Same-day Transaction
A transaction that matures on the day that the transaction takes place.
Sell Limit
Specifies the lowest price at which the sale of the base currency in a currency pair can be executed. The limit price in a sell limit order should be ABOVE the current dealing bid price.
Sell Stop
A sell stop is a stop order that is placed BELOW the current dealing bid price and is not activated until the market bid price is at, or below the stop price. The sell stop order, once triggered, becomes a market order to sell at the current market price.
Settlement Date
The date by which an executed order must be settled by the transfer of instruments or currencies and funds between buyer and seller.
Short
Having an open position that was created by selling a currency. If they have sold EUR/USD, the client is said to be 'short' the currency pair (sold the base currency). If the client has bought EUR/USD, they would be 'long' the currency pair, but 'short' USD currency. Foreign Exchange transactions assume being 'long' one currency and 'short' another.
Short Covering
Buying to unwind a short position of a particular currency pair
Sophisticated Foreign Exchange Investor
Investor possessing sufficient knowledge, experience and/or capitalisation to trade in the Foreign Exchange market. The investor has to decide for themselves if Forex is a suitable investment vehicle for their purposes.
Sovereign Risk
(1) Risk of default on a sovereign loan;<br>
(2) Risk of appropriation of assets held in a foreign country.
Speculative
Trading Foreign Exchange is speculative in that there is no guarantee that investing in Foreign Exchange will make any money. The conditions also exist where the client might lose their entire deposited margin, making trading FX highly speculative. Those who trade Foreign Exchange should only risk such capital (known as risk capital) that would not cause the client undue hardship, if lost.
Spot Book
The MogaFX spot book window shows the client's outstanding overnight positions, the deals that were executed during the course of the day and the client's existing open positions. The window includes relevant information about the items listed under each of the sections, including the deal rate, the current value of the deal, the current mark to market rate, the P/L, the time the deal was executed, etc.
Spot
Spot or spot date refers to the spot transaction value date two working days from the deal's trade date. When there is a Bank Holiday, over the weekend or on any other day when the banks in the countries represented by the currencies in the currency pair are closed, the spot date will be adjusted forwards to the next value date when the banks are open again. In the case of the US Dollar versus the Canadian Dollar, the spot date is 1 working day forwards from the trade date.
Spot Price/Rate
The price at which a currency pair is currently trading in the spot market.
Spot Settlement Basis
The standardised settlement procedure for Foreign Exchange transactions that sets the value date 2 working days forwards from the trade date (see Spot).
Spread
The difference between the bid and ask price for a foreign currency price.
Square
The condition whereby the client's purchases and sales are in balance and there is no open position.
Squawk Box
A speaker connected to a phone, often used at brokerage trading desks.
Sterling
British Pound, otherwise known as 'cable'.
Stop-loss Order
A specific order entered by the client to close out a position, if the price moves in the opposite direction to the position by a certain amount of pips. In most cases, stop orders are executed as soon as the market reaches or goes through the stop-price level set by the client. Once issued, the stop order will be held pending until the stop price is reached. Stop orders may be used to close out a position (stop loss), to reverse a position or to open a new position. The most common use is to protect an existing position (by limiting losses or protecting unrealised gains). Once the market hits or goes through the stop price, the order is activated (triggered) and MogaFX will execute the order at the next available price. Unlike a limit order, a stop order does not guarantee execution at the stop price. Market conditions, including volatility and lack of volume, may cause a stop order to be executed at a price different from the order.
Stop Price Level
The client-entered price that activates a stop-loss order.
Sweep/Sweeping
When a MogaFX client has a P/L in a currency other than US Dollars, the P/L must be converted at the close of each working day into US Dollars at the exchange rate prevailing at the time (known as the conversion rate). This process is called sweeping. Note that until the P/L is swept, the client's account value may fluctuate slightly (up or down) as the exchange rate for the profit and loss currency changes. For example, if the client has a profit in yen, if the value of the yen rises after the position is closed but before the profit is swept into dollars, the account value will change. The change is only on the profit/loss amount, so the effect is minimal.
SWIFT
The Society for World-wide Inter-bank Telecommunications is a Belgian-based company that provides the global electronic network for settlement of most Foreign Exchange transactions. The society is also responsible for the standardisation of the currency codes used for confirmation and identification purposes (e.g. USD = US Dollars, EUR = Euro, JPY = Japanese Yen).
Swissy
Market slang for the Swiss Franc.