Derivatives are instruments to manage financial risks. We will start with the concept of a Forward contract and then move on to understand Future and Option contracts. Unlike forward contracts, future contracts are actively traded in the secondary market, have the backing of the clearinghouse, follow regulations and involve a daily settlement cycle of gains and losses.
Convertible Bonds Convertible bonds are the type of contingent claims that gives the bondholder an option to participate in the capital gains caused by the upward movement in the stock price of the company, without any obligation to share the losses.
Agreements and contracts have been used for ages to execute commercial transactions and so is the case with derivatives.
They want to profit from changes in the price of futures, up or down. Interest Rate Options Options where the underlying is not a physical asset or a stock, but the interest rates.
Example of an Options Contract To complicate matters, options are bought and sold on futures.
Futures contracts are always marked to market daily, which is the only way to experience gains and losses. Flexibility: The owner of an options contract does not have to execute it — that is, force the trade of the underlying asset for the strike price even if such a trade would be profitable.
Establishing a price in advance makes the businesses on both sides of the contract less vulnerable to big price swings.