F Statistics - The ratio of the variance explained by treatments to the unexpected variance.

Factoring - the financial service consisting of the granting of a cash advance against accounts receivable from foreign customers.

Fade - Selling a rising price or buying a falling price.

Failure Swings - The inability of price to reaffirm a new high in an uptrend or a new low in a downtrend.

Fair Values - The theoretical prices generated by an option pricing model.

Fast Market - The theoretical prices generated by an option pricing model.

Feedforward Computation - Neural network in which neurons receive information only from the previous layer and send outputs only to the following layer.

Fill Order - An order that must be filled immediately (or canceled).

Filter - A device or program that separates data, signal or information in accordance with specified criteria.

Filter Point - The time at which a portfolio insurance program makes an adjusting trade.

Fixed Term Contract - A Forward Exchange contract due on a specific date.

Flash Fill - Order filled immediately by hand signal on the trading floor.

Float - The number of shares currently available for trading.

Floor Traders - Employees of brokerage firms working on exchange trading floors.

Forecast Origin - The most recent historical period for which data is used to build a forecasting model.

Foreign Sales Agent - An individual or firm that serves as the foreign representative of a domestic supplier and seeks sales abroad for the supplier.

Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) - Special commercial and industrial areas in or near ports of entry where foreign and domestic merchandise may be brought in without being subject to payment of customs duties.

Forfaiting - The purchase by the forfaiter of an exporter’s accounts receivable which are based on negotiable instruments such as bills of exchange and promissory notes.

Forward Contract-Fixed Term - These contracts specify a ‘fixed’ future date at which it is anticipated delivery of the foreign currency will be effected.

Forward Contract-Optional Term - they are faced with the possibility of an adjustment of the contract rate against them if they take out a fixed term contract and must deliver some considerable time before expiry date.

Forward Deal - An agreement to buy or sell foreign currency against either New Zealand Dollars or another foreign currency for value on a date more than two business days from date of deal.

Forward Discount - term applied to a foreign currency which is less expensive to trade forward than for spot settlement.

Forward Exchange Contract (FEC) - An arrangement entered into between customer/bank wherein customer agrees to buy/sell foreign currency from/to bank for delivery by an agreed future date.

Forward Margin - The premium or discount on forward rates against spot rates.

Forward Premium - The term applied to a foreign currency which is more expensive to trade forward than for spot settlement.

Forward Rate - The price of a foreign currency which is bought or sold for delivery and payment at a fixed future time, usually 30, 60 or 90 days.

Forward-Rate Agreement (FRA) - Cash payments are made daily as the spot rate varies above or below an agreed -upon forward rate and can be hedged with Eurodollar futures.

Fractal Dimension - From fractal geometry, used to describe the irregular nature of lines, curves, planes or volumes.

Fractals - From fractal geometry, used to describe the irregular nature of lines, curves, planes or volumes.

Framing or Frame Dependence - The tendency to evaluate current decisions within the framework in which they have been presented.

Frequency Component - That part of a time series that may be represented as a cycle.

Frequency Distribution - A chart showing the number of times (or "frequency") an event occurs for each possible value of the event.

Frequency Domain - Variation in a time series is accounted for by cyclical components at different frequencies.

Frequency Response - The transfer of the frequency of the underlying data, usually prices, to the frequency of its moving average.

Front Month - The first expiration month in a series of months.

Front Loaded - Commission and fees taken out of investment capital before the money is put to work.

Front Running - The practice of trading ahead of large orders to take advantage of favorable price movement.

Fundamentals - The theory that holds that stock market activity may be predicted by looking at the relative data and statistics of a stock as well as the management of the company in question and its earnings.​

Funding - The placing of funds in overseas accounts in order to meet the bank’s daily requirements.

Future Volatility - A prediction of what volatility may be like in the future.

Fuzzy Systems - A problem-solving method that can be applied to neural networks, expert systems and other comput ing methods.