days of the month

Trade vs Settlement Date: What’s the Difference?

The day that an investor or trader’s buy or sell order for a security is confirmed is called the trade date. But the day that the security actually changes hands is called the settlement date.

Both the trade date and the settlement critical to understand for investors who may not realize that there are things taking place behind the scenes when they’re buying or selling investments.

What Is a Settlement Date in Investing?

As mentioned, the settlement date in investing refers to the date that a security which is purchased or sold exchanges hands between the buyer and seller. It’s the day that a transaction or trade is final, in other words. It’s like buying a car or house — the transaction process may take some time, but it’s not really final until the keys are handed over.

Generally, the settlement date for a transaction is two business days after the trade date. So, if you make a trade, you should anticipate that it won’t be settled for at least a couple of business days.

Types of Settlement Dates

Depending on the specific security involved in a trade or transaction, settlement dates may vary. You can read further below for more detail, but typically you can expect a settlement date to be two business days following the sale or purchase of a stock, bond, or exchange-traded fund (ETF). This is sometimes referred to as “T+2,” meaning “trade date, plus two days” to settle.

Further, some types of securities, like government securities or options, may only require one business day to settle (T+1). Others, like mutual funds, may require between one and three business days.

Trade and Settlement Dates Explained

To recap, the trade date is the day that an investor actually executes a trade from their brokerage account — they decide to buy or sell a security, and go through the necessary steps to make the transaction. That day, say it’s a Tuesday, is the trade date.

The settlement date comes after that. Again, if you’re buying stock, it’ll take two business days for everything to settle, and if you made the trade on Tuesday, the settlement date will probably be on Thursday (two business days later).

These built-in delays between the trade date and settlement date aren’t due to you doing anything wrong, and there’s not much you can do to speed it up — it’s more or less how stock exchanges work.

Why Is There a Delay Between Trade and Settlement Dates?

Given modern technology, it seems reasonable to assume that everything should happen instantaneously. But the current settlement rules go back decades, way back to the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1934, when all trading happened in person, and on paper.

Back then, a piece of paper representing shares of a security had to be in the possession of traders in order to prove they actually owned the shares of stock. Moving this paper around sometimes took as long as five business days after the trade date, or T+5.

💡 Recommended: A Brief History of the Stock Market

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What Is the T+2 Rule?

As discussed, the T+2 rule refers to the fact that it takes two days beyond a trade date for a trade to settle. For example, if a trade is executed on Tuesday, the settlement date will be Thursday, which is the trade date plus two business days.

Note that weekends and holidays are excluded from the T+2 rule. That’s because in the U.S., stock exchanges are open from 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern time Monday through Friday.

The T+2 rule has been enforced by the SEC since 2017. Before then, the T+3 rule was in place.

What Investors Need to Know About T+2

This delay in settling applies to trading of almost all securities. An exception is Treasury bills, which can settle on the same day they are transacted.

Investors who plan on engaging in cash account trading need to know about trade vs. settlement date. Cash accounts are those in which investors trade stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) only with money they actually have today. Meanwhile, margin trading accounts allow investors to trade using borrowed money or trade “on margin.”

An investor may notice two different numbers describing the cash balance in his or her brokerage account: the “settled” balance, and the “unsettled” balance. Settled cash refers to cash that currently sits in an account. Unsettled refers to cash that an investor is owed but won’t be available for a few days.

Are T+1, T+0, or Real-Time Settlement Possible?

Market observers have called for the T+2 rule to be reevaluated, as the settlement process may be able to be sped up and improve trading conditions.

Clearinghouses — which serve as middlemen in financial markets that ensure the transfer of a security goes through — have previously said that the settlement process should be changed from two days to one. But in recent years, market volatility has actually prompted greater scrutiny and interest in regulations surrounding clearing and settlement. That included a lot of trading during the “meme stock” frenzies in 2020 and 2021.

Moving to T+1, T+0 or real-time settlement would need the approval of the SEC and collaboration of dozens of stakeholders across Wall Street. But the real-time transactions made possible in the cryptocurrency market by blockchain technology have escalated chatter for modernizing securities markets.

