Form55 Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the Canadian securities terms behind Form55's Confluence Score — drawn from SEDI insider filings, lobbying registries, and government contract data.
SEDI is the online filing system Canadian corporate insiders — directors, officers, and significant shareholders — use to report trades in the securities of companies they're affiliated with.
Form 55-102F4 — usually just called "the insider report" — is the standardized report Canadian reporting insiders file through SEDI to disclose trades in securities of their company. It's also where Form55 gets its name.
Cluster buying is when multiple insiders at the same company purchase shares on the open market within a short window — a stronger signal than any single insider's trade, because it's harder to explain away as one person's personal financial planning.
A confluence signal occurs when two or more independent data sources point in the same direction at the same time. On Form55, a confluence signal specifically means insider buying and active federal lobbying for the same company within the same 90-day window.
National Instrument 43-101 is the Canadian securities rule governing how mining and exploration companies disclose information about their mineral properties — requiring technical reports prepared and signed off by an independent "qualified person."
An Early Warning Report is a disclosure Canadian securities law requires when an investor — or a group acting together — acquires beneficial ownership of 10% or more of a company's voting or equity securities, and again for every additional 2% acquired or disposed.
SEDAR+ is the online system where Canadian public companies file their continuous-disclosure documents — prospectuses, financial statements, material change reports, early warning reports, and more. It's distinct from SEDI, which handles only insider trade reports.
A Material Change Report is the filing a Canadian public company must make when a material change happens in its business — something a reasonable investor would consider important to the value of its securities — filed on SEDAR+ within 10 days.
Flow-through shares are a Canadian tax-incentive financing in which a mining or exploration company renounces its exploration-expense tax deductions to the investors who buy the shares — letting those investors claim the deductions themselves, usually in exchange for paying a premium price.
A private placement is a financing in which a company sells securities to a limited group of investors outside a public prospectus, relying on exemptions in Canadian securities law — a fast, common way for smaller issuers to raise capital.
A Normal Course Issuer Bid is the mechanism by which a Canadian public company buys back its own shares on the open market over time, within exchange limits, usually across a 12-month period.
A reporting insider is a person or company required to file insider trade reports in Canada — directors, the CEO/CFO/COO and other senior officers, and anyone who owns or controls 10% or more of a company's voting securities.