Foreign exchange date conventions

Last updated

The Foreign exchange Options date convention is the timeframe between a currency options trade on the foreign exchange market and when the two parties will exchange the currencies to settle the option. The number of days will depend on the option agreement, the currency pair and the banking hours of the underlying currencies. The convention helps the counterparties to understand when payments will be made for each trade.

Contents

For the convention, there are four key dates to consider when trading a particular currency pair:

These dates can be summarised on the following timeline: OptionsTimeline.GIF

Calculating spot dates

The spot date is always calculated from the horizon date (T). There are two possible cases:

  1. The spot date is day T+1 if the currency pair [1] is USD/CAD, USD/TRY, USD/PHP or USD/RUB. In this case, T+1 must be a business day and not a US holiday. If an unacceptable day is encountered, move forward one day and test again until an acceptable date is found.
  2. The spot date is day T+2 otherwise. The calculation of T+2 must be done by considering separately each currency within the currency pair. For USD, there must be one clear working day between the horizon date and the spot date. For all other currencies, there must be two clear working days between the horizon date and the spot date.
  3. The exception to above rule is for LatAM currencies (MXN/CLP/ARS/BRL/COP/PEN). For these three currencies, there must be two clear US working days between the horizon date and the spot date.

Also, the spot date cannot fall on a US holiday for any USD currency pair. However, foreign exchange trades can settle on this day (e.g. GBP/JPY on 4 July) but are considered FX outrights.

Calculating expiry and delivery dates

Time to expiry is usually quoted either as "overnight" or in terms of a number of days, weeks, months or years. In general, the expiry date can be any weekday, even if it is a holiday in one, or both of the currencies, except 1 January. There are differing conventions depending on the period involved.

Overnight

For overnight trades, the expiry date is the next week-day after the horizon date, and the delivery date is calculated from the expiry date in the same way as spot is calculated from the horizon date. This will result in an expiry date that is before the spot date.

Days and weeks

For a trade with a time to expiry of v days, the expiry date is the day v days ahead of the horizon date (unless it is a weekend or 1 January, in which case the date is rolled forward to a weekday) and for a trade with time to expiry of x weeks, the expiry date is the day 7x days ahead of the horizon date (with the same conditions as above). The delivery date is then calculated from the expiry date in the same way as the spot date is calculated from the horizon date.

Months

For a trade with time to expiry of y months, the expiry date is found by first calculating the spot date, then moving forward y months from the spot date to the delivery date. If the delivery date is a non-business day or a US holiday, move forward until an acceptable delivery date is found. Finally, calculate the expiry date using an "inverse spot" operation; e.g., find the expiry date for which the delivery date would be its spot. When finding the expiry date from the delivery date, there must be one clear business day and one weekday (not including 1 January) in any applicable non-USD/non-CAD, non-USD/non-TRY, non-USD/non-PHP, non-USD/non-RUB, non-USD/non-KZT and non-USD/non-PKR currency. If one leg of the currency pair is a non-deliverable currency, the expiry date must be a business day of that currency.

Years

For a trade with time to expiry of z years, the expiry date is found by first calculating the spot date, then moving forward z years from the spot date to the delivery date. If the delivery date is a non-business day or a US holiday, move forward until an acceptable delivery date is found. Finally, calculate the expiry date using an "inverse spot" operation; e.g., find the expiry date for which the delivery date would be its spot. When finding the expiry date from the delivery date, there must be one clear business day and one weekday (not including 1 January) in any applicable non-USD/non-CAD, non-USD/non-TRY, non-USD/non-PHP, non-USD/non-RUB, non-USD/non-KZT and non-USD/non-PKR currency. If one leg of the currency pair is a non-deliverable currency, the expiry date must be a business day of that currency.

Special cases

There are two special cases involving trades that take place around the end of the month and we are trading in month multiples. One defines "target month" to lie x months forward from spot if time to expiry is x months; e.g., if in February, and the time to expiry is three months, the target month is May.

