Securities
What you're actually holding — every security type in the US market, from common stock to SPAC rights.
Financial data is organized around tickers, and tickers hide structure. Three tickers can belong to one offering. One ticker can be a debt claim on a bank dressed as an index fund. A share class can track a business the company still owns entirely. The distinctions are not academic — they determine what a holder owns, what can be taken away, and which document has the answer.
This index has one page per security type. Each page states what the instrument is, the corporate act and the filing that bring it into existence, what a holder's claim actually consists of, which lifecycle events matter and which SEC filings signal them, and what to check before assuming anything. Where the terms of a specific instrument are set in an agreement rather than by convention — which is true of every warrant and nearly every preferred series — the page says so and points you at the exhibit.
None of it is advice. It is the structure of the market, described accurately, so the filings on the wire read as events rather than as noise.
The types
Common Stock
An ownership share in a corporation, last in line on claims and first in line on residual value.
Preferred Stock
Equity that behaves like debt — a stated dividend and a liquidation preference ahead of common, usually without a vote.
ADR / ADS
A US-listed receipt representing shares of a foreign company held by a depositary bank abroad.
Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)
A listed fund share that trades continuously and is created or redeemed in large blocks by authorized participants.
Exchange-Traded Note (ETN)
An unsecured debt obligation of a bank that pays an index return — credit exposure to the issuer, not ownership of anything.
Closed-End Fund
A listed fund with a fixed share count that trades at whatever the market pays — often not net asset value.
REIT
A company that owns or finances real estate and must distribute most of its taxable income to keep its tax status.
MLP / LP Units
A listed partnership interest — no shares, no dividends, no Form 1099; a K-1 and a partner's tax position instead.
Trust Units
A unit in a passive trust that holds a defined asset and distributes what it collects until the asset runs out.
Unit (the bundled IPO instrument)
A bundle sold in an offering — usually a share plus a warrant or right — that later separates into its components.
Warrant
A long-dated right issued by the company itself to buy new shares at a fixed price until expiration.
Right
A short-lived entitlement, distributed to holders or attached to a unit, to acquire shares on stated terms.
Convertible Note
Debt that can become equity — a bond with a conversion right and a share count that is not yet visible.
Corporate Bond / Note (exchange-listed)
A listed debt security — a contractual claim on interest and principal, governed by an indenture, senior to every share.
When-Issued Security
A conditional trading line for a security that has been announced but does not yet exist.
Tracking Stock
A share class whose economics reference one business unit, issued by a company that still owns everything.
SPAC Share Class
A share in a blank-check company, backed by a trust and redeemable for cash before a combination closes.
SPAC Unit
The bundle sold in a blank-check IPO — one share plus a fraction of a warrant or right — that separates within weeks.
SPAC Warrant
A warrant on a blank-check company — worthless if no deal closes, callable by the company if the deal works.
SPAC Right
A unit component that converts into a fraction of a share when a deal closes, and into nothing if it does not.