In the futures markets, arbitrageurs are mainly interested in: a. reducing their exposure to risk of price changes. b. increasing market liquidity. c. reducing the spread between the bid and ask prices on bonds. d. attempting to make a profit by taking advantage of price differentials between different markets.

Merck is an example of a company who decided to mitigate the adverse impact of market fluctuations by entering into hedging agreements using: B. Interest rate swaps C. Both A & B A. Currency options D. Neither A or B

4. What is an efficient market and why is it important for derivatives markets? 5. What types of transaction costs are you faced with when trading options?

Organized exchanges offer important advantages like (a) mitigating credit risk and (b) providing liquidity. But they have the following market imperfections: 1. Open interest in futures contracts declines for longer maturities; so, for liquidity reasons, you may be unable to hedge longer deliveries using longer maturity futures contracts. Explain briefly how you would overcome these market imperfections.