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Forward and Futures Contracts: by Surya B. Rana
Forward and Futures Contracts: by Surya B. Rana
Contracts
By
Surya B. Rana
THE FORWARD AND FUTURES CONTRACT
Forward contract is an agreement to buy or sell an
asset at a certain future time for a certain price.
It can be contrasted with a spot contract, which is an
agreement to buy or sell an asset today.
A forward contract is traded in the over the counter market
usually between two financial institutions or between a
financial institution and one of its client.
One of the parties to a forward contract assumes a log
position and agrees to buy the underlying asset on a certain
specified future date for a certain specified price. The other
party assumes a short position and agrees to sell the asset
on the same date for the same price.
THE FUTURE CONTRACT ……..
Like a forward contract, a futures contract is an agreement
between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a certain time in
future for a certain price.
However, unlike forward contracts, futures contracts are
normally traded on an exchange.
Thus futures contracts are contracts for deferred delivery like
forward contracts, but they have four important features that
forward contracts do not have.
First, futures contract are standardized contracts that trade on
organized exchanges,
Second, Gains and losses are paid by the parties every day as they
accrue (marking to market process).
Third, collateral is posted to ensure performance on the contract.
Fourth, the counter –party in a long positions is not the short,
but an institution set up by exchange called clearinghouse that
has enough capital to make default extremely unlikely.
Forward Vs Futures Contracts……..
Forward Contracts Futures Contracts
Private contract between two Traded on an exchange
parties
Not standardized Standardized contract
Usually has one specified It has a range of delivery date
delivery date
Settled a the end of the Settled daily.
contract
Delivery or final cash Contract is usually closed out
settlement usually takes place prior to maturity
It involves some credit risk It has virtually no credit risk
Futures Exchange Examples
The largest exchanges on which futures contracts are
traded are the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).
On these and other exchanges throughout the world, a
very wide range of commodities and financial assets
form the underlying assets in the various contracts
The commodities include pork bellies, live cattle, sugar,
wool, lumber, copper, aluminum, gold, silver, and tin.
(Commodity Futures)
The financial assets include stock indices, currencies,
and Treasury bonds (Financial Futures).
Some popular futures exchanges in Nepal are
Commodity and Metal Exchange Nepal (COMEN)
and Mercantile Exchange Nepal Limited (MEX).
Possible Questions
What do you mean by forward contracts and futures
contracts? What are the distinguish features of futures
contracts that forward contracts do not have? Explain.
STRUCTURE OF FUTURES MARKETS
the futures).
If futures price is less than the spot price of underlying asset, the investor
can sell short the asset at present and assume long-position on the futures
contract on the asset (that is F00 < S00erT
rT, short-position on the asset and long
Hence, you give $40.50 after three months to pay off the
loan and your profit is $43 - $40.50 = $2.50
The Two trading strategies can be summarized as follows:
• Sell asset for $43 • Buy asset for $39 and close short
• Use $40.50 to repay loan with position
interest • Receive $40.50 from investment