| Scalp |
To trade for small gains. Scalping normally involves establishing and liquidating a position quickly, usually within the same day, hour or even just a few minutes. |
| Scalper |
A speculator on an exchange floor who trades in and out of the market on very small price fluctuations. The scalper, trading in this manner, provides market liquidity but seldom carries a position overnight. |
| Scalping |
The practice of trading in and out of the market on very small price fluctuations. Scalping normally involves establishing and liquidating positions quickly, usually within the same day, hour or even just a few minutes. |
| SEC |
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC was established to protect investors and maintain the integrity of the securities markets. |
| Security Deposit |
The amount required to be deposited with CME Clearing by the clearing member as security for its obligations to the CME Clearing. |
| Security Futures Products |
A contract based on securities products as such term is defined by 1a (32) of the CEA. Security Futures Products (SFP) include futures contracts based upon a single security (or stock futures); futures contracts based upon a narrow-based security index; and, options on any security futures as those terms are defined in Sections 1a(25) and 1a(31) of the CEA. |
| Segregation type |
The account which holds open position for customer (segregated), for the house (non-segregated), and for customer non-segregated origins. |
| Selective hedger |
A person who hedges only when he or she believes that prices are likely to move against him or her. |
| Seller |
A person who takes a short futures position or grants (sells) a commodity option. An option seller is also called a marker, grantor, or granter, or writer. |
| Selling climax |
An extraordinarily high volume occurring suddenly in a downtrend, signaling the end of the trend. |
| Serial options |
Options for months for which there are no futures contracts. The underlying futures contract for a serial option month would be the next nearby futures contract. |
| Series of options |
Options of the same class having the same expiration date and underlying future. |
| Session (market) |
Period of time within which a consistent set of trading actions takes place, usually comprising the following phases: initialization, pre-opening/opening, trading, closing, and post-session processing. |
| Settlement or settle price |
The settlement price determined at the end of the regular trading hours; used to calculate gains and losses in futures market accounts, performance bond calls and invoice prices for deliveries. The official daily closing prices of a futures contract. |
| Settlement price |
A figure determined by the closing range that is used to calculate gains and losses in futures market accounts, performance bond calls and invoice prices for deliveries. See "closing range." The official daily closing price of futures contracts. |
| Settlement Variation |
The sum of all changes in currency amount (gain or loss) for each firm's positions as figured to the settlement price each day paid daily in cash. |
| Shares |
CME Class A Shares and Class B Shares. |
| Short |
The selling side of an open futures or options contract. The opposite of long. |
| Short cash |
A trader who needs and plans to buy a commodity. |
| Short hedge |
The sale of a futures contract in anticipation of a later cash market sale. Used to eliminate or minimize the possible decline in value of ownership of an approximately equal amount of the cash financial instrument or physical commodity. See hedge. |
| Short the Basis |
Position where a hedger is short the cash market and long the futures market |
| Short-Term Interest Rates |
Interest rates on loan contracts--or debt instruments such as Treasury bills, bank certificates of deposit, or commercial paper--having maturities of less than one year. Often called money market rates. |
| Side |
A side counts the buy and the sell as separate events. Each matched trade, and each contract, has two sides - the buy side and the sell side. Taken together, these two sides equal one round turn per unit of volume. Measuring matched trade volume "per side" counts volume on each side of the trade. |
| Side-by-side trading |
The simultaneous trading of the same futures contract on both a trading floor via open outcry and an electronic trading platform. |
| Sideways trend |
Seen in a bar chart when prices tend not to go above or below a certain range of levels. |
| Singapore Exchange (formerly SIMEX) |
A derivatives exchange located in Singapore and a participant in the mutual offset system. |
| Single-sided volume |
The amount of trading in a financial instrument as defined by purchases (buying) or sales (selling) only. |
| Single-stock futures (SSF) |
OneChicago, LLC is a joint venture created by Chicago Mercantile Exchange® (CME), Chicago Board of Options Exchange® (CBOE), and Chicago Board of Trade® (CBOT), to trade single stock futures (SSF) and narrow-based stock indexes. |
| SLED (Single Line Entry Data) |
Trade Poster allows clearing firms to submit trades at a differential price. |
| SPAN® Performance Bond System |
The Standard Portfolio Analysis of Risk (SPAN) Performance Bond System). A program that determines portfolio performance bond requirements for futures, options, cash, and other instruments. SPAN is a portfolio based approach to risk performance bond calculations which may be applied easily to any exchange's margining methodology, either gross or net, and may be incorporated into any firm's bookkeeping system. CME Clearing uses SPAN to margin clearing firms and clearing firms use SPAN to margin their customers. |
| Special performance bond credit |
Certain spreads which are combinations of inter- and intra-commodity spreads are not recognized in normal SPAN inter- or intra-commodity spread processing. All CME recognized inter- and intra-commodity spreads are listed in the SPAN Minimum Performance Bond Document at http://www.cme.com/clearing/pbrates/pbrates.htm. Any inter-commodity spread which requires two or more legs from the same combined commodity but in different contract months must be submitted for special spread credit in order to receive the performance bond offset. |
| Speculator |
An individual who does not hedge, but who trades in commodity futures or options with the objective of achieving profits through the successful anticipation of price movements. The speculator has no interest in taking delivery. |
| Spot |
The actual or physical commodity, also called "cash" commodity. |
| Spot Commodity |
An actual or physical commodity, as opposed to a futures contract. |
| Spot market |
The market in which cash transactions occur -- commodities (cattle, currencies, stocks, etc.) are bought and sold for cash and delivered immediately. |
| Spot month |
The contract month of a futures contract which is also the current calendar month. Usually used as the current delivery month for a commodity. |
| Spot price |
The price at which a physical commodity for immediate delivery is selling at a given time and place. The cash price. |
| Spread |
