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The Fundamentals of Futures & Options
Futures & Options (F&O) lingo is explained in a lucid manner by Deepak Shenoy, CoFounder, Moneyoga in a post on his blog. Here we reproduce only the Futures part. The Options will appear in the next week.
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The anatomy of Distress Selling E-mail
Written by Ranjan   

Bank for International Settlements ("BIS") has a working paper on Distress selling and asset market feedback  by Ilhyock Shim and Goetz von Peter

 The student loan information guide is something every individual should peruse. The significance of insurance quotes has been outlined really well. The guide also advises on how to get the best car insurance or travel insurance deal. The guide has a special section all on home insurance and the clauses a consumer should be looking for but are oft ignored. This paper examines the process of distress selling and asset market feedback. It splits this process into several stages, in order to analyse what triggers distress selling, why asset prices fall, and how falling prices generate additional rounds of selling.

This framework enables us to understand and compare models relevant to distress selling from diverse literatures. The paper also considers what policy options are available at each stage to mitigate the adverse economic consequences of distress selling and asset market feedback 

Many episodes of financial instability have falling asset prices and widespread financial distress at their heart. One common pattern is that financially distressed institutions sell assets, asset prices fall, losses spread, cash flows and balance sheets deteriorate, and more assets are sold into a falling market. This process of distress selling and asset market feedback can be costly and potentially unstable, and policymakers have shown interest in measures to prevent or remedy adverse economic consequences.  

This paper provides an anatomy of distress selling and asset market feedback. Given the initial state of balance sheets, a shock in combination with cash commitments or financial constraints triggers initial distress selling of assets.  Excess supply in the asset market then lowers the asset price.  

Definition 1: Financial distress refers to the inability to meet cash commitments or respect financial constraints after a shock, unless further action is taken. 

The underlying assumption is that failure to meet cash commitments (default), or the violation of financial constraints and subsequent bankruptcy o r regulatory sanctions are costly: the agent may lose control over the assets or the right to future cash flows. In order to deal with financial distress, the agent may take action such as adjusting consumption, selling assets, rescheduling debt or issuing equity, or a combination of the above.  

Definition 2: Distress selling refers to the sale of assets, which were originally intended to be held, in order to deal with financial distress. 

Once the agent begins selling assets into the market, a new asset price is determined jointly by the volume of distress sales and demand-side characteristics. Falling asset prices can in turn make it harder to meet cash commitments or to satisfy financial constraints. It is therefore possible that falling asset prices prompt additional rounds of distress selling. 

Definition3 Asset market feedback refers to a situation where falling prices, due to initial selling, elicit further distress selling in the same market. 

Read the full paper for insights on how policymakers move in to prevent adverse fallouts. We have the examples of Government regulators pumping in liquidity in the market as investors around the world battle the sub prime quagmire.