Chapter 8: Trading, Hedging and Investment Strategies Flashcards

1
Q

What is meant by a futures spread trade?

A

Buying and selling futures simultaneously.

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2
Q

What are intra-market spreads?

A

Futures spread trades based on buying and selling with different dates.

An example is buying the near dated future and selling the long dated future

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3
Q

Why may an investor use intra-market spreads?

A

Basis is expected to strengthen or weaken
Reducing risk
Arbitrage
Roll over on existing hedge

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4
Q

What are inter-market spreads?

A

Buying different underlying assets (likely correlated).

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5
Q

Why may an investor use inter-market spreads?

A

When price correlation between 2 assets has broken down

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6
Q

Why is Cheapest To Deliver (CTD) and why is it used to hedge?

A

CTD is the cheapest bond used when hedging a bond future. CTD is calculated using the bond in the portfolio with the highest implied repo rate.

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7
Q

How would a portfolio be hedged without CTD bonds?

A

No. of contracts = nominal value of portfolio x duration / (interest rate futures price x duration of underlying asset in future rate)

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8
Q

How do you hedge bond futures using CTD?

A

No. of contracts = price factor x (nominal value of CTD portfolio)/ nominal value of the contract

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9
Q

What does the beta of a portfolio represent?

A

Beta is the measure of a portfolios volatility relative to the markets.

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10
Q

What is the hedge ratio?

A

No. of contracts = portfolio size / contract size

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11
Q

What is the hedge ration when beta != 1?

A

No. of contracts = (portfolio size / contract size) x beta

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12
Q

What is a covered short put position?

A

Short on underlying and sell a put option. PM will provide protection against price increase, ut profit will be capped if price decreases.

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13
Q

What is a covered short call? Why would a trader execute a covered short call position?

A

Long underlying positon with a short call position. Seller will receive premium as well as the underlying option returns up to the strike price.

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14
Q

What are the 3 different types of option spreads and how are they constructed?

A

Vertical spread - buying and selling calls with different strikes
Horizontal spreads - buying and selling options with different expiry
Diagonal spreads - different strikes and different months

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15
Q

How do vertical spreads profit?

A

From a directional movement in price. Bullish spread can be formed by buying lower strike price and PM and selling higher price. Profit will be limited to higher strike price = premium.

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16
Q

Why would an investor purchase a horizontal spread?

A

Expected volatility to rise or fall

17
Q

How you do you construct bull calls and bear calls?

A

Bull call - buy lower strike and sell upper strike - moderately bullish
Bear call - buy upper strike and sell lower strike - moderately bearish

18
Q

How you would you construct a horizontal spread when volatility is expected to rise generally and in the short term term?

A

General rise - sell short dated and buy longer dated - shorter dated securities will fall faster as volatility increased
Short term rise - buy short dated and sell long dated

19
Q

What would an investor use diagonal spreads?

A

They are directional.

20
Q

How would an investor construct bullish and bearish diagonal spreads?

A

Constructed with call options if bullish
Constructed with put options if bearish

21
Q

Why would a trader use straddles and strangles?

A

Attempts to profit from changes in volatility on the underlying assets.

22
Q

How would a trader construct straddles?

A

Extremely bearish / bullish on volatility. Done by buying a put and call which means if price falls outisde the margins profit will be made.

23
Q

What are the differences between a strangle and a straddle?

A

Purchase of put and call at different strike price in a strangle in straddle strike price is the same, just with directional put and call
PM outlay will usually be lower

24
Q

What are the 3 long synthetic futures?

A

Long future - buy a call and sell a put
Long call - sell a call and buy a put
Long put - buy a call and sell a future

25
Q

What are the 3 short synthetic futures?

A

Short future - sell a call and buy a put
Short call - sell a future and buy a put
Short put - sell a call and buy a future

26
Q

How can investors indirectly access the derivatives market?

A

Through accounts managed by a regulated firm

Through Collective Investment Schemes and pooled funds

27
Q

What are the 3 main types of derivatives investment styles?

A

Speculative
Guaranteed
Synthetics

28
Q

What are CISs that primarily use derivatives called?

A

Hedge funds

29
Q

What is a difference between AUTs and UUTs?

A

UUTs cannot be freely marketed to different customers.

30
Q

How does the SEC Classify an indivual investor as opposed to a retail client?

A