The price difference between two contracts. Holding a long and a short position in two related futures or options on futures contracts, with the objective of profiting from a changing price relationship. |
| Spread order |
An order that indicates the purchase and sale of futures contracts simultaneously. |
| Spread order - Open Outcry |
An order that indicates the purchase and sale of futures contracts simultaneously. |
| Spread reporting |
A mechanism that allows clearing firms to reduce their risk performance bond requirements. By reporting spreads on the PCS, the firm indicates to CME Clearing that the risk normally associated with an open position is reduced by a position that is on the opposite side of the market for different but related contracts. |
| Spread trade |
A special type of pit or CME Globex platform trade that allows traders to trade the differential between either:1. The price of a futures or options commodity in different contract months; OR2. The price of two futures or options commodities in the same product groupA spreader is not concerned with the direction in which the market moves, but only with the difference between the prices of each contract. |
| Stage |
A partition of the software effort that is of a manageable size and that represents a meaningful and measurable set of related tasks performed by the project. Usually considered a subdivision of a software life cycle and is often ended with a formal review (or other well-defined criteria) prior to the onset of the following stage. |
| Standard Deviation |
A statistical term that denotes price variability for an FX futures or an FX options contract. In financial markets the annualized standard deviation of daily returns (or percentage price changes) is used to characterize the historical price volatility of a market. |
| Standardized FX Futures Contract |
An obligation to make or take delivery of the underlying currency, where all terms are predetermined according to an industry norm. |
| Stop limit order |
An order that goes into force as soon as there is a trade at the specified price. The order, however, can only be filled at the stop limit price or better. |
| Stop limit order - GLOBEX and Open Outcry |
An order that becomes a limit order only when the market trades at a specified price. |
| Stop loss |
An order that becomes a market order when a particular price level is reached. A sell stop is placed below the market, a buy stop is placed above the market. Sometimes referred to as Stop Loss Order. |
| Stop loss - GLOBEX and Open Outcry |
Same as stop limit but with no limit indication. When triggered, it will execute like an MBF. |
| Stop order |
An order specifying a price at which it is activated and becomes a limit order. A buy stop is entered above the current market and becomes a limit order when the commodity trades at or above the specified stop trigger price. A sell stop is entered below the current market. It becomes a limit order when the commodity trades at the stop price or below. The stop can immediately execute up to the limit price. |
| Stop order - Open Outcry |
An order which specifies a price at which the order is activated and becomes a limit order. A buy stop is entered above the current market and becomes a limit order when the commodity trades at or above the specified stop trigger price. A sell stop is entered below the current market. It becomes a limit order when the commodity trades at the stop price or below. The stop can immediately execute up to the limit price. |
| Stop with a price limit |
A stop order with a specified limit price at which the order can be filled.fied worst price at which the order can be filled. |
| Stop with a price limit - Open Outcry |
A stop order with a specified worst price at which the order can be filled. |
| Stop-close only order |
A stop order that is executed only during the closing range of the trading session. |
| Stop-close only order - Open Outcry |
A stop order that is executed only during the closing range of the trading session. |
| Storage gain |
The selling price received after storage minus the previous harvest market price. |
| Straddle |
The purchase or sale of an equal number of puts and calls, with the same strike price and expiration dates. A long straddle is a straddle in which a long position is taken in both a put and a call option. A short straddle is a straddle in which a short position is taken in both a put and a call option. |
| Strangle |
The purchase of a put and a call, in which the options have the same expiration and the put strike is lower than the call strike, called a long strangle. Also the sale of a put and a call, in which the options have the same expiration and the put strike is lower than the call strike, called a short strangle. |
| Strike (price) |
The price at which the option buyer may purchase or sell the underlying futures contract upon exercise. See "exercise price." |
| Strike price |
The price at which the option may be exercised (price at which the option buyer may purchase or sell the underlying futures contract). Strike prices on options are at exchange designated intervals. See also exercise price. |
| Substitution |
The principle by which CME Clearing becomes the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer upon the successful matching of two trade records or upon the successful completion of initial settlement for ex-pit transactions. |
| Supply |
The quantity of a commodity that producers are willing to provide to the market at a given price. |
| Swaps |
Simultaneous purchase and sale of currencies or interest rate products in spot and forward market transactions. |
| Symmetrical triangles |
A price formation that can either signal a reversal or a continuation of price movement. |
| synthatic spo |
synthatic spot |
| Synthetic call option |
A combination of a long futures contract and a long put, called a synthetic long call. Also, a combination of a short futures contract and a short put, called a synthetic short call. |
| Synthetic futures |
A combination of a put and a call with the same strike price, in which both are bullish, called synthetic long futures. Also, a combination of a put and a call with the same strike price, in which both are bearish, called synthetic short futures. |
| Synthetic option |
A combination of a futures contract and an option, in which one is bullish and one is bearish. |
| Synthetic put option |
A combination of a short futures contract and a long call, called a synthetic long put. Also, a combination of a long futures contract and a short call, called a synthetic short put. |
| Synthetic Spot |
Futures price information that is consistent with spot market convention where positive or negative forward points are added to the futures price to produce an equivalent spot price |
| System transaction |
An instruction to a computer system to take an action. Examples include an order to buy a contract, to sell a contract, to cancel an order, or to modify an order. For electronic trading systems, a key measure of performance capacity is the number of transactions per second (TPS) i.e., the number of bids and offers the system can process. |