Glossary
This glossary was compiled by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from a number of sources.
The definitions are not intended to state or suggest the correct legal significance
or meaning of any word or phrase. The sole purpose of this compilation is to foster
a better understanding of futures and options on futures.
Arbitrage
The simultaneous purchase and sale of identical or equivalent financial instruments
or commodity futures in order to benefit from a discrepancy in their price relationship.
Ask
Also called "offer". Indicates a willingness to sell a futures contract
at a given price. (See bid.)
Back Months
The futures or options on futures months being traded that are furthest from
expiration.
Bear
One who believes prices will move lower.
Bear Market
A market in which prices are declining.
Bid
The price that the market participants are willing to pay. See offer.
Bull
One who expects prices to rise.
Bull Market
A market in which prices are rising.
Buy On Close
To buy at the end of a trading session at a price within the closing range.
Buy On Opening
To buy at the beginning of a trading session at a price within the opening range.
Cabinet Trade or cab
A trade that allows options traders to liquidate deep out-of-the-money options
by trading the option at a price equal to one-half tick.
Call
An option to buy a commodity, security or futures contract at a specified price
anytime between now and the expiration date of the option contract.
Cash Commodity
The actual physical commodity as distinguished from a futures commodity.
Close, The
The period at the end of the trading session. Sometimes used to refer to the
closing range. (See opening, the.)
Closing Range (or Range)
The high and low prices, or bids and offers, recorded during the period designated
as the official close. (See settlement price.)
Commission (or Round Turn)
The one-time fee charged by a broker to a customer when a futures or options
on futures position is liquidated either by offset or delivery.
CFTC
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission as created by the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission Act of 1974. This government agency currently regulates the nation's
commodity futures industry.
Contract
Unit of trading for a financial or commodity future. Also, actual bilateral
agreement between the parties (buyer and seller) of a futures or options on futures
transaction as defined by an exchange.
Contract Month
The month in which futures contracts may be satisfied by making or accepting
delivery. (See delivery month.)
Day Order
An order that is placed for execution during only one trading session. If the
order cannot be executed that day, it is automatically cancelled.
Day Trading
Refers to establishing and liquidating the same position or positions within
one day's trading, thus ending the day with no established position in the market.
Deferred
Another term for "back months."
Delivery
The tender and receipt of an actual commodity or financial instrument, or cash in
settlement of a futures contract.
Exercise Or Strike Price
The price at which the holder (buyer) may purchase or sell the underlying futures
contract upon the exercise of an option.
Expiration Date
The last day that an option may be exercised into the underlying futures contract.
Also, the last day of trading for a futures contract.
Floor Broker
An exchange member who is paid a fee for executing orders for Clearing Members
or their customers. A Floor Broker executing orders must be licensed by the CFTC.
Floor Trader
An exchange member who generally trades only for his/her own account or for
an account controlled by him/her. Also referred to as a "local."
Futures
A term used to designate all contracts covering the purchase and sale of financial
instruments or physical commodities for future delivery on a commodity futures exchange.
Futures Commission Merchant
A firm or person engaged in soliciting or accepting and handling orders for
the purchase or sale of futures contracts, subject to the rules of a futures exchange
and, who, in connection with solicitation or acceptance of orders, accepts any money
or securities to margin any resulting trades or contracts. The FCM must be licensed
by the CFTC.
Hedge
The purchase or sale of a futures contract as a temporary substitute for a cash
market transaction to be made at a later date. Usually it involves opposite positions
in the cash market and futures market at the same time. (See long hedge, short hedge.)
Holder
One who purchases an option.
Initial Performance Bond
The funds required when a futures position (or a short options on futures position)
is opened. (Previously referred to as Initial Margin)
Limit Order
An order given to a broker by a customer that specifies a price; the order can
be executed only if the market reaches or betters that price.
Limit Price
(See maximum price fluctuation.)
Liquidation
Any transaction that offsets or closes out a long or short futures position.
Long
One who has bought a futures or options on futures contract to establish a market
position through an offsetting sale; the opposite of short.
Long Hedge
The purchase of a futures contract in anticipation of an actual purchase in
the cash market. Used by processors or exporters as protection against and advance
in the cash price. (See hedge, short hedge.)
Margin
(See Performance Bond)
Maintenance Performance Bond (Previously referred as
Maintenance Margin)
A sum, usually smaller than--but part of--the initial performance bond, which
must be maintained on deposit in the customer's account at all times. If a customer's
equity in any futures position drops to, or under, the maintenance performance bond
level, a "performance bond call" is issued for the amount of money required
to restore the customer's equity in the account to the initial margin level.
