Derivatives Foundation case studies, worked step by step

Cases
100
Traced to a firm
12
Topics
12
Hard
29
Topic
All topicsMargin, clearing and risk limits8Market making and trading scenarios8Option pricing and arbitrage checks8Option strategies and trade ideas10Hedging with futures8Forwards, futures and arbitrage8Volatility trading8Interest rate derivatives9Structured products and client solutions7Currency derivatives and corporate FX hedging9Credit derivatives and counterparty risk7Greeks and managing an options book10
Level
AnyWarm upCoreHard
Source
AnyReported at a firmStandard
Showing 21–30 of 100
  1. 021In a ten-minute group exercise, pitch a trade on two steel makers: one has options at 28% implied against 35% realised, the other 40% implied against 30% realised. Vega is Rs 12,000 and Rs 9,000 a lot. Build a vega-neutral trade and say what would make it lose.Option strategies and trade ideasHardMorgan StanleyTokyo · 2025
  2. 022On a Rs 1,000 stock, compare a covered call, a protective put and a long straddle over three equally likely outcomes of 850, 1,000 and 1,150. Which makes more money on average, which has the more volatile P&L, and where does each come from?Option strategies and trade ideasCoreSusquehanna International GroupPhiladelphia · 2025
  3. 023An exporter sold USD 2 million forward at 83.60 for this week, but the buyer will pay a month late. Spot is 84.40 and one-month forward points are plus 0.25. Cancel and rebook: what is the cash flow today, and what effective rate is achieved?Currency derivatives and corporate FX hedgingCoreFX derivativesDerivatives operations
  4. 024An airline hedging 60,000 tonnes of jet fuel with 1,000-barrel crude futures gets a regression of jet fuel price changes on crude futures changes: slope 0.71, standard error 0.08, R-squared 0.64, 36 observations. Read it, set the hedge, and say how much risk it removes.Hedging with futuresCoreWolverine TradingChicago · 2016
  5. 025An options desk is short gamma of 8,000 shares per rupee on a Rs 400 stock, delta hedged, when news gaps it 8% to Rs 432. Implied volatility jumps from 30% to 38% and vega is minus Rs 1.5 lakh a point. Estimate the loss, the new delta, and what you do in the next ten minutes.Greeks and managing an options bookHardMarket makingEquity derivatives
  6. 026Anamudi Technologies grants one lakh employee options at the money, with a four-year expected term, 35% volatility and a 7% rate. What is the grant worth, how much does dilution change it, and why not use the ten-year contract life?Option pricing and arbitrage checksHardModel validationCorporate treasury
  7. 027A pension fund expects a 50 bp cut when the market prices 20 bp. Receive the two-year swap, buy a receiver swaption, or do nothing: how does each choice fare if the cut is 50 bp, 25 bp or zero?Interest rate derivativesHardRates derivativesMacro trading
  8. 028A fund sells Satpura 50 index variance at 16 and buys variance on its ten equal-weight constituents at 28. Realised comes in at 14 for the index and 30 for each stock. What correlation was implied, what was realised, and where did the P&L come from?Volatility tradingHardVolatility tradingExotics trading
  9. 029A clearing member defaults and closing out its book loses Rs 70 crore. Its initial margin is Rs 40 crore and its default fund contribution Rs 10 crore; the clearing corporation holds Rs 5 crore of its own capital in the waterfall and the other members' default fund is Rs 100 crore. Who bears what?Margin, clearing and risk limitsCoreClearing and riskDerivatives operations
  10. 030A fund buys five-year protection on Rs 50 crore of Jharsa Minerals bonds. The market spread is 350 bp, the standard running coupon 100 bp and the risky annuity 4.2. What is paid upfront, what is paid each quarter, and who pays whom?Credit derivatives and counterparty riskCoreCredit tradingSell-side sales and trading

Company names and figures are illustrative.