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FNCE 403 v4: Final Term Assignment

Due Date:

The Final Term Assignment should be submitted before you apply for your final

Credit Weight:

This assignment is worth 45 percent of your final grade.

Question 1. Margin Account and Settlement

(6 marks)

Suppose that you bought two one-year gold futures contracts when the one-year futures

price of gold was US$1,340.30 per troy ounce. You then closed the position at the end of the

sixth trading day. The initial margin requirement is US$5,940 per contract, and the

maintenance margin requirement is US$5,400 per contract. One contract is for 100 troy

ounces of gold. The daily prices on the intervening trading days are shown in the following

table.

Day

Settlement Price

0

1340.30

1

1345.50

2

1339.20

3

1330.60

4

1327.70

5

1337.70

6

1340.60

Assume that you deposit the initial margin and do not withdraw the excess on any given day.

Whenever a margin call occurs on Day t, you would make a deposit to bring the balance up

to meet the initial margin requirement at the start of trading on Day t+1, i.e., the next day.

a.

What are the initial margin and maintenance margin on your margin account?

(1 mark)

b.

Fill the appropriate numbers in the blank cells in the following table. (Hint: See

solution to Q19 in Lesson 2 Learning Activity.

(4marks)

Day

Settlemen

t price per

troy ounce

Mark-to-

Market

Other

Entries

Account

Balance

Explanation

Margi

n Call?

Y/N

0

$1340.30

1

$1345.50

2

$1339.20

3

$1330.60

4

$1327.70

5

$1337.70

6

$1340.60

c.

What is your total profit after you closed out your position?

(1 mark)