Friday, August 9

Cost of Carry formula and interpretation

A future Contract is an agreement between two parties to BUY or SELL an underlying asset, including stocks, indices,commoditities or currency, at a certain time in the future at a certain price. Futures contracts are standardized and are traded on the exchange. To facilitate liquidity in futures contracts, the exchange defines certain standard specifications for  a particular contract, including a standard underlying instrument, a standard quantity and quality of that underlying asses ( to be delivered or cash settled), and a standard timing for such a settlement. If you have taken position in equity futures, whether long or short, you have to close the position by entering in an equal and opposite transaction anytime prior to expiry of the contract as there is no delivery of the underlying assets.
The Relationship between Futures Prices and Spot Prices can be summarized in terms of what is commonly known as the COST-OF-CARRY.
The cost of carry is the cost of "carrying" or holding a position. If long, the cost of carry is the cost of interest paid on a margin account. Conversely, if short, the cost of carry is the cost of paying dividends, or opportunity cost the cost of purchasing a particular security rather than an alternative.
Typically,in equity futures,

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