efforts underwriting, syndicate, syndicate manager) | |
| underwriting spread | The difference between what an underwriter pays for a securities issue, and the price at which he offers it to the public. (See underwriter) | |
| uniform submission agreement | Agreement signed by the parties indicating their submission to the arbitration process, and their agreement to be bound by the determination which may be rendered. | |
| unit | A merger of two or more classes of securities into a single securities product. | |
| UPC | Uniform Practice Code | |
| uptick | A transaction executed at a price higher than the preceding transaction in that security. (See downtick) |
