History Of Financial Instruments

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Introduction A financial instrument is a tradable asset of any kind; it is either cash, evidence of an ownership interest in an entity, or a contractual right to receive or deliver cash. Financial instruments are divided into two main categories: cash instruments and derivative instruments. Cash instruments are financial instruments whose values are ascertained directly by markets. Cash instruments are further divided in two categories: securities and other cash instruments (loans and deposits). The difference between the two types is that securities are instruments that are readily transferable where as the other instruments such as loans and deposits can be transferred only if both the lender and borrower agrees. Cash instruments are considered …show more content…

• Exchange traded derivatives (ETD) are derivatives traded through specialized derivative exchange (a market where individuals trade using standardized contracts). Origin Derivatives were first mentioned in the Bible. In Genesis Chapter 29, it was believed to be about the year 1700 B.C. Laban required Jacob to marry his older daughter Leah. Jacob married Leah, but because he preferred Rachel, Jacob purchased an option costing him seven years of labor that granted him the right to marry Laban's daughter Rachel. Derivatives were the first instruments developed to secure the supply of commodities and facilitate trade. Derivatives market can be traced back to the Middle Ages, they originally developed to meet the needs of farmers and to protect them from a decline in the price of their crops in case there was a crop failure. The first exchange for trading derivatives appeared to be the Royal Exchange in London, which permitted forward contracting. The first "futures" contracts are generally traced to the Yodoya rice market in Osaka, Japan around 1650. These were evidently standardized contracts, which made them much like today's …show more content…

There are two types of options: • A call option gives the option to buy at certain price. Is a contract between two parties to exchange a stock at a “strike” price at a predetermined date. One party, the buyer of the “call”, has the right, but not the obligation, to buy the stock at the strike price by the future date, while the other party, the seller of the call, has the obligation to sell the stock to the buyer at the strike price if the buyer exercises the option. • A put option gives the option to sell at certain price. It is a contract between two parties to exchange an asset at a “strike” price, by a predetermined date. One party, the buyer of the “put”, has the right, but not an obligation, to sell the stock at the strike price by the future date, while the other party, the seller of the put, has the obligation to buy the stock from the buyer at the strike price if the buyer exercises the option. 3.

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