Monday, July 27, 2009

Currency Carry Trade

A strategy in which an investor sells a certain currency with a relatively low interest rate and uses the funds to purchase a different currency yielding a higher interest rate.

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Currency Carry Trade

A strategy in which an investor sells a certain currency with a relatively low interest rate and uses the funds to purchase a different currency yielding a higher interest rate. A trader using this strategy attempts to capture the difference between the rates, which can often be substantial, depending on the amount of leverage used.

Take example of a "yen carry trade": a trader borrows 1,000 Japanese yen from a Japanese bank, converts the funds into INR Rupees and buys a bond for the equivalent amount. Let's assume that the bond pays 6.5% and the Japanese interest rate is set at 0%. The trader stands to make a profit of 6.5% as long as the exchange rate between the countries does not change. Many professional traders use this trade because the gains can become very large when leverage is taken into consideration. If the trader in our example uses a common leverage factor of 10:1, then he can stand to make a profit of 65%.

The big risk in a carry trade is the uncertainty of exchange rates. Using the example above, if the INR Rupees were to fall in value relative to the Japanese yen, then the trader would run the risk of losing money. Also, these transactions are generally done with a lot of leverage, so a small movement in exchange rates can result in huge losses unless the position is hedged appropriately.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Money Market

What Does Money Market Mean?

A segment of the financial market in which financial instruments with high liquidity and very short maturities are traded. The money market is used by participants as a means for borrowing and lending in the short term, from several days to just under a year.

For Further reading Click Here

Money Market

What Does Money Market Mean?

A segment of the financial market in which financial instruments with high liquidity and very short maturities are traded. The money market is used by participants as a means for borrowing and lending in the short term, from several days to just under a year. Money market securities consist of negotiable certificates of deposit (CDs), bankers acceptances, RBI Treasury bills, commercial paper, municipal notes, and repurchase agreements (repos).

The money market is used by a wide array of participants, from a company raising money by selling commercial paper into the market to an investor purchasing CDs as a safe place to park money in the short term. The money market is typically seen as a safe place to put money due the highly liquid nature of the securities and short maturities, but there are risks in the market that any investor needs to be aware of including the risk of default on securities such as commercial paper.