Managing price risk with futures contracts creates liquidity risk through marking to market. Liquidity risk matters in an imperfect capital market where interim losses on a futures position have to be financed at a borrowing rate that is higher than the risk-free rate. However, the impact of liquidity risk can be mitigated using options on futures. This paper analyzes the optimal risk managemen...

The reorganization of electricity industry in Spain has finished a new step with the start-up of the Derivatives Market. Nowadays, all electricity transactions in Spain and Portugal are managed jointly through the MIBEL by the Day-Ahead Market Operator and the Derivatives Market Operator. This new framework requires important changes in the short-term optimization strategies of the Generation C...

In this study, we examine the relations between the three keys variables of liquidity such as trading volume, bid-ask spread, and intraday price volatility. Hausman’s (1978) tests of specification confirmed that trading volume, bid-ask spread and intraday price volatility are jointly determined. Our study, leaded with a different approach to estimate the three parameters in a three-equation sim...

In recent years commodity markets have experienced a dramatic growth in trading volume, the variety of contracts and underlying commodities. Futures as well as forward are contracts for future delivery of an underlying asset. The asset can be a physical commodity (corn, oil, precious metals, and so on) or financial instruments (bonds, currencies, stocks indices, and so on). Commodities differ f...

When the indemnity schedule is contingent on the farmer’s price and individual yield, an optimal crop revenue insurance contract depends only on the farmer’s gross revenue. However, this design is not efficient if, as is the case with available contracts, the coverage function is based on imperfect estimators of individual yield and/or price. The producer’s degree of prudence and the extent of ...

The electric market regulation in Spain (MIBEL) establishes the rules for bilateral and futures contracts in the day-ahead optimal bid problem. Our model allows a price-taker generation company to decide the unit commitment of the thermal units, the economic dispatch of the bilateral and futures contracts between the thermal units and the optimal sale bids for the thermal units observing the MI...

The sovereign debt crisis challenged investors in European government bonds to deal with volatile interest rate spreads. For managing sovereign risk, “Eurex” introduced futures contracts on Italian government bonds reflecting risks of lower rated countries. We analyze hedging strategies for bond portfolios with futures on German and Italian government bonds before and during the sovereign debt ...

Screen-based futures markets are gaining trading volumes at the expense of traditional open outcry floor markets. In comparison with open outcry trading – used on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the world largest futures market – electronic markets offer enhanced transparency, and greater access to users, who can enter orders directly. Screen markets can also maintain strict time priorities ...

A survey of cotton producers was conducted in Mississippi and Texas. The econometric model consists of a multinomial logit model of cotton producers’ choice of marketing techniques. The results indicate that cotton acres positively influence pooling and negatively influence cash sales. Producers willing to incur higher transaction costs in market information systems and training tend to choose ...