Category: Trading Rules

Introduction To Derivatives & Trading | Strategies & Tips – Religare

Posted on by Abhishek Sharma

What are derivatives and its strategies?

what-are-derivatives-and-its-strategies

Derivatives, as the name suggests, derive their value from an underlying asset. Let us take the example of a tomato farmer and a ketchup factory. The farmer grows tomatoes in his farm and supplies it to the ketchup factory on a regular basis. However, the ketchup factor and the farmer want more predictability and stability in their price and their costs and revenues. Let us assume that tomatoes are currently being supplied at Rs.20/kg to the ketchup factor. But there are sharp seasonal variations in these prices. The farmer will be happy if he can get a price of Rs.19-22 per kilogram for his tomatoes while the ketchup factor is open to a price of Rs.20-23 per kilogram in the ideal case scenario.

Now the farmer and the ketchup factory can enter into an agreement wherein the farmer supplies tomatoes to the ketchup factor at Rs.21/kg. This suits the interests of the farmer and the ketchup factory. At the end of 3 months, the farmer agrees to supply 2 tonnes of tomatoes at Rs.21/kg to the ketchup factory and the ketchup factory, in turn, commits to buy the said quantity at Rs.21/kg. What we have seen here is a basic derivative contract come into existence. This called a forward contract. The underlying in this case is the tomatoes and the farmer and the ketchup factory are bound by the agreement.

But what if the market price of tomatoes turns volatile in the next 3 months?

That is perfectly possible. For example, the crop may have been hit by bad weather and the price of tomatoes would have gone up to Rs.26/kg. The farmer ends up with a notional loss because he has to sell 2 tonnes at Rs.21 as against the market price of Rs.26/kg. This 5 rupee loss will be the gain for the ketchup factory. On the other hand, if there is a glut of tomatoes in the market and the price falls to Rs.16/kg then what happens? The tomatoes will still be supplied at Rs.21/kg. In this case, the farmer will gain Rs.5 and the ketchup factory will lose Rs.5.

The question is why are the factory and the farmer getting into a forward contract where one of them could lose. That is because both want certainty. Both are going to be profitable at a price of Rs.21/kg and that is what matters in business. They are not traders who are looking to profit from price movements. They are just looking at protection from price volatility. Forward contract is the most basic form of derivative.

Forwards, futures, options and swaps

While there are many more permutations and combinations in derivatives, these are the four most popular categories of derivative contracts in the market. Let us look at each of them in some detail.

A forward contract, as explained above is an agreement to buy or sell an underlying asset at a future date at a fixed price. The price and the date of delivery are decided in advance. Such contracts are not regulated by any exchange and are only governed by the Indian Contacts Act.

  • Futures are exactly like a forward contract in structure but there are 2 key differences. Firstly, futures are standardized in terms of lot sizes, strike prices etc. This makes them a lot more liquid compared to forwards. Secondly, futures are traded on a stock exchange and cleared through the clearing corporations. Thus all trades are guaranteed by the clearing corporation and hence there is no risk of default.

  • Options are slightly different from futures and forwards. Both futures and forwards are symmetrical contracts; meaning losses and profits for the buyer and the seller can be unlimited. But in case of options, the contract is asymmetric. For the buyer, the returns are unlimited but the risk is limited. In the case of seller of option, the return is limited to the premium but the risk is unlimited.

  • Swaps entail an exchange of one set of flows for another. You can swap the cash flows of fixed rate bond for floating rate bond and vice versa or dollar flows for Yen flows. Swaps are not as popular as the other three in India.

Understanding derivative strategies

Derivative strategies refer to the combination of futures and options positions to created limited loss strategies. Here are four such popular trading strategies in derivative Markets.

  • In a protective put, a future on a stock is purchased and it is protected by buying a put option of lower strike.

  • In a covered call, the higher call option on a stock is sold to reduce the cost of your holdings either in the stock or in the stock futures.

  • A bull call spread is created by buying a lower strike call option and selling a higher strike call option. The trader is moderately bullish on the stock and uses the premium on the higher call to reduce the price of the lower call option.

  • A strangle is a volatile strategy where a call of a higher strike and a put option of a lower strike are simultaneously purchased. Once the premium costs are covered, the trader makes profits either ways as long as there is volatile movement.

