Société Générale has launched two products aiming to provide sophisticated UK retail investors with shorter, more tactical trading opportunities on the FTSE 100, without putting more than their initial investment at risk.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Daily Leverage Products are designed to multiply the daily performance of the FTSE 100 by a factor of five.

Using either a Daily Long 5 if they anticipate a rise, or a Daily Short 5 if they expect a fall, investors can gear up their exposure by five times. So every 1 per cent rise or fall in the FTSE 100 from the previous day’s closing price will generate a 5 per cent move in the price of the DLP before fees.

There are two safety mechanisms. The first is the index’s “air bag” mechanism, designed to reduce the impact of an extreme fall in the FTSE 100 during market hours. The second is the “gap premium,” effectively insurance to protect investors from an extreme movement in the index overnight. Both are designed to ensure that investors cannot lose more than they invested.

The minimum trading amount is one unit, which costs £100 (about $160) at launch.

DLPs were first launched by Société Générale in France in November 2010. It currently offers French investors the chance to leverage the performance of the CAC 40 or a number of single stocks by 3, 5, 7 and 10 times. The bank is looking to replicate this in the UK with a similar range of DLPs on the main UK underlying assets.