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A swaption is an option granting its owner the right but not the obligation to enter into an underlying swap. Although options can be traded on a variety of swaps, the term "swaption" typically refers to options on interest rate swaps. ==Types of swaptions== There are two types of swaption contracts: *A payer swaption gives the owner of the swaption the right to enter into a swap where they pay the fixed leg and receive the floating leg. *A receiver swaption gives the owner of the swaption the right to enter into a swap in which they will receive the fixed leg, and pay the floating leg. In addition, a "straddle" refers to a combination of a receiver and a payer option on the same underlying swap. The buyer and seller of the swaption agree on: *The premium (price) of the swaption *Length of the option period (which usually ends two business days prior to the start date of the underlying swap), *The terms of the underlying swap, including: * *Notional amount (with amortization amounts, if any) * *The fixed rate (which equals the strike of the swaption) * *The frequency of observation for the floating leg of the swap (for example, 3 month Libor paid quarterly) ==The swaption market== The participants in the swaption market are predominantly large corporations, banks, financial institutions and hedge funds. End users such as corporations and banks typically use swaptions to manage interest rate risk arising from their core business or from their financing arrangements. For example, a corporation wanting protection from rising interest rates might buy a payer swaption. A bank that holds a mortgage portfolio might buy a receiver swaption to protect against lower interest rates that might lead to early prepayment of the mortgages. A hedge fund believing that interest rates will not rise by more than a certain amount might sell a payer swaption, aiming to make money by collecting the premium. Major investment and commercial banks such as JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America Securities and Citigroup make markets in swaptions in the major currencies, and these banks trade amongst themselves in the swaption interbank market. The market making banks typically manage large portfolios of swaptions that they have written with various counterparties. A significant investment in technology and human capital is required to properly monitor the resulting exposure. Swaption markets exist in most of the major currencies in the world, the largest markets being in U.S. dollars, euro, sterling and Japanese yen. The swaption market is over-the-counter (OTC), i.e., not traded on any exchange. Legally, a swaption is a contract granting a party the right to enter an agreement with another counterparty to exchange the required payments. The counterparties are exposed to each other's failure to make scheduled payments on the underlying swap, although this exposure is typically mitigated through the use of collateral agreements whereby variation margin is posted to cover the anticipated future exposure 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Swaption」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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