Exhaust Price

If your car doesn't pass inspection, you might end up paying a high exhaust price.

Then there's the finance glossary edition. It involves margin trading.

When you trade on margin, you trade using borrowed money. Your broker loans you cash that you then use to make trading positions...buying stocks, taking short positions, etc.

If your broker demands you pay back the loan, that's called a margin call. When the margin call happens, you have to repay the money you borrowed immediately. If you don't, the broker has the right to liquidate your position (sell the stock, cover the short, etc.) in order to raise the money.

The broker might demand repayment if the stock you bought dropped sharply in price, i.e. it triggers the margin borrow max you'd set up in your account before you signed on the dotted line declaring you're a big boy and/or girl. A sharp plunge in value can make them nervous about getting paid back and oft triggers a margin call.

The price where this happens is the exhaust price. Think of it as the broker exhausting their patience. They will liquidate your position (at a discount) to make sure that they get their money. "Am I really going to have to pull this car over...?"

Meanwhile, you'll be screaming into the phone that the stock is about to bounce back. But too late: they've already sold the position and collected their money.