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A trader is hedging when she has an exposure to the price of an asset and takes position in a derivative to offset the exposure. In a speculation the trader has no exposure to offset. She is betting on the future movements in the price of the asset. Arbitrage involves taking a position in two or more different markets to lock in a profit. Problem 1,3, What is the difference between entering into a long forward contract when the forward price is SO and taking a long position in a call option with a strike price of $50? In the first case the trader is obligated to buy the asset for $50. The trader does not have a choice. ) In the second case the trader has an option to buy the asset for $50. The trader does not have to exercise the option. ) Problem 1. 4. Explain carefully the difference between selling a call option and buying a put option. Selling a call option implies giving someone else the right to buy an asset from you. It gives you a payoff of Buying a put option involves buying an option from someone else. It gives a payoff of In both cases the potential payoff is. When you write a call option, the payoff is negative or zero. This is because the counterparts chooses Whether to exercise. ) When you buy a put option, the payoff is zero or positive. (This is because you choose Whether to exercise. Problem 1. 5. An investor enters into a short foamed contract to sell 100,000 British pounds for LIST dollars at an exchange rate of 1. 4000 US dollars per pound. How much does the investor gain or lose if the exchange rate at the end of the contract is (a) 1. 3900 and (b) 1. 4200? (a) The investor is obligated to sell pounds for 14000 when they are worth 1. 3900. The gain is (1. 4000-1. 3900) – $1,000. B) The investor is obligated to sell pounds for 14000 when they are worth 1. 4200. The loss is – $2,000 Problem 1,6, A trader enters into a short cotton futures contract when the futures price is 50 cents per pound. The contract is for the delivery of 50,000 pounds How much does the trader gain or lose if the cotton price at the end of the contract is (a) 4820 cents per pound; (b) 51. 30 cents per pound? (a) The trader sells for 50 cents per pound something that is worth 48. 20 cents per pound. Gain (b) The trader sells for 50 cents per pound something that is worth 51. 30 cents per pound.
Loss . Problem 1. 7, Suppose that you write a put contract with a strike price of $40 and an expiration date in three months, The current stock price is SIS and the contract is on 100 shares. What have you committed yourself to? How much could you gain or lose? Vow have sold a put option. You have agreed to buy ICC shares for $40 per share if the part/ on the other side of the contract chooses to exercise the right to sell for this price, The option will be exercised only when the price of stock is below $40. Suppose, for example, that the option is exercised when the price is $30.
You have to buy at $40 shares that are worth $30; you lose 510 per share, or $1 ,OHO in total. Fifth option is exercised when the price is 520, you lose 520 per share, or $2,000 in total. The worst that can happen is that the price of the stock declines o almost zero during the three-month period. This highly unlikely event would cost you $4,000. In return for the possible future losses, you receive the price of the option from the purchaser. Problem 1. 8. What is the difference between the over-the-counter market and the exchange- traded market? What are the bid and Offer quotes Of a market maker in the over- the-counter market?
The over-the-counter market is a telephone- and computer-linked network of financial institutions, fund managers, and corporate treasurers where two participants can enter into any mutually acceptable contract. An exchange- rated market is a market organized by an exchange where traders either meet physically or community electronically and the contracts that can be traded have been defined by the exchange. When a market maker quotes a bid and an offer, the bid is the price at which the market maker is prepared to buy and the offer is the price at which the market maker is prepared to sell.
Problem 1. 9. You would like to speculate on a rise in the price off certain stock. The current stock price is $29, and a three-month call with a strike of $30 costs $2. 90. You have $5,800 to invest. Identify two alternative strategies, one involving an investment in the stock and the other involving investment in the option. What are the potential gains and losses from each? One strategy would be to buy 200 shares. Another would be to buy 2,000 options. Fifth share price does well the second strategy will give rise to greater gains.
For example, if the share price goes up to $40 you gain from the second strategy and only from the first strategy. However, if the share price does badly, the second sweater’ gives greater losses. For example, fifth share price goes down to 525, the first strategy leads to a loss of whereas the second strategy leads to a loss of the whole $5,800 investment. This example shows that options contain built in leverage. Problem l, 10. Suppose you own 5,000 shares that are worth $25 each. How can put options be used to provide you with insurance against a decline in the value of your holding over the next four months?
