Spread Betting Glossary: B

1. BACS: (Bankers Automated Clearing System) An electronic payment system which allows money to be transferred electronically into a recipients bank account, operated by the banking industry.

2. Bear: A trader with a negative outlook towards the price of a particular share or index.

3. Bet size factor: The figure used as a basis for calculating the necessary margin for a particular trade, taking into account the multiple of the stake required on the downside.

4. Bid price: The selling price of an asset or position in spread betting and trading.

5. Bond: An agreement with a bond issuer, usually a national government or publicly traded company to lend the cost of the bond for a set period of time to help finance the bond issuer's other pursuits in return for eventual repayment of the bond price plus interest on maturity. A means of raising finance for governments and larger businesses.

6. Bookmaker: The party agreeing to match and underwrite the trader's bets and trades, and the facilitator of spread betting.

7. Broker: The broker is the entity through which you access the markets, usually via an online portal. In spread betting parlance, each bet is placed with the broker, and it is the broker who honours or pursues the settlement amount.

8. Bull: A trader with a positive outlook on the price of an index or given share.

9. Buy bet: Synonymous with 'going long', a buy bet is a stake that reflects a positive outlook towards an index's future price, in contrast to shorting.