Potential Violations of the Trade Date vs Settlement Date

Knowing the difference between trade date vs. settlement date can allow investors to avoid costly potential trading violations.

The consequences of these violations could differ according to which brokerage an investor uses, but the general concept still applies. Violations all have one thing in common: They involve the attempted use of cash or shares that have yet to come under ownership in an investor’s account.

Cash Liquidation Violation

To buy a security, most brokerages require investors to have enough settled cash in an account to cover the cost. Trying to buy securities with unsettled cash can lead to a cash liquidation violation, as liquidating a security to pay for another requires settlement of the first transaction before the other can happen.

Let’s look at a hypothetical example: Say Sally wants to buy $1,000 worth of ABC stock. Sally doesn’t have any settled cash in her account, so she raises more than enough by selling $1,200 worth of XYZ stock she has. The next day, she buys the $1,000 worth of ABC she had wanted.

Because the sale of XYZ stock hadn’t settled yet and Sally didn’t have the cash to cover the buy for ABC stock, a cash liquidation violation occurred. Investors who face this kind of violation three times in one year can have their accounts restricted for up to 90 days.

Free Riding Violation

Free riding violations occur when an investor buys stock using funds from a sale of the same stock.

For example, say Sally buys $1,000 of ABC stock on Tuesday. Sally doesn’t pay her brokerage the required amount to cover this order within the two-day settlement period. But then, on Friday, after the trade should have settled, she tries to sell her shares of ABC stock, since they are now worth $1,100.

This would be a free riding violation — Sally can’t sell shares she doesn’t yet own in order to purchase those same shares.

Incurring just one free riding violation in a 12-month period can lead to an investor’s account being restricted.

Good-Faith Violation

Good-faith violations happen when an investor buys a security and sells it before the initial purchase has been paid for with settled funds. Only cash or proceeds from the sale of fully paid-for securities can be called “settled funds.”

Selling a position before having paid for it is called a “good-faith violation” because no good-faith effort was made on the part of the investor to deposit funds into the account before the settlement date.

For example, if Sally sells $1,000 worth of ABC stock on Tuesday morning, then buys $1,000 worth of XYZ stock on Tuesday afternoon, she would incur a good-faith violation (unless she had an additional $1,000 in her account that did not come from the unsettled sale of ABC).

With these examples in mind, it’s not hard for active traders to run into problems if they don’t understand cash account trading rules, all of which derive from trade date vs. settlement date. Having adequate settled cash in an account can help avoid issues like these.

Settlement Date Risks

Given that a lag exists between the trade date and settlement date, there are risks for traders and investors to be aware of — namely, settlement risk, and credit risk.

Settlement Risk

Settlement risk has to do with one of the two parties in a transaction failing to come through on their end of the deal. For example, if someone agrees to buy a stock, but then does not pay for it after ownership has been transferred. In this case, the seller assumes the risk of losing their property and not receiving payment.

This tends to happen when trading on foreign exchanges, where time zones and differing regulations can come into play.

Credit Risk

Credit risk involves potential losses suffered due to a buyer failing to hold up their end of a deal. If a transaction is executed and the buyer’s funds are not transferred before the settlement date, there could be an interruption in the transaction, or it could be canceled altogether.

History of Settlement Dates

The SEC makes the rules regarding how stock markets operate, including trades, and even what a broker does in regard to retail investing. As such, the SEC is tasked with creating the clearance and settlement system — a power it was granted back in the mid-1970s.

Prior to the SEC’s involvement, exchanges and transfers of security ownership were left up to participants, with sellers delivering stock certificates through the mail or even by hand in exchange for payment. That could take a long time, and prices could move a lot, so the SEC came in and set the settlement date at five business days following the trade date.

But as technology has progressed, transactions have been able to execute much faster. In 1993, the SEC changed the settlement date to three business days, and in 2017, it was changed to two days.

