Futures spreads: theory and praxis

Abstract

Many professional traders, hedgers, and institutional investors utilise spread trading to engage in the futures market. Most of the literature dedicated to futures spreads was published between the late 1970s and early 1990s, and has partly lost its relevance. This is because of the emergence of new financial instruments, changed relationships and regulations within the financial industry and, furthermore, the advent of round-the-clock electronic trading which has increased the number of players and liquidity of futures markets many times over (Hull, 2006). Hence, there is a need to explore futures spreads from a contemporary perspective. The six publications which form the basis of this PhD examine futures spreads from different perspectives. They address questions surrounding spreads systematisation, classification and analysis. The thesis develops a new framework for futures spreads analysis which has practical application as an investment tool. This thesis makes a contribution to theory and practice in the area of futures spreads. The research results could find wide application in the futures industry and of interest to the research community.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Northampton