You could buy 50 put option contracts (each on 100 shares) with a strike price of 525 and an expiration date in four months. If at the end of four months the stock price proves to be less than $25, you can exercise the options and sell the shares for $25 each. Problem 1. 11 _ When first issued, a stock provides funds for a company. Is the same true of an exchange-traded stock option? Discuss. An exchange-traded stock option provides no funds for the company. It is a security sold by one investor to another. The company is not involved.
By contrast, a stock when it is first issued is sold by the company to investors and does provide funds for the company. Problem 1. 12. Explain why a futures contract can be used for either speculation or hedging. If an investor has an exposure to the price of an asset, he or she can hedge with futures contracts. If the investor will gain when the price decreases and lose when the price increases, a long futures position will hedge the risk. If the investor will lose when the price decreases and gain when the price increases, a short futures position will hedge the risk.
Thus either a long or a short futures position can be entered into for hedging purposes, If the investor has no exposure to the price of the underlying asset, entering into a futures contract is speculation, If the investor takes a long position, he or she gains when the asset’s price increases and loses when it decreases. Fifth investor takes a short position, he or she loses venue the asset’s price increases and gains when it decreases. Problem 1. 13_ Suppose that a March call option to buy a share for $50 costs $2. 50 and is held until March. Under What circumstances Will the holder Of the option make a profit? Ender what circumstances will the option be exercised? Draw a diagram showing how the profit on a long position in the option depends on the stock price at the maturity of the option. The holder of the option will gain if the price of the stock is above SIS. 50 in March. (This ignores the time value of money. ) The option will be exercised if the price of the stock is above SIS. O in March. The profit as a function of the stock rice is shown in Figure SSL. L. Figure SSL. L Profit from long position in problem I . 13 Problem 1. 14_ Suppose that a June put option to sell a share for $60 costs $4 and is held until June.
Under what circumstances will the seller of the option (i. A, the party with a short position) make a profit? Underwear circumstances will the option be exercised? Draw a diagram showing how the profit from a short position in the option depends on the stock price at the maturity of the option. The seller of the option will lose money if the price of the stock is below $56. 00 in June. (This ignores the time value Of money. The option Will be exercised if the price of the stock is below $60. 00 in June. The profit as a function of the stock price is shown in Figure IS . 2- Figure SSL. Profit from short position in Problem 1. 14 Problem 1. 15. It is May and a trader writes a September call option with a strike price of 520. The stock price is $18, and the option price is $2. Describe the investor’s cash flows if the option is held until September and the stock price is SIS at this time. The trader has an inflow of $2 in May and an outflow of in September _ The 52 is the cash received from the sale of the option. The $5 is the result of the option being exercised. The investor has to buy the stock for $25 in September and sell it to the purchaser of the option for $20.
Problem 1. 16. A trader writes a December put option With a strike price Of 530. The price Of the option is $4. Under what circumstances does the trader make a gain? The trader makes a gain fifth price of the stock is above $26 at the time of exercise. (This ignores the time value of money. ) Problem 1. 17. A company knows that it is due to receive a certain amount of a foreign currency in four months. What type of option contract is appropriate for hedging? A long position in a tour-month put option can provide insurance against the exchange rate falling below the strike price.
It ensures that the foreign currency can be sold tort at least the strike price. Problem 1. 18. A IIS company expects to have to pay I million Canadian dollars in six months, Explain how the exchange rate risk can be hedged using (a) a poniard contract; (b) an option. The company could enter into a long forward contract to buy I million Canadian dollars in six months. This would have the effect of locking in an exchange rate equal to the current forward exchange rate Alternatively the company could ay a call option giving it the right (but not the obligation) to purchase 1 million Canadian dollars at a certain exchange rate in six months.