Mark-To-Market
The daily adjustment of margin accounts to reflect profits and losses.
Market Order
An order for immediate execution given to a broker to buy or sell at the best
obtainable price.
Maximum Price Fluctuation
The maximum amount the contract price can change, up or down, during one trading
session, as stipulated by Exchange rules.
Minimum Price Fluctuation
Smallest increment of price movement possible in trading a given contract, often
referred to as a "tick."
M.I.T.
Market-If-Touched. A price order that automatically becomes a market order if
the price is reached.
Nearby
The nearest active trading month of a futures or options on futures contract.
Also referred to as "lead month."
Offer
Also called "ask". Indicates a willingness to sell a futures contract
at a given price. (See bid.)
Offset
Selling if one has bought, or buying if one has sold, a futures or options on
futures contract.
Open Interest
Total number of futures or options on futures contracts that have not yet been
offset or fulfilled by delivery. An indicator of the depth or liquidity of a market
(the ability to buy or sell at or near a given price) and of the use of a market
for risk- and/or asset-management.
Open Order
An order to a broker that is good until it is canceled or executed.
Opening, The
The period at the beginning of the trading session during which all transactions
are considered made or first transactions were completed.
Opening Price (Or
Range)
The range of prices at which the first bids and offers were made or first transactions
were completed.
Option
A contract giving the holder the right, but not the obligation, hence, "option,"
to buy (call option) or sell (put option) a futures contract in a given commodity
at a specified price at any time between now and the expiration of the option contract.
Out-Trades
A situation that results when there is some confusion or error on a trade. A
difference in pricing, with both traders thinking they were buying, for example,
is a reason why an out-trade may occur.
Position
An interest in the market, either long or short, in the form of open contracts.
(See open interest.)
Performance Bond (Previously referred to as
Margin)
Funds that must be deposited as a performance bond by a customer with his or
her broker, by a broker with a clearing member, or by a clearing member, with the
Clearing House. The performance bond helps to ensure the financial integrity of
brokers, clearing members and the Exchange as a whole.
Performance Bond Call (previously referred to as Margin Call)
A demand for additional funds because of adverse price movement.
Premium
- The excess of one futures contract price over that of another, or over the cash
market price.
- The amount agreed upon between the purchaser and seller for the purchase or sale
of a futures option -- purchasers pay the premium and sellers (writers) receive
the premium.
Put
An option to sell a commodity, security, or futures contract at a specified
price at any time between now and the expiration of the option contract.
Rally
An upward movement of prices following a decline; the opposite of a reaction.
Range
The high and low prices or high and low bids and offers, recorded during a specified
time.
Reaction
A decline in prices following an advance. The opposite of rally.
Registered Representative
A person employed by, and soliciting business for, a commission house or Futures
Commission Merchant.
Round-Turn
Procedure by which a long or short position is offset by an opposite transaction
or by accepting or making delivery of the actual financial instrument or physical
commodity.
Scalp
To trade for small gains. Scalping normally involves establishing and liquidating
a position quickly, usually within the same day, hour or even just a few minutes.
Settlement Price
A figure determined by the closing range that is used to calculate gains and
losses in futures market accounts. Settlement prices are used to determine gains,
losses, margin calls, and invoice prices for deliveries. (See closing range.)
Short
One who has sold a futures contract to establish a market position and who has
not yet closed out this position through an offsetting purchase; the opposite of
long.
Short Hedge
The sale of a futures contract in anticipation of a later cash market sale.
Used to eliminate or lessen the possible decline in value of ownership of an approximately
equal amount of the cash financial instrument or physical commodity. (See hedge,
long hedge.)
Speculator
One who attempts to anticipate price changes and, through buying and selling
futures contracts, aims to make profits; does not use the futures market in connection
with the production, processing, marketing or handling of a product. The speculator
has no interest in making or taking delivery.
Spread
The simultaneous purchase and sale of futures contracts for the same commodity
or instrument for delivery in different months, or in different but related markets.
A spreader is not concerned with the direction in which the market moves, but only
with the difference between the prices of each contract.
Stop Order (Or Stop)
An order to buy or sell at the market when and if a specified price is reached.
Tick
Refers to a change in price, either up or down. (See minimum price fluctuation.)
Trend
The general direction of the market.
Volume
The number of transactions in a futures or options on futures contract made
during a specified period of time.
Writer
An individual who sells an option.