What Are The Key Features Of Forward Contracts?

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Forwards and futures are contracts where two parties to the contract, the buyer and the seller. agrees to the future delivery price for a specified quality and quantity of an asset or commodity at the time and date the contract is entered into. The delivery of the underlying asset will take place at a pre-determined future date. Forwards A Forward contract may be defined as an agreement to purchase at a future date a given asset at a price agreed today. It may also be defined as “abilateral agreement between two parties to buy or sell an asset or a commodity of specified quantity and quality at a future date on a mutually agreed delivery price”. The contract or agreement can be between two financial institutions, a financial institution …show more content…

Over the Counter Contract: Trading in forward contracts is not available on stock exchanges. These are Over the Counter (OTC) Contracts. Forward contracts are privately negotiated between two parties. One of such parties is usually a financial institution or bank. 2. Non-standardized contracts: Forward contracts are non-standardised, that is. they are customised according to the requirements of parties to the contract. The terms of the contract like the amount of the underlying asset, expiration or due date etc. are unique or customised or negotiated for each and every contract depending upon the requirements of the parties involved in the contract or agreement. 3. Counterparty Credit Risk: All parties in a forward contractwould be exposed to counterparty credit risk. This is the risk that the other party may not honour or make delivery as per the contract. Since forward contracts are not registered on any stock exchange, the risk that the other party may default is …show more content…

Similarly, the case of a short forward contract for selling the underlying asset is Payoff (short) = K – S, where S = Spot price on the date of delivery and K = delivery price or the forward price agreed under the forward contract Let us assume that the spot price at the end of 6 months i.e. 30 June 2016 is 67.00 and the forward price to sell USD INR is at ` 66.7350. The payoff would be calculated as below: Payoff (short) = 66.7350 (Forward price) - 67.00 = -0.2650 In this case the holder of the forward contract makes a loss of 0.2650 per USD as he would have received more INR if he had sold in the spot market @ 67.00 whereas he received only 66.7350 under the forward contract for selling USD. The positive or negative payoffs show the notional profit or loss that is generated by the holder of the contract. A profit of one party generates equivalent loss to the other party as there is no cost of entering into a forward contract. Value of a Forward

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