see Position and Mismatch. Various methods of calculating an exposure exist (i) Net working capital - The current assets in a foreign currency minus current liabilities in the currency; (ii) Net financial method - The current assets in a foreign currency minus current liabilities and long term debt in the currency; (iii) Monetary/non-monetary method - Monetary assets and liabilities in the foreign currency are valued at present exchange rates, while non-monetary items are entered at the relevant historic rates.
Friday, November 9, 2007
Expiration Date
(1) Options - the last date after which the option can no longer be exercised. (2) Bonds-the date on which a bond matures.
Exercise Value
For a call option, this is the amount by which the strike price is below the underlying investment; for a put option, it is the amount by which the strike price is above the underlying investment.
Exercise Limit
A limit on the number of options contracts a holder may exercise within a specific period.
Exercise Notice
The formal notification that the holder of a call (or put) option wishes to buy (or sell) the underlying security at the exercise price.
Exchange Control
A system of controlling inflows and outflows of foreign exchange, devices include licensing multiple currencies, quotas, auctions, limits, levies and surcharges.
European Option
An option that can be exercised only on its expiration date rather than before that date.
Eurofranc
Swiss Franc or Belgian Francs traded on the Eurocurrency market. Normally Swiss Francs are the more common currency.
Eurobonds
A long-term loan issued in a currency other than that of the country or market in which it is issued. Interest is paid without the deduction of tax.
Euro Clear
A computerized settlement and depository system for safe custody, delivery of, and payment for Eurobonds.
End/End
Indicates that both the spot and forward maturity, or two forward maturities in a swap transaction, fall due on the last business day of appropriate calendar months.
Economic Indicator
A statistic which indicates current economic growth rates and trends such as retail sales and employment.
Durable Goods Orders
Durable Goods Orders are a measure of the new orders placed with domestic manufacturers for immediate and future delivery of factory hardgoods. Durable Goods Orders are a major indicator of manufacturing sector trends because most industrial production is done to order.
Discount
(1) See forward Rate. Forward rate is lower than spot rate (2) an option that is trading for less than its intrinsic value.
Diagonal (bull or bear) Spread
The purchase of a longer maturity option and the sale of a shorter maturity, lower exercise price option. The choice of calls or puts will determine its bear or bull character.
Devaluation
Deliberate downward adjustment of a currency against its fixed parities or bands, normally by formal announcement.
Details
All the information required to finalize a foreign exchange transaction, i.e. name, rate, dates, and point of delivery.
Derivatives
A broad term relating to risk management instruments such as futures, options, swaps, etc. The contract value moves in relation to the underlying instrument or currency. The issue of derivatives and their control following large losses by banks and corporates has been subject of much debate.
Depreciation
A fall in the value of a currency due to market forces rather than due to official action.
Delta Spread
A ratio spread of options established as a neutral position by using the deltas of the options concerned to determine the hedge ratio.
Delta Hedging
A method used by option writers to hedge risk exposure of written options by purchase or sale of the underlying instrument in proportion to the delta.
Delta
The change in the value of the option premium made fully paid by the capitalisation of reserves and given relative to the instantaneous change in the value of the underlying instrument, expressed as a coefficient.
Delivery
The settlement of a futures contract by receipt or tender of a financial instrument or currency.
Delivery Points
Those locations designated by futures exchanges at which the currency represented by a futures contract may be delivered in fulfillment of the contract.
Delivery Month
The calendar month in which a futures contract comes to maturity and becomes deliverable.
Delivery Date
The date of maturity of the contract, when the exchange of the currencies is made. This date is more commonly known as the value date in the FX or Money markets.
Deflator
Difference between real and nominal Gross National Product, which is equivalent to the overall inflation rate.
Declaration Date
The latest day or time by which the buyer of an option must indicate to the seller his intention to execute the option.
Current Balance
The value of all exports (goods plus services) less all imports of a country over a specific period of time, equal to the sum of trade and invisible balances plus net receipt of interest, profits and dividends from abroad.
Current Account
The net balance of a country's international payment arising from exports and imports together with unilateral transfers such as aid and migrant remittances. It excludes capital flows.
Crossed Market
The situation which exists when a broker's bid is higher than the lowest offer of another broker.
Cross Hedge
A technique using financial futures to hedge different but related cash instruments based on the view that the price movements between the instruments move in concert.
Cross Deal
A foreign exchange deal entered into involving two currencies, neither of which is the base currency.
Covered Margin
The interest rate margin between two instruments denominated in different currencies after taking account of the cost of forward cover.
Covered Call Write
A strategy of writing call options against a long position in the underlying asset. A covered put write being based on a short position in the asset.
Cover
(1) To take out a forward foreign exchange contract. (2) To close out a short position by buying currency or securities which have been sold.
Counter Value
Where a person buys a currency against the dollar it is the dollar value of the transaction.
Correspondent Bank
The foreign banks representative who regularly performs services for a bank which has no branch in the relevant centre, e.g. to facilitate the transfer of funds. In the US this often occurs domestically due to inter state banking restrictions.
Cover
Calls are sold on the underlying currency with strikes which are higher than the market price. The strike price limits the profit that can be realized from the position.
Contract
An agreement to buy or sell a specified amount of a particular currency or option for a specified month in the future (See Futures contract).
