Forward Contract Pricing

Fixed Income and Derivatives Mastery · 4:35

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Lyrics

[Verse 1]
When you want to buy tomorrow what you can't afford today
There's a contract that will lock the price and keep the risk at bay
Forward pricing has a formula, it's not just guess and pray
Take the spot price, add the carry cost, that's how professionals play

[Chorus]
Cost of carry, no arbitrage
Spot plus interest minus yield
Storage costs and dividends
These are the factors in the field
F equals S times e to the power
Of risk-free rate times time
Forward pricing made simple
Now the formula is mine

[Verse 2]
Start with today's spot price, that's your foundation stone
Add the interest you could earn if cash was yours alone
Subtract the dividends you'd miss while waiting for the trade
Storage costs get added in, that's how the price is made

[Chorus]
Cost of carry, no arbitrage
Spot plus interest minus yield
Storage costs and dividends
These are the factors in the field
F equals S times e to the power
Of risk-free rate times time
Forward pricing made simple
Now the formula is mine

[Bridge]
If forward price is too high, sell forward buy the stock
If forward price is too low, buy forward and unlock
Arbitrage will disappear when prices find their way
No-arbitrage principle guides us every day

[Verse 3]
Higher interest rates will push the forward price up high
Lower dividends expected make the forward price fly
Storage costs for commodities get added to the sum
Convenience yield subtracts away before the pricing's done

[Chorus]
Cost of carry, no arbitrage
Spot plus interest minus yield
Storage costs and dividends
These are the factors in the field
F equals S times e to the power
Of risk-free rate times time
Forward pricing made simple
Now the formula is mine

[Outro]
Time to maturity matters most
The longer wait, the higher cost
Forward pricing, now you know
Watch those carry factors flow

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