230 CHAPTER 6. THE MARKET FOR CURRENCY FUTURES
Trading Places. Another method, traditionally used in some continental exchanges
(including Germany’sDTBand Belgium’s Belfox, now part of Eurex and Euronext,
respectively) is to centralize the limit orders in a computerizedPublic Limit Order
Book.^3 Brokers sit before their screens, and can add or delete their orders, or fill a
limit order posted on the screen. Computerized trading, whetherprice-driven(i.e.
with market makers) ororder-driven(with a limit-order book) is gradually replacing
the chaotic, intransparant open-outcry system.
6.2.4 Standardized Contracts
Each forward contract is unique in terms of size, and the expiry date can be chosen
freely. This is convenient for hedgers that mean to hold the contract until maturity,
but unhandy if secondary markets are to be organized: for every single trade, new
terms and conditions would have to be keyed in and new interest rates dug up.
To facilitate secondary trading, all futures contracts are standardized by contract
size (see Table 6.2 for some examples) and expiration dates. This means that the
futures market is not as fragmented—by too wide a variety of expiration dates and
contract sizes—as the forward market. Although standardization in itself does not
guarantee a high volume, it does facilitate the emergence of a deep, liquid market.
Expiration dates traditionally were the third Wednesdays of March, June, Septem-
ber, or December, or the first business day after such a Wednesday. Nowadays,
longer-lived contracts and—for the nearer dates—a wider range of expiry dates are
offered, but most of the interest still is for the shortest-lived contracts. Actual
delivery takes place on the second business day after the expiration date. When
a contract has come to expiry, trade in a distant-date contract is added. For in-
stance, in the old March-June-Sept-Dec cycle, the year starts with March, June,
and September contracts, but as soon as the March contract is over one adds a
December contract to the menu, and so on.
the merger with the London Traded Options Exchange). MATIF:March ́e `a Terme International
de France(International Futures Market of France). Both are now part of Euronext, which has
grouped all its futures and options business in London, under EuronextLIFFE.
(^3) DTB: Deutsche Termin B ̈orse. Belfox: Belgian Futures and Options Exchange. A limit order
is an order to buy an indicated number of currency units at a price no higher than a given level, or
to sell an indicated number of currency units at a price no lower than a given level. The limit orders
submitted by an individual reveal the individual’s supply and demand curve for the currency. By
aggregating all limit orders across investors, the market supply and demand curves are obtained.
The market opens with a call, that is, with a computer-determined price that equates demand and
supply as closely as possible. Afterwards, the computer screens display the first few unfilled orders
on each side (purchase orders, and sell orders), and brokers can respond to these, or cancel their
own orders, or add new orders as customer orders come in.