  1. If the spot date falls on the last business day of the month in the currency pair then the delivery date is defined by convention to be the last business day of the target month e.g. assuming all days are business days: if spot is at 30 April, a one-month time to expiry will make the delivery date 31 May. This is described as trading "end-end".
  2. If the spot date falls before the end of the month but the resultant delivery date is beyond the end of the target month then the delivery date is defined by convention to be the last business day of the target month. For example, assuming all days are business days: if the spot date is 30 January, a one-month time to expiry implies delivery date 30 February—however, this doesn’t exist and the delivery date becomes 28 February (in a non-leap year).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exchange rate</span> Rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another

In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of the euro.

In finance, the style or family of an option is the class into which the option falls, usually defined by the dates on which the option may be exercised. The vast majority of options are either European or American (style) options. These options—as well as others where the payoff is calculated similarly—are referred to as "vanilla options". Options where the payoff is calculated differently are categorized as "exotic options". Exotic options can pose challenging problems in valuation and hedging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Futures contract</span> Standard forward contract

In finance, a futures contract is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The asset transacted is usually a commodity or financial instrument. The predetermined price of the contract is known as the forward price. The specified time in the future when delivery and payment occur is known as the delivery date. Because it derives its value from the value of the underlying asset, a futures contract is a derivative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forward contract</span> Agreement to sell or buy a good at a specific time and price

In finance, a forward contract or simply a forward is a non-standardized contract between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a specified future time at a price agreed on at the time of conclusion of the contract, making it a type of derivative instrument. The party agreeing to buy the underlying asset in the future assumes a long position, and the party agreeing to sell the asset in the future assumes a short position. The price agreed upon is called the delivery price, which is equal to the forward price at the time the contract is entered into.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Futures exchange</span> Central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts

A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts defined by the exchange. Futures contracts are derivatives contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or financial instrument at a specified price with delivery set at a specified time in the future. Futures exchanges provide physical or electronic trading venues, details of standardized contracts, market and price data, clearing houses, exchange self-regulations, margin mechanisms, settlement procedures, delivery times, delivery procedures and other services to foster trading in futures contracts. Futures exchanges can be organized as non-profit member-owned organizations or as for-profit organizations. Futures exchanges can be integrated under the same brand name or organization with other types of exchanges, such as stock markets, options markets, and bond markets. Non-profit member-owned futures exchanges benefit their members, who earn commissions and revenue acting as brokers or market makers. For-profit futures exchanges earn most of their revenue from trading and clearing fees.

In finance, moneyness is the relative position of the current price of an underlying asset with respect to the strike price of a derivative, most commonly a call option or a put option. Moneyness is firstly a three-fold classification:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hedge (finance)</span> Concept in investing

A hedge is an investment position intended to offset potential losses or gains that may be incurred by a companion investment. A hedge can be constructed from many types of financial instruments, including stocks, exchange-traded funds, insurance, forward contracts, swaps, options, gambles, many types of over-the-counter and derivative products, and futures contracts.

In finance, a spot contract, spot transaction, or simply spot, is a contract of buying or selling a commodity, security or currency for immediate settlement on the spot date, which is normally two business days after the trade date. The settlement price is called spot price. A spot contract is in contrast with a forward contract or futures contract where contract terms are agreed now but delivery and payment will occur at a future date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign exchange market</span> Global decentralized trading of international currencies

The foreign exchange market is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all aspects of buying, selling and exchanging currencies at current or determined prices. In terms of trading volume, it is by far the largest market in the world, followed by the credit market.

A foreign exchange spot transaction, also known as FX spot, is an agreement between two parties to buy one currency against selling another currency at an agreed price for settlement on the spot date. The exchange rate at which the transaction is done is called the spot exchange rate. As of 2010, the average daily turnover of global FX spot transactions reached nearly US$1.5 trillion, counting 37.4% of all foreign exchange transactions. FX spot transactions increased by 38% to US$2.0 trillion from April 2010 to April 2013.