The Takeaway

The trade date is the day an investor or trader books an order to buy or sell a security, and the settlement date is when the exchange of ownership actually happens. For many securities in financial markets, the T+2 rule applies, meaning the settlement date is usually two business days after the trade date — so, not including weekends or holidays. An investor therefore will not legally own the security until the settlement date.

While there’s been chatter that the settlement process needs to speed up to either T+1 or real-time settlement, it’s still important for investors and traders to know these rules so they don’t make violations that lead to restricted trading or other penalties, and so they can properly gauge the risks of trading.

While you can’t make trades settle faster, you can start trading online using SoFi Invest®. You can invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and more. SoFi doesn’t charge commissions, but other fees apply (full fee disclosure here).

For a limited time, opening and funding an Active Invest account gives you the opportunity to get up to $1,000 in the stock of your choice.

FAQ

What’s the difference between trade date and settlement date?

The trade date is when an investor initiates a buy or sell order, and the settlement date is when ownership of the underlying security is actually transferred. That generally happens two business days after the trade date (also called T+2).

Is the settlement date the issue date?

Typically, the settlement date and issue date are the same, as the settlement date is when a security actually exchanges hands. But there are times when the two can be different, concerning specific types of securities.

Why does it take two days to settle a trade?

The two-day lag between the trade date and settlement is designed to give a security’s seller time to gather and transfer documentation , and to give a buyer time to clear funds needed for settlement.


SoFi Invest®

INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE

SoFi Invest encompasses two distinct companies, with various products and services offered to investors as described below: Individual customer accounts may be subject to the terms applicable to one or more of these platforms.
1) Automated Investing and advisory services are provided by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser (“SoFi Wealth“). Brokerage services are provided to SoFi Wealth LLC by SoFi Securities LLC.
2) Active Investing and brokerage services are provided by SoFi Securities LLC, Member FINRA (www.finra.org)/SIPC(www.sipc.org). Clearing and custody of all securities are provided by APEX Clearing Corporation.
For additional disclosures related to the SoFi Invest platforms described above please visit SoFi.com/legal.
Neither the Investment Advisor Representatives of SoFi Wealth, nor the Registered Representatives of SoFi Securities are compensated for the sale of any product or service sold through any SoFi Invest platform.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

Claw Promotion: Customer must fund their Active Invest account with at least $25 within 30 days of opening the account. Probability of customer receiving $1,000 is 0.028%. See full terms and conditions.

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Life Insurance Definitions & Terminology, Explained

Glossary of Life Insurance Terms

Life insurance terms can be confusing when you first come across them, so learning the language of life insurance can help when you’re thinking about or shopping for a policy.

You may know that for many people, life insurance is important to have, and perhaps you’ve started some initial research into life insurance policies.

Learning common life insurance definitions can help you make an informed decision when looking into coverage options.

Life Insurance Terms

Discover life insurance definitions, simplified.

Accidental Death Benefit

If a life insurance policy includes an accidental death benefit, the cause of death will be examined to determine whether the insured’s death meets the policy’s definition of accidental. This is often a rider, or additional benefit for an additional fee, attached to the policy. An example of an accidental death could be one caused by a car crash, slip, or machinery.

Annuity

This is a contract in which the buyer deposits money with a life insurance company for investment on a tax-deferred basis. Annuities are designed to help protect the contract holder from the risk of outliving their income.

An annuity may include a death benefit that will pay the beneficiary a specified minimum amount.

Beneficiary

This is the person or entity designated to receive the death benefit from a life insurance policy or annuity contract.

Contestable Period

For up to two years, a life insurance company may deny payment of a claim to beneficiaries because of suicide or misrepresentation on an application — for example, if the insured was listed as a nonsmoker but smoked often and died of complications related to that.

Death Benefit

The amount that will be paid to the beneficiary upon the death of the insured. The phrase “death benefit” is common life insurance terminology you’ll see in a life insurance policy.

Evidence of Insurability

In order for you to qualify for a particular policy at a particular price, companies have the right to ask for information about your health and lifestyle. An insurance company will use this information when deciding on approval and rate. If you are overweight, a smoker, or have a history of health problems, your policy will likely cost more than someone without those issues.