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Top 5 Trading Rules in Stock Market 2021 – Religare

Posted on by Abhishek Sharma

Trading Rule – Top 5 Rules For Successful Trading in Stock Market

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DURING THE COURSE OF TRADING YOU MUST HAVE SURELY TRIED TO EVALUATE HOW OFTEN YOU GOT YOUR CALLS BANG ON TARGET. FOR MOST SUCCESSFUL TRADERS THE SUCCESS RATIO IS ABOUT 55-60% IN A BEST CASE SCENARIO. THEN WHAT DRAWS THE LINE BETWEEN A SUCCESSFUL INVESTOR AND A NOT SO SUCCESSFUL INVESTOR. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THERE IS JUST TOO MUCH FOCUS ON BEING RIGHT. BUT BEING RIGHT IS NOT THE SAME IS BEING PROFITABLE. WHAT REALLY MATTERS IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE RIGHT AND WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE WRONG. REMEMBER, WHEN IT COMES TO TRADING BEING RIGHT IS NOT THE SAME AS BEING PROFITABLE…

WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE RIGHT MATTERS A LOT…

Take the case of two traders in the stock market. Both of them took about 15 trading positions during the week. At the end of the week, when they sat down to do their review, they realized that they had got 10 of their trading ideas bang on target. However, while the first investor ended the week of a 3% net of all costs, the second investor ended up with a loss of 2% on his trading portfolio. Why this difference and how is it that the second investor made a loss despite getting nearly 2/3rd of his calls right in the market? That is why it is important to understand what you do when you are right. The first investor kept strict stop losses and steady profit targets. He treated trading more as a discipline than as a game of flair and skill. The second investor, on the other hand, made 2 mistakes. Firstly, he did not put losses and hence most of losses resulted on a single volatile day. Secondly, when the trend was positive, he added more positions making his trading portfolio unwieldy. That is what you do when you are right matters a lot more.

BUT, WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE WRONG IS LOT MORE CRITICAL…

In both the cases above the success ratio on the calls was almost the same so there was not much choose based on skill. What mattered was the way the traders handled their positions. Let us look at a situation when a trader gets into a position and then realizes that he was wrong. For example, when your position goes into loss, it is all the more critical to manage your loss making position smartly. There are 3 cases where traders tend to make a mess of loss making positions. Firstly, traders tend to ignore the stop loss and continue to hold on to the position hoping for the stock to bounce back. That is something best avoided as a trader. Secondly, the more unacceptable scenario is when you average your position by buying more of the position at lower price levels. That means you are choosing to be wrong twice and also increasing your concentration risk. Thirdly, trying to overtrade to recover your losses when you are wrong is another cardinal sin most traders commit.

“The best traders only get a few trades right. It is how long you hold your rights and how quickly you correct your wrongs that matter” – A trader

5 WAYS TO ENSURE THAT YOU ARE PROFITABLE RATHER THAN RIGHT…

  1. The first step is to always trade with a stop loss. Keep the stop loss as a discipline and don’t compromise on your stop loss under any circumstances. When the stop loss is hit just close your position and then take a fresh view.

  2. When you trade it is not just about putting stop losses but also about profit targets. The idea of profit target is to churn your money quickly. That is how your ROI can be maximized in trading. You don’t want to get stuck in positions and lose out on other opportunities along the way.

  3. Make the best of your profits when you are right. This may sound like a contradiction to the previous point, but it is not. When you are in a trade and you are right, there is a trade-off in front of you. Should you put trailing stop losses and hold on to the position or should you exit and shift. This decision is crucial to your profitability.

  4. Don’t lost perspective when you trade and that is the key to being profitable. You need to evaluate your risk in terms of your daily loss, your positional loss and your loss on capital overall. This will constantly keep you on your toes.

  5. Keep a tab on costs, they matter a lot. Costs are not just in terms of brokerage but also in terms of statutory costs as well as in terms of hidden costs like liquidity, spread risk etc. As a trader, the onus is on you to keep these costs at the bare minimum so that your effective return on investments can be maximized.

BEING PROFITABLE MATTERS MORE THAN BEING RIGHT…

That is the bottom-line when it comes to trading. Don’t fret over how many calls you get right and how many calls your got wrong. Even if you get 40% of your calls right and if you cut your losses short and hold your gainers long, you are likely to perform much better than other traders. It is not being right or wrong or the percentage of right trades that matter. What matters is what you do when you are right and what you do when you are wrong. That is what makes the difference!

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