Spread betting glossary | F

Glossary

 

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F

Federal Reserve (FED)

The Central Banking system used in the United States.

Fill

Trader speak for saying that your order (ie your request to purchase a given stock) has been executed. For example: ‘you have been filled on your Apple trade at £X’.

Financial Trading Limit (SpreadEx)

Total of all money deposited, taking into account the balance of winnings/ losses from closed bets, plus winnings/ losses on open bets, plus any credit allowance less Notional Trading Requirement (NTR) after taking into consideration any waived NTR facility.

Financial Spread Betting

Betting on the price movement of financial instruments, for example as stocks/shares, stock market indices, currencies, interest rates, the list goes on.

The 'bet' or trade takes place in a similar manner to a conventional trade on the underlying product: 2 prices are quoted – the bid (the lower end of the spread) and offer (the higher end of the spread). The difference between the 2 prices is called the spread. Depending on whether you bought or sold, the bet is then on whether the future price of the instrument will be greater than the offer price or lower than the bid price.

FINEX

Financial Instrument Exchange, New York

Fiscal Policy

The use of government spending and taxation to influence macroeconomic conditions.

Fixed Income

When an investment yields a regular or fixed return.

Force Majeure (SpreadEx)

SpreadEx say:

“In our reasonable opinion an emergency or an exceptional market condition, including but not limited to, the following:

Any act, omission event or circumstance beyond our control such as strike, riot, terrorist attack, civil unrest, war, evacuation of premises, or failure of supply communications or other infrastructure which in our reasonable opinion prevents us from maintaining an orderly market in any one or more of our betting markets.

The suspension, closure or abandonment of any underlying market or event, with the result that we are in our reasonable opinion unable to maintain an orderly market in one or more of our betting markets.

The imposition of betting limits or special or unusual terms in the underlying markets upon which our markets are based with the result that we are in our reasonable opinion unable to maintain an orderly market in any one or more of our betting markets.

The occurrence of excessive movement or loss of liquidity in the underlying markets upon which our betting markets are based, such that in our reasonable opinion we are unable to maintain an orderly market in any one or more of our betting markets.

The occurrence of any technical or mechanical failure, or power failure, or any failure the result of which is that our computing equipment does not function fully, or any other failure whatsoever, so long as the result of the failure in question is that we in our reasonable opinion in all of the circumstances prevailing at the time believe that it would be commercially imprudent for us to allow normal trading to continue.

We reasonably believe that any one or more of the circumstances set out above is or are about to occur. “

Foreign Exchange (Forex, FX, currency)

The simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another.

FTSE

The FTSE Group creates indices to benchmark the performance of UK companies by market capitalisation. The FTSE 100 is the most well-known index, however other indices include the FTSE 250, 350, and All-share. The companies included within the index are calculated each quarter.

Fundamental Research

Analysis of either a specific company, product, or economy. The analysis is generally very detailed, and takes into account a review of all of the 'fundamental' factors that relate to the underlying factor being considered, in order to come up with an informed opinion of its price/status.

For example, fundamental analysis of a given company can take into account factors such as revenue, profit/earnings, markets, competition, and management, to come up with a fundamental value of the company. When compared to the current market price of the company, this analysis can then be used be fundamental research analysts to present a view whether the stock is a good investment or not. An alternative approach to choosing investments is technical analysis, which uses past prices and trading to predict future prices. Advocates of technical analysis argue that fundamental analysis is flawed since markets are irrational (ie the market price does not always reflect the true value of a company), and therefore, using investor behaviour is a more profitable technique for identifying profitable investment opportunities.

Fundamental analysis of Economies considers such factors such as GDP, interest rates and unemployment.

Future or Forwards

A future or forwards rate is notionally an agreement to conduct a transaction at some specified time in the future where the price is agreed now. For a spread bet it means that the expiry date is at some point in the future (cf. Daily Funded Bets). Often the price of a future or forwards bet will differ from the cash price.