1, sell hedge (sell hedge)
This kind of hedging, also called short futures hedging, refers to the use of interest rate futures trading to avoid the risk that the future interest rate rise will lead to the decline in the value of bonds held or the increase in the scheduled borrowing cost; Or use forex futures trading to avoid the risk that the value of foreign currency assets held will decrease and the value of foreign exchange income will decrease in the future.
2. buy hedge
Also known as forward futures hedging, it refers to the use of interest rate futures trading to avoid the risk that the future interest rate decline will lead to a decrease in the scheduled interest rate of bond investment (the increase in bond purchase price); Or use forex futures trading to avoid the risk of the increase of scheduled foreign exchange payment in local currency caused by the rise of foreign exchange rate in the future (that is, overpaying in local currency).
3. direct hedge
Refers to the use of the same goods as the spot, which needs to be hedged to avoid risks.
4. Mutual hedging (cross hedging)
It means that there is no commodity in the futures market that needs to be preserved as much as the spot, and the commodity with the closest interest rate linkage is used to avoid risks.
Due to the standardization of futures market transactions, it is difficult to fully realize the above functions in practice. So we must pay attention to two risks: First, basicrisk. This is the risk brought by direct hedging and mutual hedging, but the former is less risky and the latter is more risky. Second, yieldcurverisk. This is the risk brought by the inconsistent collection and payment cycle and the change of income curve.
5. Price discovery function
It refers to the function of forming futures prices through centralized bidding in an open, fair, efficient and competitive futures market.
1, the delivery of financial futures is very convenient.
In futures trading, although the proportion of actual delivery is very small, once delivery is needed, the delivery of ordinary commodity futures is more complicated. In addition to strict regulations on delivery time, delivery place and delivery method, delivery grades should also be strictly divided. The physical inventory and transportation are also very complicated.
In contrast, the delivery of financial futures is obviously much easier. Because in financial futures trading, the delivery of stock index futures, European dollar time deposits and other varieties is generally settled in cash, that is, when the futures contract expires, the price difference between the two parties is settled according to the price change.
This cash settlement method is naturally simpler than physical delivery. In addition, even if some financial futures (such as foreign exchange futures and various bond futures) need to be delivered in kind, due to the homogeneity of these products, there is basically no transportation cost, and their delivery is much more convenient than ordinary commodity futures.
2. The blind spot of the delivery price of financial futures has been greatly reduced.
In commodity futures, due to the existence of large delivery costs, these delivery costs will bring certain losses to both long and short sides. For example, the delivery price of soybeans is 2000 yuan/ton. Even if this price is consistent with the local spot price at that time, the seller of this price may actually only get 1970 yuan/ton, because transportation, storage, inspection, delivery and other expenses must be deducted.
For the buyer, it may actually cost 2020 yuan, plus transportation and delivery fees. 50 yuan, where is the difference between the two is the price blind spot. In financial futures, because there are basically no transportation costs and storage costs, this price blind spot has been greatly reduced. For varieties that use cash delivery, the price blind spot even disappears completely.
3. Financial futures are easier to carry out medium-term arbitrage transactions.
In commodity futures, the arbitrage transactions carried out by speculators are basically concentrated in the form of spread (also known as spread arbitrage). The reason why arbitrage is rarely used is related to high extra cost, poor liquidity and difficulty in spot trading.
In financial futures trading, because the financial spot market itself has the characteristics of low additional cost, good liquidity and easy development, it has attracted a number of powerful institutions to specialize in spot arbitrage trading. Arbitrage is prevalent in financial futures, which not only promotes the liquidity of futures trading, but also keeps the difference between futures prices and spot prices within a reasonable range.