Holding period
The time between acquiring a security and disposing of it: reliefs tied to long ownership depend on it.
How to read the number
It is counted for each parcel separately rather than for the position as a whole: buying more neither extends nor shortens the clock on the shares already held.
When the metric lies
Moving securities to another broker or between accounts can break the evidence of the period if the documents do not travel with them. Qualifying periods and relief conditions are set by the tax code and change with the law.
Also known as: length of ownership