Financial Spread Betting Words: S

Sector futures - A spread bet market that takes the weighted values of related shares and quotes them as one price. A sector bet in Telecom shares would consist of Vodafone, BT, MMO2 etc and instead of buying or selling any or a number of shares you could just go long the sector bet. Can also easily be shorted as well and some spread bet traders like to go long one sector and short another (or series of sectors), a so called Pairs trade. Further information on Sector Bets click here

Short sterling - The 3 month interest rate contract traded on LIFFE. All spread betting companies offer a market on this contract. More information on the Short Sterling contract available here

Short Position - Having sold short, but not yet covered. A short position is entered with the aim of profiting from a price decline. Short selling guide Click Here

Slippage - Relates to stop losses and is the difference between where the stop loss level is and where the order was actually filled. If the stop loss order is to sell £5 of FTSE 100 at 4,150 and is actually filled at 4,148 then the 2 points is slippage. Slippage is normally not a problem in normal markets but in very volatile ones it can be expected. Stop Loss Guide

Spot - The cash price

Spread - The difference between the buying price (offer) and the selling price (bid). If the FTSE 100 spread bet is quoted at 4,200-4,204 the spread is 4 points. Introduction the spread click here

Spread trade - The simultaneous purchase of one contract and the sell of another related contract. Buying gold, selling silver short is an example of a spread trade. The spread betting trader is doing the trade on the assumption that gold will out-perform silver in both a rising and falling market.

Stamp duty - Stamp duty is a government tax of 0.5% paid by the buyer on all share transactions. There is NO Stamp Duty with spread bets.

Sterling - The British Pound

Stop Loss - A predetermined price at which a position will be closed to protect against further loss. The use of 'stop losses' is the only inherently reliable way for a trader to manage risk. Stop Loss guide

Support - The price at which a prior decline was terminated or a future decline is likely to attract buying. If the FTSE 100 is currently trading at 4,300, market participants may well be reporting that they expect support 'to come in at 4,270'. For an excellent free guide to Technical Analysis Click Here.