When the Hong Kong Futures Exchange launched the stock index futures contract, the earliest settlement task was entirely undertaken by the clearing house, which supervised the transactions of members and monitored the possible trading risks of members. On the other hand, members manage their customers' transactions and are responsible for monitoring their trading risks. Members implement the reliable procedures of the clearing house, but fail to perform the guarantee function or obligation, that is, they cannot guarantee that customers can pay any open contract deposit. 1987 10 after the delivery crisis, the reform of settlement system was put on the agenda. 1987126 October, the Hong Kong Futures Exchange made a decision to rescue the market, that is, the Hong Kong government contributed 50% and the major banks and securities firms contributed 50% to raise a standby loan of HK$ 2 billion (later increased to HK$ 4 billion) from the Hong Kong Futures Guarantee Corporation, so as to enhance its ability to resist risks and ensure the performance of all futures contracts of the Hong Kong Futures Exchange. After that, the guarantee company used about HK$ 2 billion in reserves to deal with the1800 million open contracts of brokers who failed to perform the contracts. However, the government later stipulated that the loan would be repaid by recovering the arrears of members who failed to fulfill their obligations and the special levy on futures contracts and all stock transactions. By imposing a special tax to repay the delivery debt, the bail-out loan is invisibly passed on to investors.
Subsequently, the futures exchange continued to carry out a series of reforms to strengthen its ability to resist risks and strengthen its function of monitoring market risks. The reform has three main points. First, members are divided into four grades. Brokers who only buy and sell for themselves are classified as the first category, brokers who trade on their own behalf with exchange member customers are classified as the second category, brokers who trade on behalf of non-member customers are classified as the third category, and brokers with underwriting rights are classified as the fourth category. According to the risks, the Exchange will increase the equity requirements of trading broker members. Through this reform, every kind of brokerage member should always monitor the financial situation of customers, and members should also bear the risk that customers may default on their deposits. Secondly, through the reform, a reserve fund of HK$ 200 million has been set up to replace the previous guarantee company. The clearing company of the futures exchange can use this fund to directly pay the deposit owed by the members of the brokerage firm, so as to timely resolve the market transaction and delivery risks. Third, another result of the reform is the reorganization of the clearing house. In order to more strictly ensure the security and liquidity of the development deposit deposited by the members of the securities firm, through this reorganization, the clearing company will be merged into a subsidiary of the futures exchange to complete the settlement tasks of daily transactions and delivery, which is more convenient for the futures exchange to control risks and deal with crises in time. In order to meet the needs of retail investors who are interested in the Hong Kong stock market, the Hong Kong Futures Exchange will launch a small Hang Seng Index futures contract (referred to as "Little Finger") on June 5438+1October 9, 2000.
This uniquely designed small Hang Seng Index futures contract is designed according to the index-related index of futures contracts in the futures exchange, namely Hang Seng Index. The contract multiplier of small futures contract index is HK$ 10.00 per point, which is one fifth of the futures contract of Hang Seng Index. Therefore, when the HSI futures price is 17500, the value of the small HSI futures contract will be 175000.00 Hong Kong dollars. Like Hang Seng Index futures contracts, small Hang Seng Index futures contracts are also settled in cash. For some local retail investors who don't want to take too much risks and need fine-tuning hedging, small Hang Seng Index futures will be the best hedging tool for their investment and risk management. 1) is designed for retail investors.
On the one hand, small Hang Seng Index futures have the benefits of futures contracts, on the other hand, they are designed for investors who don't want to take too much risks. Its small contract value allows experienced and novice investors to participate in indexes of different performance levels including 33 constituent stocks in a small scope.
2) low cost
Because the value of small HSI futures contracts is one fifth of that of HSI futures contracts, the margin requirements and commission fees are relatively low.
3) Margin offset
The margin of small HSI futures contracts and HSI futures contracts can offset each other by 100%, making the portfolio more flexible.
4) Electronic trading platform
Like other products of the Exchange, small Hang Seng Index futures contracts will be bought and sold through the electronic trading system of the Hong Kong Automatic Trading System. All orders are matched according to the priority order of price and time, and the buying, selling and clinching price information of orders are transmitted immediately to provide customers with the most favorable price.
5) Performance guarantee of the clearing company
Small Hang Seng Index futures contracts are registered, settled and guaranteed by Hong Kong Futures Clearing Company Limited (HKCC), which is wholly owned by the Futures Exchange. As an opponent of all open contracts, HKSCC will effectively eliminate the risks of clearing company participants. This guarantee will not shift the financial responsibility of clearing company participants to his customers. Therefore, investors should be cautious when choosing brokers to buy and sell. Small hang seng index futures (small futures index)
Futures refers to futures contracts based on Hang Seng Index, and the difference between them lies in the cash value of each "idea". The relative cash value of futures refers to 50 yuan, while the cash value of small futures refers to 10 yuan, and the margin level of small futures refers to one fifth of futures.
Because the contract value of short-term index is lower than that of futures index, the leverage ratio is relatively low?
Although the margin for investing in small futures index is only one-fifth of that of futures index, since both are based on Hang Seng Index, the volatility and leverage ratio are actually the same. For example, in September, the settlement price of short term refers to 12 and 163, and the contract value of short term refers to 12 and 630 yuan (12, 163x 10 yuan). As the deposit is only 7625 yuan, the leverage ratio is 16.0 times. For futures contracts, the settlement price of September contract is also 12, 163, with a value of 608, 150 yuan (12, 163x50 yuan). Calculated by the deposit of 38 125 yuan, the leverage ratio is also 16.0 times. It can be seen that the leverage ratio of short-term index and futures index contract is the same.
Although the leverage effect of short-term index and futures index can bring huge profits, it may also lead to huge losses, even erode the deposit paid in a very short time, and even owe money to brokers. For example, if an investor buys a futures contract and fails to close the position on the same day, once it falls by more than 763 points after the market opens the next day, even if the securities firm immediately closes the position (commonly known as "lightening the position"), the customer must bear the relevant losses. If the market fluctuates, as long as the Hang Seng Index falls by more than 153, the customer's margin level will fall below the maintenance margin level, and the brokerage company will usually immediately ask the customer to add margin (commonly known as "covering the position" or "chasing the exhibition") to restore the margin level to the basic margin level (that is, the margin paid in the opening period). In case investors fail to pay in time, they are more likely to be cut before the market closes.