Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Underlying Asset
In case of Commodity Futures, the Exchange stipulates the grade(s) of the commodity. E.g.: Lumber Futures - standard length of 8by 20. Juice Futures in terms of Brix value A range of grades may be delivered with adjustment in price based on the grade delivered. In case of Financial assets - Futures contracts are well defined & unambiguous. E.g.: Enough to say Futures on BSE Sensex or Futures on Infosys.
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Contract Size
Contract size specifies the amount of the asset that has to be delivered under a Futures contract. If the Contract size is set too high, it will keep away many investors, while if set too small, it will make trading expensive as transaction cost are linked to no. of contracts traded. E.g.: Futures on S&P CNX Nifty have a contract size of 200 & multiples thereof.
Delivery Arrangements
Place where the delivery will be made, is specified by the exchange, especially in case of Commodity Futures. Delivery may be made at alternative site with due adjustments in the delivery prices.
Delivery Month
Futures contract is referred to by its Delivery month. The exchange specifies the precise period during the month when delivery is to be made. Vary from contract to contract At any given time, contracts trade for the closest delivery month & a number of subsequent delivery months. NSE futures 1, 2, 3 month futures. Exchange also specifies the last day on which trading can take place for a given contract
Price Quotes
The exchange defines how price will be quoted In a way that is convenient and easy to understand. E.g.: Crude Oil NYMEX - $/per barrel Minimum price movement that can occur in trading is also set by the exchange tick size E.g.: Crude Oil ($0.01 or 1 cent per barrel)
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Futures Price
Spot Price
Price
Futures Price
Time
Time
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Clearing House
To ensure smooth functioning, each Futures Market has a Clearing House (CH) associated. CH guarantees ALL trades on the Exchange. This is achieved by CH adopting the position of a Buyer for every Seller & that of a Seller for every Buyer. Each trader has obligations only to the CH & hopes that CH will execute its side of the trade as well. CH substitutes its own credibility for the promise of each trader. CH, however, does not take ACTIVE position but interposes itself between all parties to every transactions.
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Buyer
Goods
Seller
Buyer
Goods
Clearing House
Seller
Goods
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Operation of Margins
When investors contract, there are various risks one party may backout or may not have the financial resources to honour his commitments. The exchange organises trades as as to avoid such defaults thru a system of Margins. Futures trading is guided by the need to eliminate the payments crises- Default Risk or Credit Risk Besides the role of the Clearing House, the system of Margins protects from a payments problem. Different types of margins are maintained: Initial Margin (IM) Maintenance Margin (MM) Variation Margin (VM)
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Operation of Margins
Day 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Futures Price 400.00 397.00 396.10 398.20 397.10 396.70 395.40 393.30 393.60 391.80 392.70 387.00 387.00 388.10 388.70 391.00 392.30 Daily Gain/(Loss) Cumulative Gain/(loss) Margin Account Balance 4000.00 3400.00 3220.00 3640.00 3420.00 3340.00 3080.00 2660.00 4060.00 3700.00 3880.00 2740.00 4000.00 4220.00 4340.00 4800.00 5060.00 Margin Call
(600.00) (180.00) 420.00 (220.00) (80.00) (260.00) (420.00) 60.00 (360.00) 180.00 (1140.00) 0.00 220.00 120.00 460.00 260.00
(600.00) (780.00) (360.00) (580.00) (660.00) (920.00) (1340.00) (1280.00) (1640.00) (1460.00) (2600.00) (2600.00) (2380.00) (2260.00) (1800.00) (1540.00)
3080-420+x=4000
1340.00
1260.00 3880-1140+x=4000
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May 15
After this Party As net position is zero and is out of the Futures market.Party B & C have obligations towards the Clearing House.
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EFP Transaction Party B Agrees with A to sell wheat & cancels Futures Delivers wheat & receives payment from A Reports EFP to the Exchange Exchange adjusts to show B is out of the Market. 25
Open Interest
Open Interest refers to the number of futures contracts outstanding. It is the total no. of open positions waiting to be liquidated before the contracts maturity. Todays newspaper carry yesterdays trading data and day before yesterdays Open Interest data. Three rules regarding open interest Any trade (long or short) initiated afresh raises OI Any trade (long or short) that squares up existing position lowers OI Every trade needs a buyer & a seller
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K ST
Pay-off : Short Position
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Buyers Broker
6 Buyers Brokers Clearing Firm
Futures Exchange
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Sellers Broker
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Seller
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Futures Clearinghouse
1: Buyer places a BUY order with his Broker who in turn places it with the Futures Exchange. 2: Seller places a SELL order with his Broker who in turn placesit with the Futures Exchange. 3: Futures Exchange matches the trade through a computerised system. 4: Information about the trade is reported to the Clearing House 5: Buyer and Seller deposit margin with their respective brokers 6: Buyers and Sellers Brokers deposit the margins with their respective clearing firms 7: Clearing firms deposit the margins with the ClearingHouse
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