Glossary

Locked-In

See Also:

Hedging: Hedging is the practice of taking a position in a futures market opposite to a position held in the cash market to minimize the risk of financial loss from an adverse price change; or a purchase or sale of futures as a temporary substitute for a cash transaction that will occur later. . A long hedge involves buying futures contracts to protect against possible increasing prices of commodities. A short hedge involves selling futures contracts to protect against possible declining prices of commodities.

Offset: Offset (also referred to as Liquidation, closing out and cover) is the liquidation of a purchase of futures contracts through the sale of an equal number of contracts of the same delivery month, or liquidating a short sale of futures through the purchase of an equal number of contracts of the same delivery month.

Spread: Spread (Also referred to as Straddle) is the purchase of one futures delivery month against the sale of another futures delivery month of the same commodity; the purchase of one delivery month of one commodity against the sale of that same delivery month of a different commodity; or the purchase of one commodity in one market against the sale of the commodity in another market, to take advantage of a profit from a change in price relationships. The term spread is also used to refer to the difference between the price of a futures month and the price of another month of the same commodity. A spread can also apply to options.

A spread is the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same or similar commodity, in different or the same contract months. Spread trading is usually considered to be a lower risk strategy than an outright long or short futures position, and therefore margin requirements are usually less.

Not only can spreads be utilized in futures markets, but options provide even more opportunities for successful spread trading. With so many variables including strike prices, trading months, and different markets available, the permutations and combinations of option strategies are tremendous.

Some of the advantages of spreads are:
 - require smaller margin deposits;
 - lower risk
 - seasonal patterns exist among spread relationships.

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