OTC derivatives

This one is not written up yet

The definition above is the short version. A full explanation — how it works, a worked example and the exam traps — is still being written. In the meantime the chapter below covers it in context.

Written up from the same chapter

• ArbitragerA participant who locks a profit by entering opposite transactions in two markets at once — carrying no exposure and taking no view, and in the process pulling the two prices back together.
• Central counterpartyThe clearing corporation that interposes itself in every exchange trade, becoming buyer to every seller and seller to every buyer, so neither side carries the other's credit risk.
• Credit Default SwapA contract in which a protection buyer pays a regular premium to a protection seller, who agrees to pay any loss in value on a specified reference obligation if a credit event such as default occurs.
• DerivativeA contract whose value is derived from the value of something else — the underlying — rather than from anything the contract itself owns or produces.
• DiversificationSpreading an exposure across holdings that do not move together, so that total risk falls by more than total return does — minimising risk per unit of return.
• Forward contractA bilateral, over-the-counter agreement between two parties to buy or sell an asset on a fixed future date at a price agreed today — customised to suit them, and binding on both.