Zero sum game

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

• BasisThe difference between the spot price and the futures price of an asset — positive when spot exceeds futures, negative when futures exceeds spot, and zero at expiry.
• Call optionA contract giving its buyer the right, but never the obligation, to buy the underlying at a fixed strike price — so the loss is capped at the premium and the gain is not.
• Daily Settlement PriceThe price at which every open futures position is marked and reset at the end of each day — the last 30 minutes' volume weighted average price of that contract, computed separately for each expiry.
• DerivativeA contract whose value is derived from the value of something else — the underlying — rather than from anything the contract itself owns or produces.
• Exchange traded derivativeA derivative traded on an organised exchange on standardised terms, with prices set by anonymous auction and performance guaranteed by a clearing corporation — as against a bilateral, customised OTC contract.
• 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.