Free Examination Period

Also known as the “free look period,” this is a 10- to 30-day window during which you can cancel your new policy without penalty and get a refund of premiums.

Group Life Insurance

This provides coverage to a group of people under one contract. Group contracts are often sold to businesses that want to provide life insurance for their employees. Group Life Insurance can also be sold to associations to cover their members.

Insured

This is the person whose life is insured by the policy. The insured may also be the policyholder.

Permanent Life Insurance

These kinds of policies can provide lifelong coverage and the opportunity to build cash value, which accumulates tax-deferred. Whole life and universal life insurance policies fall under this umbrella term. Permanent life insurance is more expensive and complicated than term life insurance.

Policy

This is the official, legal document that includes the terms of the policy owner’s insurance. The policy will name the insured, the policy owner, the death benefit, and the beneficiary.

Policyholder

The person who owns the life insurance policy. It can be the person who is insured by the policy.

Premium

The payment the customer makes to the insurance company to pay for the policy. It may be paid annually, semiannually, quarterly, or monthly.

Term Life Insurance

This type of life insurance offers coverage for a set number of years, or “term,” of the insured’s life, commonly 20 or 30 years. If the insured individual dies during the years of coverage, a death benefit will be paid to the beneficiaries. Term life insurance costs less than permanent life insurance.

Recommended: 8 Popular Types of Life Insurance for Any Age

Underwriting

Often viewed as a mysterious process, underwriting is simply when factors are evaluated relating to the applicant’s current health, medical history, lifestyle habits, hobbies, occupation, and financial profile to determine eligibility for coverage as well as what the appropriate premiums should be.

Universal Life Insurance

With this kind of permanent life insurance, policyholders may be able to adjust their premium payments and death benefits. The cash value gains vary depending on the type of universal life insurance policy purchased.

Variable Life Insurance

With variable life, another type of permanent life insurance, the death benefit and the cash value fluctuate according to the investment performance of a separate account fund.

Earnings accumulate tax-deferred. Fees and expenses can reduce the portion of premiums that go toward the cash value.

Whole Life Insurance

Whole life is another type of permanent cash value insurance. The premiums, rate of return on cash value, and death benefit are fixed and guaranteed. The cash value component grows tax-deferred. Whole life tends to be more expensive than other types of permanent insurance.

Recommended: Term vs. Whole Life Insurance

The Takeaway

Life insurance can be an important way to protect your loved ones’ financial future in the event of your death. While its terms can be a mouthful, they don’t have to be confusing. Understanding the definitions of life insurance can help you put a plan in place to protect your family.

If you’re shopping for life insurance, SoFi has partnered with Ladder to offer competitive term life insurance policies that are quick to set up and easy to understand. You can apply in just minutes and get an instant decision. As your circumstances change, you can easily change or cancel your policy with no fees and no hassles.

Complete an application and get your quote in just minutes.

Photo credit: iStock/mapodile


Coverage and pricing is subject to eligibility and underwriting criteria.
Ladder Insurance Services, LLC (CA license # OK22568; AR license # 3000140372) distributes term life insurance products issued by multiple insurers- for further details see ladderlife.com. All insurance products are governed by the terms set forth in the applicable insurance policy. Each insurer has financial responsibility for its own products.
Ladder, SoFi and SoFi Agency are separate, independent entities and are not responsible for the financial condition, business, or legal obligations of the other, Social Finance, LLC (SoFi) and Social Finance Life Insurance Agency, LLC (SoFi Agency) do not issue, underwrite insurance or pay claims under Ladder Life™ policies. SoFi is compensated by Ladder for each issued term life policy.
SoFi Agency and its affiliates do not guarantee the services of any insurance company.
All services from Ladder Insurance Services, LLC are their own. Once you reach Ladder, SoFi is not involved and has no control over the products or services involved. The Ladder service is limited to documents and does not provide legal advice. Individual circumstances are unique and using documents provided is not a substitute for obtaining legal advice.


