Why Hedge Foreign Currency Risk?


International commerce has rapidly increased as the internet has provided a new and more transparent marketplace for individuals and entities alike to conduct international business and trading activities. Significant changes in the international economic and political landscape have led to uncertainty regarding the direction of foreign exchange rates. This uncertainty leads to volatility and the need for an effective vehicle to hedge foreign exchange rate risk and/or interest rate changes while, at the same time, effectively ensuring a future financial position.

Each entity and/or individual that has exposure to foreign exchange rate risk will have specific foreign exchange hedging needs and this website can not possibly cover every existing foreign exchange hedging situation. Therefore, we will cover the more common reasons that a foreign exchange hedge is placed and show you how to properly hedge foreign exchange rate risk.

Foreign Exchange Rate Risk Exposure - Foreign exchange rate risk exposure is common to virtually all who conduct international business and/or trading. Buying and/or selling of goods or services denominated in foreign currencies can immediately expose you to foreign exchange rate risk. If a firm price is quoted ahead of time for a contract using a foreign exchange rate that is deemed appropriate at the time the quote is given, the foreign exchange rate quote may not necessarily be appropriate at the time of the actual agreement or performance of the contract. Placing a foreign exchange hedge can help to manage this foreign exchange rate risk.

Interest Rate Risk Exposure - Interest rate exposure refers to the interest rate differential between the two countries' currencies in a foreign exchange contract. The interest rate differential is also roughly equal to the "carry" cost paid to hedge a forward or futures contract. As a side note, arbitragers are investors that take advantage when interest rate differentials between the foreign exchange spot rate and either the forward or futures contract are either to high or too low. In simplest terms, an arbitrager may sell when the carry cost he or she can collect is at a premium to the actual carry cost of the contract sold. Conversely, an arbitrager may buy when the carry cost he or she may pay is less than the actual carry cost of the contract bought. Either way, the arbitrager is looking to profit from a small price discrepancy due to interest rate differentials.

Foreign Investment / Stock Exposure - Foreign investing is considered by many investors as a way to either diversify an investment portfolio or seek a larger return on investment(s) in an economy believed to be growing at a faster pace than investment(s) in the respective domestic economy. Investing in foreign stocks automatically exposes the investor to foreign exchange rate risk and speculative risk. For example, an investor buys a particular amount of foreign currency (in exchange for domestic currency) in order to purchase shares of a foreign stock. The investor is now automatically exposed to two separate risks. First, the stock price may go either up or down and the investor is exposed to the speculative stock price risk. Second, the investor is exposed to foreign exchange rate risk because the foreign exchange rate may either appreciate or depreciate from the time the investor first purchased the foreign stock and the time the investor decides to exit the position and repatriates the currency (exchanges the foreign currency back to domestic currency). Therefore, even if a speculative profit is achieved because the foreign stock price rose, the investor could actually net lose money if devaluation of the foreign currency occurred while the investor was holding the foreign stock (and the devaluation amount was greater than the speculative profit). Placing a foreign exchange hedge can help to manage this foreign exchange rate risk.

Hedging Speculative Positions - Foreign currency traders utilize foreign exchange hedging to protect open positions against adverse moves in foreign exchange rates, and placing a foreign exchange hedge can help to manage foreign exchange rate risk. Speculative positions can be hedged via a number of foreign exchange hedging vehicles that can be used either alone or in combination to create entirely new foreign exchange hedging strategies.

John Nobile - Senior Account Executive
CFOS/FX - Online Forex Spot and Options Brokerage


MORE RESOURCES:

Currency Trading Market Conditions Remain Challenging: Breakout ...
Daily FX, NY - Dec 1, 2008
Sharp US Dollar gains have produced profits in several of our currency trading strategies on the week, and a continuation of US Dollar strength would make ...


Foreign currency trading falls to $67b
Globes, Israel - 8 hours ago
The Bank of Israel published foreign currency trading figures for November today. The bank's information and statistics division said foreign currency ...
Shekel-dollar rate rises Globes
all 4 news articles


Currency Trading Market Conditions Difficult to Forecast: Look for ...
Daily FX, NY - Nov 24, 2008
Currency trading market conditions have been especially difficult to predict as of late, and strategy preferences for our forex trading signals are far from ...


AFP

Asian markets close mostly higher - Asian commentary
RTT News, NY - 12 hours ago
In currency trading, the US dollar gained against the Japanese yen and the Korean won, but closed lower against the Australian and New Zealand currencies. ...
Euro in near two-week low versus dollar AxiaFx
Euro Declines as Drop in Inflation Adds to ECB Cut Speculation Bloomberg
Market Directions Forex Pros
Bloomberg
all 475 news articles


Set for a stock setback
CNNMoney.com - 11 hours ago
... trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In currency trading, the dollar crept higher against the euro and the British pound, but fell versus the yen.
Stocks drubbed at open CNNMoney.com
Stocks in bounceback mode CNNMoney.com
all 30 news articles


AFP

WSJ(11/11) Currency Trading: Bad Crop: Commodity Currencies
Alibaba News Channel, NEW YORK - Nov 11, 2008
In currency markets gripped by turmoil, investors have targeted one group for special punishment: big commodity exporters. This cluster includes the ...
Euro firms against dollar, pound sinks amid credit turmoil AFP
An investment class that is still thriving The Australian
all 224 news articles


Currency Trading Markets Remain Highly Correlated to Dow Jones ...
Daily FX, NY - Nov 18, 2008
Currency trading markets continue very highly correlated to broader risky asset classes, as the common theme of financial market deleveraging creates strong ...
Currency Trading Markets Remain Highly Correlated to Dow Jones ... Daily FX
all 6 news articles


The Associated Press

World markets mixed despite Wall Street rebound
The Associated Press - 16 hours ago
In currency trading, the Japanese yen stood at 93.25 to the dollar in late afternoon trading, compared with 93.13 yen in New York late Tuesday. ...
Wall Street Set For A Lower Start Ahead Of Manufacturing Activity ... AHN
all 571 news articles


Zambia: Let's Curb Illegal Currency Trading, Says ABCZ
AllAfrica.com, Washington - Nov 24, 2008
THE Association of Bureau de Change (ABCZ) has called on relevant authorities to introduce stiff punishment to curb illegal currency trading in Zambia. ...


The Associated Press

European, US markets down after further grim data
The Associated Press - 10 hours ago
South Korea bucked the trend with the key index down 0.1 percent and Taiwan's benchmark fell 1.1 percent In currency trading, the dollar was 0.3 percent ...

Currency-Trading - Google News

Stocks Mutual Funds    Investment    Real Estate    Insurance    Bankruptcy Avoidance
Index | Sitemap | TOS | PRIVACY | DISCLAIMER | Copyright © 2007 Paulo Daniel
domainsdaniel.com