Speculation And Hedging eBook

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Hedging is usually defined by illustration. In the standard example, a buyer of (say) 5000 bushels of wheat at $2 bushel, fearful of the risk of price decline, simultaneously sells a futures contract representing 5000 bushels of wheat at $2. If the price subsequently drops to a bushel, the capital position of the buyer will be unaffected because the futures prices will also decline and the profit on his short sale of futures will exactly offset the loss on the inventory holdings. The exactness of the offset is guaranteed by the possibility of making delivery against the futures contract. Thus, by hedging, the holder of wheat eliminates the risk of price fluctuation.