Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Sunday, Oct 26, 2003

Investment World
Features
Stocks
Port Info
Archives

Group Sites

Investment World - Derivatives Markets


Futures guide

Futures: A futures contract is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell an underlying asset at a certain time in the future at a certain price. It has standardised date and month of delivery, quantity and price.

Spot Price: The price at which the underlying asset trades in the spot or cash market.

Futures price: The price at which the futures contract trades in the futures market.

Cost of carry: The difference between futures prices and spot prices is equated by the cost of carry. This measures the storage cost plus the interest that is paid to finance the asset less the income earned on the asset.

Open interest: Open Interest is the number of open contracts in a given maturity contract. A full open interest consists of a long position in combination with short position. It becomes an open contract when it is not closed by a counter position or when it has not expired. One unit of open interest represents always two parties, one buyer (long) and one seller (short).

Contract Value: In the case of Nifty contracts, the value of the contract is equal to the index value multiplied by 200, which is the minimum number of contracts that must be traded. In the case of the Sensex futures, the value of the contract is equal to the index value multiplied by 50, which is the minimum number of contracts that must be traded.

Expiration: The expiration date for all contracts is the last Thursday of the respective month. Three series of futures contracts are available and have one-month, two-months and three-months expiry cycles. On the Friday following the last Thursday, a new contract having a three-month expiry is introduced for trading.

Initial margin: The amount that must be deposited in the margin account at the time a futures contract is first entered into is known as initial margin.

Mark-to-market: In the futures market, at the end of each trading day, the margin account is adjusted to reflect the investor's gain or loss depending upon the futures closing price. This is called mark - to - market.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Large-caps: From a bang to a whimper


Price targets: Moving all the time
The risks pile up for investors
The riddle of cheaper telecom and dearer petrol
Bull markets: When companies charge investors
DSP ML Top 100 Equity: Hold
HDFC Tax Plan 2000: Buy in a phased manner
UTI Mastergrowth: Hold
UTI Services: Hold
Equity funds: Inflows pick-up in September
Base stock selection on consistent returns
Sun Pharma: Hold
Bharat Forge: Buy
TVS Srichakra: Book profits
TajGVK Hotels: Hold/Buy on declines
Jindal Strips and Jindal Stainless: Stay with stainless
Godrej Consumer Products: Book profits
Indian Overseas Bank: Under valued
Sundaram Clayton: Long-term buy
Cash in partially on the uptrend
Positive long-term trend in Reliance
Crucial support levels not breached
Query corner
Focus of the week
Skoda Superb: The name says it all
Question `n' auto
Child plans: Shock-proofing their life
LIC's New Bima Kiran
Up `n' down the street
Tata Steel, Tata Motors remain in focus
Using futures & options
Options guide
Futures guide
The OMO mystery
Can Fin Homes: Take shelter for a year
`Portfolio restructuring is paying off' — Interview with Mr P.G.R Prasad and Mr N. Sethuram, SBI Mutual Fund
Leave travel: Out of India, out of pocket
IDBI Bank: Subscribe
Shortsell


The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription
Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line