It is April 15, and a trader is entered into a short
position in two soybean meal futures contracts. The contracts expire on August
15, and call for the delivery of 100 tons of soybean meal each. Further, because
this is a futures position, it requires the posting of a $3000 initial margin
and a $1500 maintenance margin per contract. For simplicity, however, assume
that the account is marked to market on a monthly basis. Assume the following
represent the contract delivery prices (in dollars per ton) that prevail on each
settlement date:
April 15 (initiation)
May 15
June 15
July 15
August 15 (delivery)
|
173.00
179.75
189.00
182.50
174.25
|
Which is least likely to be true Forward contracts:
A. are unique contracts.
B. are private contracts.
C. require no up front cash and are default risk free.