Scalping Scalping is the practise of trading at short term intervals. Traders who employ scalping strategies will typically enter and exit a market multiple times in order to take advantage of very small price swings. This can be done manually, or through the use of trading algorithms that have been programmed to repeatedly buy and sell when certain conditions are met.
SentimentSentiment can be described as the collective feeling of all participants trading in a security, market or an entire economy. Sentiment is often described as being “bullish” or “bearish”, depending on whether it is positive or negative, respectively. Policy makers can also be described as being “hawkish” when they favour interest rate hikes and “dovish” when they advocate leaving interest rates as they are or lowering them. Sentiment alone can move asset prices a great deal without any basic change in fundamental conditions. Such moves, however, are often relatively short lived as the pull of fundamental factors is eventually reasserted.
Sentiment indicatorsSentiment indicators differ from conventional economic indicators in that they are determined by survey results rather than economic statistics. This class of economic indicator is informed by the attitudes of certain key groups such as consumers and purchasing managers.
ShareAlso known as stock or equity, a share is a type of security that entitles the owner to a small fraction of a publicly listed company, as well as a piece of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Shares are publicly traded on exchanges and also as CFD contracts that allow traders to speculate on a share's fluctuating price without taking possession of it.
short positionA short position, also known as “going short” or “shorting” is the act of selling an asset under the assumption that it is due to fall in value. A simple way to remember this is that to sell is to go short.
Simple Moving Average (SMA)Simple moving averages are used in technical analysis to contrast current price action with an average of previous price movements. SMAs are calculated by adding the data of a given number of periods and dividing by that number. One of the weaknesses of this type of moving average is that all data are weighted equally, regardless of how old.
SlippageSlippage is the difference, usually calculated in pips, between the price you as a trader expect to be filled at when you press to buy or sell, and the price your order is actually executed at. While not much of an issue in highly liquid markets, volatility and the drop in liquidity that often ensues, can lead to orders being slipped when the price you have decided to trade on is no longer available.
SpikeA spike is a momentary jump or drop in the value of an asset.
SpotSpot refers to the current, “on the spot” cash price that an asset is available for purchase. This is in contrast with futures, forwards or options that are traded for future delivery.
Stochastic Oscillator Stochastic Oscillator is a technical indicator used by traders to plot current price action over the range of recent highs and lows. The indicator is used to identify overbought and oversold conditions as well as signalling bullish/bearish divergences.
Stock Also known as a share or equity, a stock is a type of security that entitles the owner to a small fraction of a publicly listed company, as well as a piece of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stocks are publicly traded on exchanges, but also as CFD contracts that allow traders to speculate on a stock's fluctuating price without taking possession of it.
Stop-loss order A stop-loss order is a type of order that attempts to limit a trader's losses in the event that the market they are trading moves against them. It's essentially an instruction to automatically sell at a slight loss in order to avoid greater losses in the event of a fast moving market.
Stop orderA stop order is an instruction to open a position only when the price goes beyond a certain level. In this way you can ensure that you receive your chosen entry price or better. Once your chosen price level is reached, your stop order will be executed as a market order.
SupportSupport is any price level that an asset's price seems to be having difficulty trading below. Traders normally plot support lines on an asset's price chart by connecting recent low points that the price has consistently failed to trade below. The more a support level fails to be broken, the stronger it becomes in the minds of traders. When a support level is finally broken it tends to become a new line of resistance.
SwapIn currency trading every position you take involves borrowing the quote currency in order to buy the base currency in the pair. Once per day, interest is payable on each of these two currencies, so a trader owes the interest rate of the borrowed currency and is owed the interest rate of the bought currency. This can either result in a positive or a negative sum depending on which of the interest rates are higher.
Swing tradingSwing trading is a medium-term trading strategy that attempts to take advantage of emerging trends and trend reversals. Swing traders hold onto their positions for longer than scalpers or day traders, attempting to sell high and buy low as price action oscillates between these points. Changing momentum is one of the things that swing traders look for in the assets they trade.
SwissyThe Swissy is the nickname that currency traders use to affectionately refer to the Swiss franc.