float (redirected from floating boat)

Float

The total number of shares publicly owned and available for trading. The float is calculated by subtracting restricted shares from outstanding shares.

Notes:

For example, a company may have 10 million outstanding shares, but only 7 million are trading on the stock market. So, the float would be 7 million.

Stocks with small floats, under 3 million shares, tend to be a lot more volatile than others.

Also known as "free float."

See also: Authorized Shares, Market Capitalization, Outstanding Shares

---

Float

Currency: Exchange rate policy that does not limit the range of the market rate.
Equities: Number of shares of a corporation that are outstanding and available for trading by the public, excluding insiders or restricted stock on a when-issued basis. A stock's volatility is inversely correlated to its float.

---

float

1. Funds that are on deposit at two institutions at the same time because of inefficiencies in the collection system. This situation permits a person or firm to earn extra income because the two institutions are paying interest on the same funds. As an example, a person writes a check on a money market fund in order to make a deposit in a local financial institution. Until that check gets back to the bank on which it was written (a transit often entailing two or three days), the investor receives interest on his or her funds from both institutions. See also fail float.

2. The number of shares in public hands and available for trading. Institutional investors require that a security have a large float before they will take a position in it. The large float guards against a substantial price change in the security while the institution is buying. Also called floating supply.

---

float

To permit a country's currency to change freely in value against foreign currencies.