Tax Information: This article provides general background information only and is not intended to serve as legal or tax advice or as a substitute for legal counsel. You should consult your own attorney and/or tax advisor if you have a question requiring legal or tax advice.

Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.

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How Cost of Carry Works

Cost of Carry, Explained and Defined

What Is Cost of Carry?

Cost of carry refers to any and all ongoing costs that you need to pay in conjunction with holding a given investment. Transaction costs, which are incurred upon the purchase or sale of the asset, are typically not considered a carrying cost.

Cost of carry can come in a variety of different forms — here are a few types of carrying costs that you’ll want to be aware of:

•   Storage costs, if you are investing in the futures market for physical goods

•   Interest paid on loans used for an investment

•   Interest in margin accounts when borrowing to invest in stocks or options

•   Costs to insure or transport physical goods

•   The opportunity cost of investments

Most if not all investments have carrying costs, and savvy investors will take them into account when deciding whether an investment is worth it. Even if a particular investment doesn’t have obvious carrying costs, there is always the opportunity cost of making one investment over the other.

How Cost of Carry Works

The way that cost of carry works depends on the type of investment that you are considering. If you are investing in the futures markets for tangible goods like coffee, oil, gold, or wheat, you may have carrying costs associated with these physical goods. For example, if you buy a commodity like crude oil, you must pay the costs for transporting, insuring and storing that oil until you sell it.

To accurately calculate your trading profits you must include those carrying costs.

In a purely financial transaction like buying stock or trading options, there can still be carrying costs involved. You may have to pay interest if you are borrowing money with a margin account. You may also incur what are called opportunity costs. Opportunity costs refer to the money you could have made if you had invested your money in other areas.

If you are holding $10,000 in your stock account waiting for an option assignment, you can’t use that $10,000 for other investments.

Which Markets Are Impacted by Cost of Carry?

Cost of carry is a factor in a variety of different types of investments. Options trading has carrying costs from interest costs if you trade in a margin account to holding costs.

Investing in commodities may require a cost of storing, insuring, or transporting your goods. You should be aware that most types of investments also have opportunity costs.

Cost-of-Carry Calculation

The simplest cost-of-carry calculation just includes all of your carrying costs as a factor when you analyze the profitability of a particular investment. So, if

•   P = Purchase price of an investment

•   S = Sale price of the same investment

•   C = carrying costs while holding the investment

The profit of this investment could be expressed as Profit = S – P – C.

Futures Cost of Carry

The futures market has two different prices for each type of commodity. The spot price refers to the price for immediate delivery (i.e. on the spot). A futures price is the price for goods at some specified time in the future. Because most futures contracts of commodities come with non-zero carrying costs, the futures price is usually (but not always) higher than the spot price.

Options Cost of Carry

When trading options the costs of carry fall into a few categories:

•   Interest costs – Some investors borrow money to purchase options, i.e. a loan from a friend, a bank loan, or a brokerage margin account.

Whatever the source of the money, the interest paid to service the borrowing is a carrying cost.

•   Opportunity costs – You’ve chosen to invest in options. But where else could you have invested that money? Because most alternative investments carry risk, as does investing in options, it’s difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison.

In finance, we look at risk-free investing rates to assess the opportunity cost. “Risk-free” is defined as the return available by investing in U.S. Treasuries. In the past, 30-year bonds were the standard, but 10-year returns and even the return on short-term Treasury notes may also be used.

•   Forgoing Dividends – One of the disadvantages of owning options compared to owning stock, is that you are not eligible for dividends as an option holder. The market makes an effort to price dividends into the option premium, but just as interest rates can fluctuate, so can dividend rates.

Examples of Cost of Carry

Here is a simple example of cost of carry and how it might affect an investment in purchasing Brent Crude Oil.

Say you buy a contract for 1,000 barrels of Brent Crude at $80/barrel. Six months later, the price of oil has gone up to $90/barrel, and you sell. You might think that you have earned a $10,000 profit, but that is not accounting for the cost of carrying the oil.

