In: Finance
On March 1 the spot price of a commodity is $20.00 and the July futures price is $18.75. On June 1 the spot price is $24.10 and the July futures price is $23.50. A company entered into a futures contracts on March 1 to hedge the purchase of the commodity on June 1. It closed out its position on June 1. What is the effective price paid by the company for the commodity?
Solution
The user of the commodity takes a long futures position. The gain on the futures is 23.50−18.75 = $4.75.
The effective paid realized is therefore 24.1−4.75 = $19.35
This can also be calculated as the March 1 futures price (=18.75) + the basis on July 1 (=0.60)