This would provide insurance against a strong Canadian dollar in six months while still allowing the company to benefit from a weak Canadian dollar at that time. Problem 1. 19. A trader enters into a short forward contract on 100 million yen. The foamed exchange rate is 50. 0080 per yen. How much does the trader gain or lose if the exchange rate at the end of the contract is (a) $0. 0074 per yen; (b) $0. 0091 per yen? A) The trader sells 100 million yen for $0. 0080 per yen when the exchange rate is 0,0074 per yen. The gain is millions of dollars or $60,000, b) The trader sells 100 million yen for 50. 080 per yen when the exchange rate is $0. 0091 per yen. The loss is millions of dollars or SSL problem 1,20. The Chicago Board of Trade offers a futures contract on long-term Treasury bonds. Characterize the investors likely to use this contract. Most investors will use the contract because they want to do one of the following: a) Hedge an exposure to long-term interest rates. B) Speculate on the future direction of long-term interest rates. C) Arbitrage between the spot and futures markets for Treasury bonds. This contract is discussed in Chapter 6. Problem 1. 21. Options and futures are zero-sum games. ” What do you think is meant by this statement? The statement means that the gain (loss) to the party with the short position is equal to the loss (gain) to the party with the long position. In aggregate, the net gain to all parties is zero. Problem 1. 22. Describe the profit from the following portfolio: a long forward contract on an asset and a long European put option on the asset with the same maturity as the forward contract and a strike price that is equal to the forward price of the asset t the time the portfolio is set up.
The terminal value of the long forward contract is: where is the price of the asset at maturity and is the delivery price, which is the same as the forward price of the asset at the time the portfolio is set up). The terminal value of the put option is: The terminal value of the portfolio is therefore This is the same as the terminal value Of a European call option With the same maturity as the forward contract and a strike price equal to. This result is illustrated in the Figure IS 3. The profit equals the terminal value Of the call option less the amount paid for the put option. It does not cost anything to enter into the forward contract.
Figure 51. 3 Profit from portfolio in Problem 1. 22 Problem 1,23. In the sass, Bankers Trust developed index currency option notes (ICONS). These are bonds in which the amount received by the holder at maturity varies with a foreign exchange rate. One example was its trade with the Long Term Credit Bank of Japan, The ICON specified that if the yen-U. S. Dollar exchange rate, is greater than 169 yen per dollar at maturity (in 1395), the holder of the bond receives IS,COO, If it is less than 169 yen per dollar, the amount received by the holder of the bond is When the exchange rate is below 84. 5, nothing is received by the holder at maturity.
Show that this ICON is a combination Of a regular bond and two options. Suppose that the yen exchange rate (yen per dollar) at maturity of the ICON is. The payoff from the ICON is When the payoff can be written The payoff from an ICON is the payoff from: (a) A regular bond (b) A short position in call options to buy 169,000 yen with an exercise price to 1/169 (c) A long position in call options to buy 169,000 yen with an exercise price of 1/84. 5 This is demonstrated by the following table, which shows the terminal alee of the various components of the position Bond Short Calls Long Calls Whole position 1000 Problem 1. 4. On July I , 201 1, a company enters into a forward contract to buy 10 million Japanese yen on January 1, 2012. On September 1, 201 1, it enters into a forward contract to sell 10 million Japanese yen on January I, 2012. Describe the payoff from this strategy. Suppose that the forward price for the contract entered into on July 1, 2011 is and that the forward price for the contract entered into on September I, 2011 is with both and being measured as dollars per yen.
Fifth value of one Japanese en (measured in LIST dollars) is on January I , 2012, then the value Of the first contract (in millions of dollars) at that time is while the value of the second contract (per yen sold) at that time is: The total payoff from the two contracts is therefore Thus fifth forward price for delivery on January 1, 2012 increased between July 1 , 201 1 and September 1, 201 1 the company will make a profit. (Note that the yen/ USED exchange rate is usually expressed as the number of yen per USED not as the number to USED per yen) Problem 1. 25. Suppose that USED-sterling spot and forward exchange rates are as follows:
Spot 1 _SASS go-day forward 1. 4556 I go-day forward 1. 4518 What opportunities are open to an arbitrageur in the following situations? (a) A 180-day European call option to buy II for $1. 42 costs 2 cents. (b) A go-day European put option to sell El for $1. 43 costs 2 cents. (a) The arbitrageur buys a 180-day call option and takes a short position in a 180- day forward contract. If is the terminal spot rate, the profit from the call option The profit from the short forward contract is The profit from the strategy is therefore This is 1. 4318-SST when SST 1. 42 This shows that the profit is always positive.
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