Contract Expiration Date
The date on which a currency must be delivered to fulfill the terms of the contract. For options, the last day on which the option holder can exercise his right to buy or sell the underlying instrument or currency.
Consumer Price Index
Monthly measure of the change in the prices of a defined basket of consumer goods including food, clothing, and transport. Countries vary in their approach to rents and mortgages. Rising CPI is normally associated with expectation of higher short term interest rates and may therefore be supportive for a currency in the short term. Nevertheless, a longer term inflation problem will eventually undermine confidence in the currency and weakness will follow.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Closing Purchase Transaction
The purchase of an option identical to one already sold to liquidate a position.
Closed Position
A transaction which leaves the trade with a zero net commitment to the market with respect to a particular currency.
Clearing
The process of setting a number of items against one another and making fund transfers on the net balance only as part of the settlement process.
Chartist
An individual who studies graphs and charts of historic data to find trends and predict trend reversals which include the observance of certain patterns and characteristics of the charts to derive resistance levels, head and shoulders patterns, and double bottom or double top patterns which are thought to indicate trend reversals.
Certificate of Deposit (CD)
A negotiable certificate in bearer form issued by a commercial bank as evidence of a deposit with that bank which states the maturity value, maturity rate and interest rate payable. CDs vary in size with maturities ranging from a few weeks to several years. CDs may normally be redeemed before maturity only by sale on the secondary market but may also be redeemed back to issuing bank through payment of a penalty.
Call
A (1) An option that gives the holder the right to buy the underlying instrument at a specified price during a fixed period. (2) A period of trading. (3) The right of a bond issuer to pre pay debt and demand the surrender of its bonds.
Call Option
A call option confers the right but not the obligation to buy stock, shares or futures at a specified price.
Calendar Spread
An option position comprised of purchase and sale of two option contracts of the same type with different expiration dates at the same exercise price.
Buying The Spread
To buy the nearby contract and simultaneously sell the deferred contract. Also referred to as a bull spread.
Buying Rate
Rate at which the market and a market maker in particular is willing to buy the currency. Sometimes called bid rate.
Buyer/Taker
The purchaser of an option, whether a call or put option. The buyer may also be referred to as the option holder. Option buyers receive the right, but not the obligation, to enter a futures/securities market position.
Butterfly Spread
(1) A futures butterfly spread is a spread trade in which multiple futures months are traded simultaneously at a differential. The trade basically consists of two futures spread transactions with either three or four different futures months at one differential. (2) An options butterfly spread is a combination of a bear and bull spread trade in which multiple options months and strike prices are traded simultaneously at a differential. The trade basically consists of two options spread transactions with either three or four different options months and strikes at one differential.
Bull (call or put) Spread
An option position composed of both long and short options of the same type, either calls or puts, designed to be profitable in a declining market. An option with a lower strike price is bought and one with a higher strike price is sold.
Broken Dates or Period
Deals that are undertaken for value dates that are not standard periods e.g. 1 month. The standard periods are 1 week, 2 weeks, 1, 2, 3, 6 and 12 months. Terms also used are odd dates, or cock dates, broken dates or broken period.
Break Even Point
The price of a financial instrument at which the option buyer recovers the premium, meaning that he makes neither a loss nor a gain. In the case of a call option, the break even point is the exercise price plus the premium.
Black-Scholes Model
An option pricing formula initially derived by Fisher Black and Myron Scholes for securities options and later refined by Black for options on futures. It is widely used in the currency markets.
Big Figure
Refers normally to the first three digits of an exchange rate that dealers treat as understood in quoting. For example a quote of "30/40" on dollar mark could indicate a price of 1.5530/40
Bear Put Spread
A spread designed to exploit falling exchange rates by purchasing a put option with a high exercise price and selling one with a low exercise price.
Barrier Option
A family of path dependent options whose pay-off pattern and survival to the expiration date depend not only on the final price of the underlying currency but also on whether or not the underlying currency breaks a predetermined price level at any time during the life of the option. See Down and Out call/put, Down and in call/put, Up and out call/put, Up and in call/put.
Bank Rate
The rate at which a central bank is prepared to lend money to its domestic banking system.
Bank Notes
Bank notes are paper issued by the central or issuing bank and are legal tender, but are not usually considered to be part of the FX market. However bank notes can be converted, in some countries, into FX. Bank notes are normally priced at a premium to the current spot rate for a currency.
Balance of Payments
A systematic record of the economic transactions during a given period for a country. (1) The term is often used to mean either: (i) balance of payments on "current account"; or (ii) the current account plus certain long term capital movements. (2) The combination of the trade balance, current balance, capital account and invisible balance, which together make up the balance of payments total. Prolonged balance of payment deficits tend to lead to restrictions in capital transfers, and or decline in currency values.
At-the-Money
An option whose strike/exercise price is equal to or near the current market price of the underlying instrument.
Association Cambiste International
The international society of foreign exchange dealers consisting of national "Forex clubs" affiliated on a world wide basis.
American Option
An option which may be exercised at any time prior to expiration.
Compared with a European option that can only be exercised on a specific date.
Agio
Difference in the value between currencies. Also used to describe percentage
charges for conversion from paper money into cash, or from a weak into a strong currency.
Aggregate Supply
Total supply of goods and services in the economy from domestic sources (including imports) available to meet aggregate demand.
Aggregate Demand
It includes private and public sector demand for goods and services within the country and the demand of consumers and firms in other countries for goods and services.
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