Plain English first: every entry below says what the thing is, then what it means for your money. Terms that deserve a full explanation link to their own article.
A–C
Accretion — the slow growth of the trust from Treasury interest (and any sponsor deposits). It's why redemption payouts run above $10.00: recent real payouts we've recorded range from $10.51 to $12.50 per share.
Announced deal — a SPAC with a signed merger agreement that hasn't closed yet. Not the same as an LOI, and far from a closing.
At-risk capital — the sponsor's real cash investment (private placement units/warrants), lost entirely if the SPAC liquidates. Distinct from the near-free founder shares.
BCA (business combination agreement) — the binding merger contract; the "definitive agreement." Filed as an 8-K exhibit the day the deal is announced.
Blank-check company — the regulatory term for a SPAC: a listed shell with no operations, only cash and a mandate.
Broker action date / broker cutoff — the day your broker needs your redemption instruction — typically one to two business days before the official deadline. The most expensive fine print in SPACs: the full explanation.
Charter deadline — the date, set at IPO (usually 18–24 months out), by which the SPAC must close a deal or liquidate. Movable only by an extension vote.
Class A / Class B shares — Class A: what the public owns, redeemable for trust cash. Class B ("founder shares"): the sponsor's promote — no trust claim, converts to ordinary shares at closing.
Closing — the merger completes; the shell becomes the operating company and the ticker changes. Marked by a "Super 8-K" filing.
D–F
DA (definitive agreement) — see BCA. "Signed DA" is the moment a deal becomes binding — with exits still built in (minimum cash, outside date).
De-SPAC — the day the SPAC becomes the real company; also used for the whole signing-to-closing process, and as a noun for the post-merger company itself.
Dilution — how much of the company new and near-free shares (promote, warrants, PIPE) take from you. The reason a deal announced at $1.2B can really be a $1.79B company: headline vs effective valuation.
Dissolution expenses — a capped amount (commonly up to $100,000) the SPAC may take from trust interest to pay for winding itself up.
DTC (Depository Trust Company) — the clearing plumbing through which brokers deliver shares for redemption. The reason your broker's cutoff precedes the official one.
Earnout — extra shares that management or selling shareholders receive if the post-merger stock hits targets. Contingent dilution: it costs you exactly when things go well.
Effective valuation — what the merged company is really worth on paper when every share is counted at the reference price, versus the press-release headline. Typically 20–50% higher in deals we parse.
Extension (vote / deposit) — more time to find or close a deal, bought from shareholders by vote, usually paid for with sponsor deposits into the trust — with a fresh redemption window attached. Full article.
Floor — the idea that a SPAC share can't fall much below trust value. True only while a redemption right exists. The floor is the right, not the cash.
Floorless / no floor — the cash guarantee is gone: the last redemption window has passed, and price is unprotected no matter what the trust still holds. We've documented a 40.9% "discount" that was unclaimable: the floor disappears.
Founder shares — see Class B and the sponsor promote: ~20% of the company for about $25,000.
G–O
LOI (letter of intent) — a non-binding agreement to negotiate a merger. Announced with fanfare; commits almost nothing.
Liquidation — no deal by the deadline: the trust is returned to public shareholders (recent payouts $10.00–$12.50), warrants and rights expire worthless, the sponsor loses its at-risk capital.
Lock-up — the period (typically ~1 year post-closing, with early release around $12) during which founder shares can't be sold.
Minimum-cash condition — the target's right to walk away if redemptions leave less than a stated amount in trust at closing. The clause that lets 90%+ redemption kill a signed deal.
NAV (net asset value) — trust balance ÷ redeemable shares: the cash each share can claim. Computable from any 10-Q in minutes: how to do it.
Non-redemption agreement — a side deal where a big holder promises not to redeem, usually in exchange for extra founder shares — a private discount you're not getting.
Outside date — the contractual drop-dead date in the merger agreement, after which either side can terminate the deal without penalty.
Overfunded trust — a trust seeded above $10.00 per unit (e.g. $10.05–$10.10), so NAV starts above the IPO price on day one.
P–S
PIPE (private investment in public equity) — institutions buying shares at closing (usually at $10, sometimes discounted) to backfill redemptions and satisfy minimum cash. New shares, more dilution.
Promote — the sponsor's ~20% founder-share fee, contingent only on closing a deal. The gravitational field every SPAC decision bends around: full article.
Pro-forma — "as if the deal had closed": pro-forma shares outstanding and pro-forma equity describe the combined company. The honest valuation lives in the S-4's pro-forma ownership table.
Proxy statement (DEF 14A / DEFM14A) — the document that convenes a shareholder vote. Contains the meeting date, the official redemption deadline and the estimated payout — the three dates that run your position.
Redemption — your right to swap each share for its slice of the trust at set events. The entire safety mechanism, step by step: how redemption works.
Redemption deadline — the last day to exercise that right for a given event — officially two business days before the meeting; practically, your broker's earlier cutoff.
Rights — unit sweeteners that convert automatically into a fraction of a share (commonly 1/10) at closing. No strike, nothing to pay; worthless at liquidation. Units, warrants and rights.
Sponsor — the team (usually an LLC) that forms the SPAC, funds its costs, and owns the promote.
Super 8-K — the oversized 8-K due within four business days of closing, carrying the operating company's full disclosure package.
T–Z
Trust account / trust value — the segregated Treasury-invested account backing every public share; "trust per share" is the cash behind each one. What it is and isn't.
Trust discount — price below trust value: buying the cash for less than the cash — real only while redemption lives: why below trust matters.
Unit — what a SPAC IPO actually sells for $10.00: one share plus fractions of warrants and/or rights, separating into components about 52 days later.
Vote (deal / extension) — the shareholder meetings that punctuate a SPAC's life. Every vote with a charter amendment or merger attached opens a redemption window.
Warrant — an option to buy a share at $11.50 for five years after closing; callable when the stock sustains $18. Worthless at liquidation; the lottery-ticket half of the unit.
Yield to redemption — the annualized return from buying below trust today and redeeming at the next event. The number our yields page ranks — and refuses to print when the floor is gone.
Zombie SPAC — a shell past its useful life: deadline lapsed or serially extended, most of the trust redeemed away, no viable deal. The graveyard is a data set: liquidations list.
Terms we missed? The screener tooltips define every column in place, and each article above goes deeper than any definition can.