If it cost you $3,000 to store and insure those barrels of oil for the six months that you owned them, those carrying costs must be subtracted from your profit. You also are liable for delivering the oil, which might cost another $1,000. Considering the cost to carry, your actual profit was only $6,000. While these costs are easiest to understand with physical goods like commodities, most types of investments have carrying costs.

Cash and Carry Arbitrage

Like crypto arbitrage, there sometimes exists a type of arbitrage called cash-and-carry arbitrage. In cash-and-carry arbitrage, an investor will purchase a position in a stock or commodity and simultaneously sell a futures contract for the same stock or commodity.

If the futures price is higher than the combined amount of the stock price plus carrying costs, you can secure a relatively risk-free profit via cash and carry arbitrage.

Cost of Carry and Net Return

As we’ve discussed already, the cost of carry can have an impact on the net return of any investment. When determining your total profit and the return on investment (ROI), you need to account for any and all costs that you incur as part of the investment.

These might include transaction costs like commissions as well as carrying costs. Subtract all such costs from your gross profit to calculate the net return of your investment.

Can You Do Anything About Cost of Carry?

Since the cost of carry directly and negatively affects your total profit, you may be wondering if you can do anything about it. While there are carrying costs with almost every type of investment, one way to minimize the cost of carry is to avoid investments that have significant carrying costs.

On the other hand, if your specific situation allows you to have below market carrying costs, you may be able to earn a profit with cash and carry arbitrage.

The Takeaway

The cost of carry is a term used in options and futures trading that refers to the ongoing costs incurred in an investment while you are holding it.

With physical commodities, the cost of carry refers to storage, insurance, delivery and other costs specific to the fulfillment of your contract.

When applied to options trading the carrying costs are financial in nature, such as, interest costs, opportunity costs, and forgoing dividends.

If you’re ready to try your hand at options trading, you can set up an Active Invest brokerage account and trade trade options from the SoFi mobile app or through the web platform.

And if you have any questions, SoFi offers educational resources about options to learn more. SoFi doesn’t charge commissions, and members have access to complimentary financial advice from a professional.

With SoFi, user-friendly options trading is finally here.

FAQ

How can you calculate cost of carry?

The cost of carry refers to any costs that you incur during the course of your investment. In commodities trading, this generally refers to costs like storage, insurance, or delivery of the commodity. In other types of investments, the cost of carry could include interest charges or the opportunity cost of using your money.

Do bonds have a cost of carry?

Yes, nearly all investments, including bonds, have some sort of cost of carry. In the bond market, the cost of carry generally refers to the difference between the face value of the bond plus premiums minus applicable discounts.

How are ordering and carrying costs different?

Ordering costs are the costs that you pay as part of the ordering process. In a stock or option transaction, any broker’s commissions that you pay would be considered ordering costs. While ordering costs are usually incurred only once (at buy and/or sale), carrying costs are the costs that you must pay to hold an investment throughout its duration.


Photo credit: iStock/fizkes

SoFi Invest®

INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE

SoFi Invest encompasses two distinct companies, with various products and services offered to investors as described below: Individual customer accounts may be subject to the terms applicable to one or more of these platforms.
1) Automated Investing and advisory services are provided by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser (“SoFi Wealth“). Brokerage services are provided to SoFi Wealth LLC by SoFi Securities LLC.
2) Active Investing and brokerage services are provided by SoFi Securities LLC, Member FINRA (www.finra.org)/SIPC(www.sipc.org). Clearing and custody of all securities are provided by APEX Clearing Corporation.
For additional disclosures related to the SoFi Invest platforms described above please visit SoFi.com/legal.
Neither the Investment Advisor Representatives of SoFi Wealth, nor the Registered Representatives of SoFi Securities are compensated for the sale of any product or service sold through any SoFi Invest platform.

Options involve risks, including substantial risk of loss and the possibility an investor may lose the entire amount invested in a short period of time. Before an investor begins trading options they should familiarize themselves with the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options . Tax considerations with options transactions are unique, investors should consult with their tax advisor to understand the impact to their taxes.
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Interest Rate Options, Explained

Interest Rate Options, Explained

What Are Interest Rate Options?

