Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms: Single Stock Future (SSF)
Single Stock Future (SSF)
only recently legalized in the United States, a futures contract with one stock, basket of stocks, or Narrow-Based Index (NBI) as the underlying security. SSFs are traded in 100 share blocks. The holder gives up the rights and dividends that come with stock ownership, but gains a number of significant advantages: SSFs can be sold short without any of the restrictions of the short-sale rule; margin buying can be done on a 20% basis (vs. 50% for stocks) and with no interest costs; transaction costs are less; and crossborder transactions avoid the expense of foreign clearing systems.
