Hedging

Hedging is a technique that attempts to reduce risk. In this respect, derivatives can be considered a form of insurance.

Derivatives allow risk about the price of the underlying asset to be transferred from one party to another. For example, a wheat farmer and a miller could sign a futures contract to exchange a specified amount of cash for a specified amount of wheat in the future. Both parties have reduced a future risk: for the wheat farmer, the uncertainty of the price, and for the miller, the availability of wheat. However, there is still the risk that no wheat will be available because of events unspecified by the contract, like the weather, or that one party will renege on the contract. Although a third party, called a clearing house, insures a futures contract, not all derivatives are insured against counter-party risk.

From another perspective, the farmer and the miller both reduce a risk and acquire a risk when they sign the futures contract: The farmer reduces the risk that the price of wheat will fall below the price specified in the contract and acquires the risk that the price of wheat will rise above the price specified in the contract (thereby losing additional income that he could have earned). The miller, on the other hand, acquires the risk that the price of wheat will fall below the price specified in the contract (thereby paying more in the future than he otherwise would) and reduces the risk that the price of wheat will rise above the price specified in the contract. In this sense, one party is the insurer (risk taker) for one type of risk, and the counter-party is the insurer (risk taker) for another type of risk.

Hedging also occurs when an individual or institution buys an asset (like a commodity, a bond that hascoupon payments, a stock that pays dividends, and so on) and sells it using a futures contract. The individual or institution has access to the asset for a specified amount of time, and then can sell it in the future at a specified price according to the futures contract. Of course, this allows the individual or institution the benefit of holding the asset while reducing the risk that the future selling price will deviate unexpectedly from the market's current assessment of the future value of the asset.

A. Translate from Russian into English

Особенностью облигаций является фиксированный период выплат стабильных процентов. Обычно срок погашения от одного года до 30 лет. Это позволяет достаточно точно прогнозировать сумму прибыли от таких инвестиций. Это ценные бумаги с фиксированным доходом. Фактически, на рынке облигаций осуществляются средне- и долгосрочные заимствования. Но для инвестора всегда есть альтернатива в виде инвестиций с плавающей доходностью — акции и банковские депозиты. Сопоставление доходности приводит к изменению цен на рынке облигаций, колебания которых зависят не только от сроков выплат процентов, но и от размера текущей доходности по инструментам с плавающей доходностью.