Interest rate options enable investors to hedge, speculate on, or otherwise manage their exposure to interest rates. These financial derivatives are available as both puts and calls, and traded on major options exchanges.

Interest rates in the U.S. fluctuate continuously, with the Federal Reserve being a key driver, but not the only one. To mitigate these fluctuations, and also to profit from them, professional money managers turn to interest rates options as a source for risk management.

Interest rate options are sold on major options exchanges as standardized puts and calls, as the two main types of contracts are called in options terminology. Similar to puts and calls on equity securities, interest rate options represent directional bets on the value of an underlying asset.

The value of interest rate options is tied to yields on interest-rate-linked assets, typically Eurodollars and U.S. Treasuries of various maturities.

Buyers of interest rate options can buy exposure to various portions of the yield curve, for example, the 2-year, 5-year, and 10-year treasuries are standardized terms commonly sold on the CME Group exchanges. Professional money managers may use puts or calls at any given maturity to express their views on the future direction and volatility of interest rates.

How Interest Rate Options Work

Interest rate options afford the buyer the right to receive payment based on the spread between the yield of the underlying security on the expiration date and the original strike rate of the option, net of fees.

Interest rate options in the United States feature “European style” options exercise terms, which means they can only be exercised on the expiration date.

This contrasts with equity options, which more often contain “American style” exercise terms. This means they can be exercised at any time before they expire.

Buyers of interest rate options pay a “premium” per the terms of the options contract, which is the price paid by the buyer. Options pricing can be complex, to say the least, and to profit on a trade the buyer of the option will need interest rates to move in their favor enough to cover the cost of the option’s premium before they can profit.

In the event that interest rates don’t move in the option holder’s favor enough to overcome the strike rate, the option will expire worthless and the option holder incurs the total loss of their premium.

We’ll cover how this dynamic plays out with respect to both interest rate calls and puts.

How Do Interest Rate Call Options Work

Buyers of interest rate call options seek to benefit from rising interest rates. Should the yield on the underlying security close above its strike rate on the expiration date, the owner of an interest rate call option will receive a cash payout. This payout will be the difference between the option value at maturity and its strike.

Note that interest options are cash-settled. Unlike equity options, no exercise is required. If the rate is higher than the strike rate, the holder is paid the difference.

Interest rate call options, much like equity call options, give the buyer unlimited upside exposure to rising yields.

Holders of interest rate call options bear the risk that the option might expire out-of-the-money should interest rates remain beneath the strike by the expiration date. In this case, the maximum loss the owner of an interest rate call option can expect is limited to the premium paid.

How Do Interest Rate Put Options Work

In contrast, buyers of interest rate put options seek to benefit from falling interest rates. Interest rate puts give the put holder the right to receive payment based on the difference between the strike rate and the yield on the underlying security at expiration.

In this case, the strike rate is typically the maximum possible gain that a put holder may receive.

Holders of interest rate put options bear the risk that the option might expire worthless (out-of-the-money) if interest rates rise above the strike by the expiration date. In this case, the maximum loss the owner of an interest rate put option will incur is limited to the premium paid.

What Are the Risks of Trading Interest Rate Options?

Trading interest rate options involves enormous risk for any trader who either, 1) doesn’t understand the basic drivers of options valuation and interest rates, or 2) doesn’t understand how to structure their options trade properly to cap risk exposure. The corresponding leverage on options trades can result in enormous losses if improperly managed.

Traders will need to manage a number of key risks, and they may want to consider different strategies for trading options, when it comes to buying interest rate puts and calls. This includes “market risk,” which is the risk of price movements caused by any macroeconomic factor that affects the financial markets. It also includes “interest rate risk,” which is the risk that changes in interest rates might erode the value of one’s holdings.

Finally, user-friendly options trading is here.*

Trade options with SoFi Invest on an easy-to-use, intuitively designed online platform.

