Derivatives Products Flashcards
What is an option?
An option is a right to buy (call) or sell (put) a certain asset by a certain date for a certain price to the other.
A future/ forward
Contract is an agreement to buy or sell an asset for a certain price at a certain time.
What is a swap?
Agreement to exchange cash-flows in the future.
Speculators
Use derivatives to take a position in the market, betting that the underlying value will increase or decrease.
Arbitrageurs
Take advantage of abnormal differences in the price of different assets and lock-in riskless profits at no cost.
Hedgers
Seek to hedge or reduce their risks with derivatives (interest rate risk, exchange rate risk, market risk).
Forward contract
An OTC contract between two parties to buy or sell an asset for a certain price at a certain time in the future,
- Can be negotiated,
- OTC contract.
A futures contract
An exchange traded contract to deliver (in a case of a short position) or to receive (in a case of a long position, counterpart) a given quantity of a given asset at a future date at a price fixed today (futures price).
CBOT
Chicago Board of Trade
Created in 1848 listed the first-ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts in 1864 on grain.
Clearing House
Firm that guarantees the performance of the parties in a derivatives transaction.
Closing Out (a position)
Taking an opposite position on the same contract so as to kill the existing position.
Collateral
Assets that a party posts in a secured account to secure a transaction.
Open-Interest
Number of contracts alive on the market
OTC
Over the counter: traders done directly between counterparties
Payoff
Cash realized by the holder of a derivative at expiration.
P&L
Summarizes all the revenue and costs associated with a given strategy.
Leverage
The coefficient by which your gains and losses are multiplied with a direct investment.
Long (short) position
Position involving the sale/ purchase of an asset.
Perfect hedge
Completely eliminates the risk.
Partial hedge
Homogenously reduces the risk.