In: Finance
Suppose you’re a hedge fund manager responsible for a $3 billion equity portfolio. You’ve decided to use index futures to change the beta of the portfolio from 1.2 to 0.8. Suppose the current value of one index futures contract is $750,000 and the continuously compounded risk-free interest rate is 7%. How many contracts should you short?
Number of contracts to short = (0.80 - 1.20)(3,000,000,000/750,000)
Number of contracts to short = -1,600
So,
1,600 contracts need to be