Spot contract

The spot price, spot price ( engl. spot price ) or spot price is the price of a commodity, usually a financial asset or a currency on the spot market. Antonym is the forward rate.

Analogously, the spot interest rate or spot rate ( engl. spot rate) the interest rate that with immediate borrowing or unit being paid in the market. This depends on the maturity of the borrowing or unit usually. Through the spot rates for different maturities, a yield curve is defined. From this then forward interest rates such as the investment of money in a year can be calculated for three years.

For deposits with a fixed repayment and possibly interim interest may be calculated on the spot yield curve, the present value of the system, corresponding to the spot rate. Conversely, it can be deduced from the spot rate a spot interest rate for tradable investment vehicles ( eg, bonds, promissory notes).

Spot rate on securities exchanges

In particular, the spot price refers to (also called unit course) the official middle rate one, mostly due to lack of liquidity does not continuously traded, home security in trading on the German Stock Exchange (floor trading ).

In contrast to the so-called continuous listing, which is updated continuously, spot prices are once daily at a fixed date (usually 12 or 13 clock clock ) determines to which was then the trade is carried out. Since this is only one daily trading course, there is accordingly no opening or closing price.

Sense in the spot rate is that all orders that could not be settled in the variable trade, collected and accounted for at the spot rate. This particularly applies to such contracts ( securities orders ) that do not reach the required minimum size of the brokers.

Now, however, even very small quantities and variable course can be traded on German stock exchanges. In recent years, the minimum number has been reduced for almost all shares and all stock exchanges to 1.

The spot rate has thus lost its former importance. For most German shares no more spot rates are determined.