Test center 1: the concept of financial derivatives
Financial derivatives are financial-related derivatives, which usually refer to financial instruments derived from basic assets.
The essence of financial derivatives is a financial contract, and its value depends on one or more basic assets or indexes. The basic types of contracts include forward, futures, swaps and options.
This kind of contract can be standardized or non-standardized.
Standardized contracts mean that the transaction price, transaction time, asset characteristics and transaction methods of the subject matter (basic assets) are standardized in advance, so most of these contracts are listed and traded on exchanges, such as futures.
The characteristic of standardized contract is margin trading, that is, as long as a certain percentage of margin is paid, the full amount can be traded without the actual principal transfer.
Therefore, financial derivatives trading has leverage effect. The lower the margin, the greater the leverage effect and the greater the risk.
Non-standardized contract means that the above matters are agreed by both parties to the transaction, so it has strong flexibility, such as forward agreement.
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Test site 2: the characteristics of financial derivatives
1, zero-sum game
That is, the gains and losses of both parties to a contract transaction (which are uncertain because they can trade in standardized contracts) are completely negatively correlated, and the net gains and losses are zero, so it is called "zero sum".
2. Intertemporal
Financial derivatives refer to contracts in which both parties agree to trade or choose whether to trade at some future time by predicting the changing trend of interest rates, exchange rates, stock prices and other factors.
No matter what kind of financial derivatives, it will affect the cash flow of traders in the future or at some time in the future, and the characteristics of intertemporal trading are very prominent.
This requires both parties to judge the future trend of price factors such as interest rate, exchange rate and stock price, and the accuracy of judgment directly determines the trader's trading profit and loss.
Step 3 contact
Here, the value of financial derivatives is closely related to basic products or basic variables, and the rules change.
Usually, the payment characteristics of financial derivatives associated with basic variables are stipulated in derivatives contracts, and their linkage relationship can be simple linear relationship, nonlinear function or piecewise function.
4. High risk
The trading consequences of financial derivatives depend on the accuracy of traders' prediction and judgment on the future price of basic instruments.
The unpredictability of the price of basic instruments determines the instability of the profit and loss of financial derivatives trading, which is an important incentive for financial derivatives to have high risks.
5. High leverage
Derivatives trading adopts the margin system. That is, the minimum capital required for trading only needs to meet a certain proportion of the value of the underlying assets. Margin can be divided into initial margin and maintenance margin, and the market maker system is adopted in exchange trading.
If the margin ratio during the trading period is lower than the maintenance margin ratio, you will receive a margin notice. If the investor fails to add the margin in time, he will be forced to close his position.
6. Contractual nature
The transaction of financial derivatives deals with the rights and obligations of basic instruments under certain conditions in the future, which is legally understood as a contract and an economic contractual relationship based on highly developed social credit.
7. The virtuality of the transaction object
The object of financial derivatives contract transaction is the rights and obligations of the basic financial instruments under various conditions in the future, such as the right to buy or sell options and the obligation to exchange debts, which constitutes the so-called "product" and shows certain virtuality.
8. Diversity of transaction purposes
Financial derivatives trading usually has four purposes: hedging, speculation, arbitrage and asset-liability management.
The main purpose of its transaction is not to transfer the ownership of the underlying financial goods involved, but to transfer the risk of value change related to the financial goods or to obtain economic benefits through venture capital.
Test site 3: financial derivatives trading place
1, Exchange (East)
On-floor trading refers to the stock trading activities carried out through the stock exchange, and the stock trading in this place is called on-floor trading.
A stock exchange is a place with a fixed site and various service facilities (such as quotation board, TV screen, computer, telephone, telex, etc.). ), necessary management and service personnel, and centralized trading of stocks and other securities.
At present, in all countries of the world, most stock circulation and transfer transactions are carried out in stock exchanges. Therefore, the stock exchange is the core of the stock circulation market, and floor trading is the main organization mode of stock circulation.
2. Non-prescription drugs
Over-the-counter market refers to the market formed by buying and selling securities through a large number of scattered securities counters and major telecommunications facilities of securities operating institutions such as investment banks.
Because there is no centralized and unified trading system and place, these markets are collectively referred to as OTC market, also known as OTC or OTC market, which refers to the market where securities buyers and sellers bargain outside the exchange.
It has no fixed place, and its transactions are mainly conducted by telephone, telegraph, fax and computer network. The securities traded are mainly those that are not listed on the exchange.