
Equity derivatives
Equity derivatives have seen very significant growth in recent years
and it is worth looking at these products in more detail.
Product background
Since the first contract was introduced in 1982 on the Kansas City
Board of Trade, stock index futures have been among the fastest-
growing futures contracts. They have become so popular that in a
number of cases the volume of futures market trading significantly
exceeds trading volumes in the underlying cash market.
The first important contract, the S&P 500 contract traded on the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange and launched in January 1983, is still
the most heavily traded index futures contract. ...