What is a short-term date?
A short date is a forward contract that expires in less than a year. A futures contract is an obligation involving two parties who agree on a fixed price to sell or buy an asset at a pre-determined date and time in the future.
In forex trading, a short-term futures contract usually involves trading a currency on a specified spot date that is earlier than the normal date. appointmentranging from one week to one month after the transaction date.
A short-term forward can be contrasted with long time attackers with a settlement date greater than one year, and up to 10 years or more into the future. Companies or financial institutions use these two types of contracts to hedge certain exchange risks.
Key points to remember
- A short-term forward contract is an over-the-counter derivative contract locking the price of an asset for future delivery, with maturities of less than one year.
- Short-term futures contracts are often used to hedge short-term risks, such as next month’s delivery of receivables or an anticipated need for oil in a few weeks.
- Due to their shorter maturities, these contracts tend to be less risky than long-term contracts.
How Short Term Futures Work
A forward currency contract is an agreement to exchange an underlying security or asset at a pre-defined future date, such as currencies of different countries at a specified exchange rate (the forward rate). Generally, futures contracts provide for delivery (either physical or in cash) on a date after the cash settlement of the contract.
Contrary to futures contracts contracts, which are standardized and negotiated on Exchanges, futures contracts do not take place on regulated exchanges and do not involve the delivery of standard currency amounts. They say they trade over the counter (OTC). The terms and specifications of a particular futures contract are negotiated and agreed to by the counterparties involved and can only be canceled with the consent of the other party to a transaction.
Short-term futures contracts are less risky instruments than futures contracts with longer maturities because there is less chance for a counterparty to default on their obligations in a shorter time. In addition, longer dated futures contracts often have a greater bid-ask spreads than shorter-term contracts, which makes their use somewhat expensive.
Why use short futures
Investors may use short-term futures contracts to hedge risk or as a speculative investment vehicle. The due value of a futures contract can be calculated by the difference between the delivery price and the underlying price of the security on that date. A futures contract allows a trader, bank, or bank customer to arrange for the delivery (or sale) of a specific amount of currency on a specified future date, at the current market price. This protects the buyer against the risk of fluctuating rates when acquiring the currencies needed to meet future obligations.
Unlike a typical futures contract, short-term contracts involve the delivery of a currency on a spot date earlier than the normal spot date, ranging from a week to a month after the trade. These short-term contracts can be set up as a stopgap hedge when quoted futures contracts do not exist for the required expiry month, or if they expire too soon or later than necessary for a perfect hedge.
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