A currency future, also known as an FX future or a foreign exchange future, is a futures contract to exchange one currency for another at a specified date in the future at a price that is fixed on the purchase date; see Foreign exchange derivative. Typically, one of the currencies is the US dollar. The price of a future is then in terms of US dollars per unit of other currency. This can be different from the standard way of quoting in the spot foreign exchange markets. The trade unit of each contract is then a certain amount of other currency, for instance €125,000. Most contracts have physical delivery, so for those held at the end of the last trading day, actual payments are made in each currency. However, most contracts are closed out before that. Investors can close out the contract at any time prior to the contract's delivery date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brent Crude</span> Classification of crude oil that serves as a major worldwide benchmark price

Brent Crude may refer to any or all of the components of the Brent Complex, a physically and financially traded oil market based around the North Sea of Northwest Europe; colloquially, Brent Crude usually refers to the price of the ICE Brent Crude Oil futures contract or the contract itself. The original Brent Crude referred to a trading classification of sweet light crude oil first extracted from the Brent oilfield in the North Sea in 1976. As production from the Brent oilfield declined to zero in 2021, crude oil blends from other oil fields have been added to the trade classification. The current Brent blend consists of crude oil produced from the Forties, Oseberg, Ekofisk, Troll oil fields and oil drilled from Midland, Texas in the Permian Basin.

In finance, a foreign exchange option is a derivative financial instrument that gives the right but not the obligation to exchange money denominated in one currency into another currency at a pre-agreed exchange rate on a specified date. See Foreign exchange derivative.

In finance, a non-deliverable forward (NDF) is an outright forward or futures contract in which counterparties settle the difference between the contracted NDF price or rate and the prevailing spot price or rate on an agreed notional amount. It is used in various markets such as foreign exchange and commodities. NDFs are also known as forward contracts for differences (FCD). NDFs are prevalent in some countries where forward FX trading has been banned by the government.

The notional amount on a financial instrument is the nominal or face amount that is used to calculate payments made on that instrument. This amount generally does not change and is thus referred to as notional.

A currency pair is the quotation of the relative value of a currency unit against the unit of another currency in the foreign exchange market. The currency that is used as the reference is called the counter currency, quote currency, or currency and the currency that is quoted in relation is called the base currency or transaction currency.

The forward exchange rate is the exchange rate at which a bank agrees to exchange one currency for another at a future date when it enters into a forward contract with an investor. Multinational corporations, banks, and other financial institutions enter into forward contracts to take advantage of the forward rate for hedging purposes. The forward exchange rate is determined by a parity relationship among the spot exchange rate and differences in interest rates between two countries, which reflects an economic equilibrium in the foreign exchange market under which arbitrage opportunities are eliminated. When in equilibrium, and when interest rates vary across two countries, the parity condition implies that the forward rate includes a premium or discount reflecting the interest rate differential. Forward exchange rates have important theoretical implications for forecasting future spot exchange rates. Financial economists have put forth a hypothesis that the forward rate accurately predicts the future spot rate, for which empirical evidence is mixed.

In finance, a dual currency deposit is a derivative instrument which combines a money market deposit with a currency option to provide a higher yield than that available for a standard deposit. There is a higher risk than with the latter - the depositor can receive less funds than originally deposited and in a different currency. An investor could do a USD/JPY DCD depositing USD and receiving JPY.

In finance, the spot date of a transaction is the normal settlement day when the transaction is carried out as soon as practical, i.e. "on the spot". This kind of transaction is called a "spot transaction" or simply "spot", and is often described as such in contrast to a transaction which is not settled immediately, such as a futures contract or a forward contract.

A non-bank foreign exchange company also known as foreign exchange broker or simply forex broker is a company that offers currency exchange and international payments to private individuals and companies. The term is typically used for currency exchange companies that offer physical delivery rather than speculative trading. i.e. there is a physical delivery of currency to a bank account.

References

  1. "Value Dates".