Interest Rate Option Example

As an example, an investor seeking to hedge (or protect) their portfolio against rising interest rates can choose to buy an interest rate call option on a 10-year Treasury bond, expiring in 2 months at a strike of $50.00.

Strikes on interest rate options are a pseudo-conversion where the interest rate is multiplied by 10x and denominated in dollars. Therefore a 5.0% rate converts to a strike price of $50.

If the option’s premium is quoted at $0.50, then buying a single interest rate call option would cost you a $50 total premium, as each interest rate option affords you exposure to 100 shares of the underlying.

If yields rise for the next 2 months until the option expires, the underlying might be worth $55 by the time it’s exercised.

In this instance, you can calculate your net profit using the following equation:

(Underlying rate at expiry – Strike Price) X 100 – Contract Premium = Profit

($55 – $50) X 100 ) – $50 = Profit

$5 X 100 – $50 = Profit

$500 – $50 = $450 net profit

Remember that each option contract grants exposure to 100 units of the underlying, while options premiums are quoted for a single unit of the underlying. Remember also to use the actual total contract premium paid, as well as introduce a multiplier of 100, when calculating your net profit.

The Takeaway

Interest rate options can be of interest to investors who understand the underlying drivers of these securities. They essentially provide direct exposure to interest rates, on a leveraged basis, at a relatively competitive cost.

When employed strategically, interest rate options enable investors to enhance their upside or mitigate their downside in a volatile rate environment.

If you’re ready to try your hand at options trading, You can set up an Active Invest account and trade options online from the SoFi mobile app or through the web platform.

And if you have any questions, SoFi offers educational resources about options to learn more. SoFi doesn’t charge commissions, and members have access to complimentary financial advice from a professional.

With SoFi, user-friendly options trading is finally here.

FAQ

What are interest rate future options?

Interest rate future options are futures contracts which derive their value from an underlying interest-bearing security. The buyer of an interest rate futures option (the “long position”) purchases the right to receive the interest rate payment in the contract, while the seller (the “short position”) is obligated to pay the interest rate on the underlying contract.

In either case, interest rate future options enable both buyer and seller to lock in the price on an interest-bearing security, for future delivery, which offers both parties some level of price certainty.

What is an interest rate swaption?

Interest rate swaptions represent the right, but not the obligation, to enter an interest rate swap agreement on an agreed-upon date.

In exchange for the contract premium, the buyer of an interest rate swaption can choose whether they want to be a fixed-rate payer (“payer swaption”), or fixed-rate receiver (“receiver swaption”) on the underlying swap, with the counterparty taking the variable rate side of the transaction.

Unlike standard interest rate options, swaptions are over-the-counter products, which means they allow for more customized terms, so there’s more variety when it comes to expiration, the style of options exercise, and the exact notional amount.

What is interest rate risk?

Interest rate risk is the exposure of an investment to fluctuating interest rates in the open market. Interest rates can change on a daily basis according to any number of market influences, including investor expectations, actions, or even statements made by central banks.

If interest rates rise on any given day, that shift will typically erode the value of bonds and most-other fixed income securities. Conversely, if interest rates were to fall, the market value of outstanding fixed-income securities will typically increase instead. Interest rate risk represents your investment exposure to these fluctuations in rates.


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SoFi Invest®

INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE

SoFi Invest encompasses two distinct companies, with various products and services offered to investors as described below: Individual customer accounts may be subject to the terms applicable to one or more of these platforms.
1) Automated Investing and advisory services are provided by SoFi Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser (“SoFi Wealth“). Brokerage services are provided to SoFi Wealth LLC by SoFi Securities LLC.
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Neither the Investment Advisor Representatives of SoFi Wealth, nor the Registered Representatives of SoFi Securities are compensated for the sale of any product or service sold through any SoFi Invest platform.

Options involve risks, including substantial risk of loss and the possibility an investor may lose the entire amount invested in a short period of time. Before an investor begins trading options they should familiarize themselves with the Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options . Tax considerations with options transactions are unique, investors should consult with their tax advisor to understand the impact to their taxes.
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