Currency (FX) Options Best Practices
Overview
Eagle supports end-to-end processing of Options on Currency (FX Options) in the Eagle product suite. This document covers the full lifecycle including Accounting, Data Management, and Performance.
An FX Option is a contract giving the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy (call option) or sell (put option) one currency in exchange for another currency at a pre-arranged exchange rate on a specified future date. The payouts are as follows:
The writer (seller) of an FX Option receives a premium based on the trade price
The buyer of a call is betting that the FX rate between the two underlying currencies will rise above the strike rate/price, allowing the Option to be exercised
Conversely, the buyer of a put is betting that the FX rate between the two underlying currencies will fall below the strike rate/price, allowing the Option to be exercised
In either case, the writer is betting that the FX Option will not be exercised and therefore expire worthless, allowing the premium to be recorded as a gain
Example reference data screens, trade screens, and reports are attached:
Entity Setup
Before any trades can be booked, the target entity must be set up appropriately. Refer to Options Entity Setup Processing Notes for details.
Reference Data
Storage & Configuration
Eagle has modeled FX Option security master files (SMFs) as single rows in Data Management.
Market Data
Because they are exchange-traded, FX Option prices are readily available from a number of vendors.
Security Data
FX Options can be set up and maintained in Issue Viewer, Security Reference Manager (SRM), or Reference Data Center (RDC). The list below contains all fields required to configure an FX Option SMF.
Issue Name (961)
Primary Asset ID (14) & Type (1432)
Processing Security Type (3931) =
OPOPCR
Price Multiplier (18): typically
1.00
Contract Size (19): units of currency to which each contract is entitled
Issue Country (1418)
Asset Currency (85)
Expiration Date (38): date when Accounting will automatically expire the FX Option, unless the entity-level Options and Futures Expiration Delay Days field has been populated
Strike Price (67): FX rate/price at which the contract can be exercised or assigned
Option Type (1142)
American
: contract can be exercised or assigned at any time until expiration, assuming the strike price has been reachedEuropean
: contract can be exercised or assigned on expiration date onlyBermudan
: functions the same way as American in Accounting; this option exists for reference data purposes only
Put/Call Flag (1350)
Pay Currency (1356)
Receive Currency (1357)
Trade Processing
Trades are entered using Book Trade once the entity and reference data have been configured. Enter the appropriate entity, security identifier, and trade/settle dates and click Submit to query for the security. Right-click it and select Open or Close. When you right-click the security, the options for opening and closing it will depend on whether the entity-level Net Option Positions field is set to Yes
or No
.
Open & Close
The fields below are used for both opens and closes.
Contracts (40): number of contracts being transacted
Price Per Contract (45): multiplied by Contracts, Contract Size, and Price Multiplier to calculate the premium
Commission Per Contract (971): this is multiplied by Contracts to calculate Commission Amount Local, which is factored into the net amount
Tax Amount (46), SEC Fee (48), Stamp Duty Tax (51), Other Fee (3752): these are added to the premium and commission to generate the total net amount
Settlement Currency (63): if an FX Option’s trade premium settles in a currency that differs from its Asset Currency, this must be changed to the appropriate currency
Broker (88)
Field | Open > Long | Open > Short | Close > Long | Close > Short |
---|---|---|---|---|
Event Type (55) |
|
|
|
|
Long-Short Indicator (15) |
|
|
|
|
Net Option Positions (639) = | Creates a long position (long with positive quantity). | Creates a short position (short with positive quantity). | Closes (partially or fully) a previously established long position. | Closes (partially or fully) a previously established short position. |
Net Option Positions (639) = | Creates a long position (long with positive quantity) or closes a previously established short position (long with negative quantity). | N/A | Creates a short position (long with negative quantity) or closes a previously established long position (long with positive quantity) | N/A |
Accounting
Once an FX Option trade is booked, it will be picked up in Eagle’s global workflow. Accounting valuation is calculated when posting unrealized gain/loss and Data Management valuation is calculated in STAR to PACE. These can be scheduled or triggered manually.
Valuation
FX Options are valued using unit prices. The market value formula is:
Market Value = # of Contracts * Contract Size * Price * Price Multiplier
Exercise/Assign
Exercises and assignments are processed using Book Trade > Other > Currency Option Cash Exercise or Currency Option Physical Exercise. By definition purchased FX Options are exercised and written FX Options are assigned, but they use the same process in Accounting.
Settlement
FX Options can be exercised or assigned using cash or physical settlement. Cash settlement is simply an exchange of money based on the exercise price. Physical settlement results in spot transactions against the underlying pay and receive currencies.
Cash Settlement
Note: exercise price is the Price Per Contract (45) entered on the Exercise screen.
Option Type | Transaction Type | Cash Direction | Cash Amount | Gain (Loss) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Call or Put | Purchased (Long) | Receipt | # of contracts exercised * contract size * exercise price * price multiplier | # of contracts exercised * contract size * (exercise price - option open price) * price multiplier |
Call or Put | Written (Short) | Disbursement | # of contracts exercised * contract size * exercise price * price multiplier | # of contracts exercised * contract size * (option open price - exercise price) * price multiplier |
Physical Settlement Cash Flows
Purchased (Long) Call or Put
Sell Currency: Pay Currency from SMF, a disbursement will be created for this amount
Disbursement = # of contracts exercised * Contract Size * Price Multiplier
Buy Currency: Receive Currency from SMF, a receipt will be created for this amount
Receipt = (# of contracts exercised * Contract Size * Price Multiplier) / Strike Price
Written (Short) Call or Put
Sell Currency: Receive Currency from SMF, a disbursement will be created for this amount
Disbursement = # of contracts assigned * Contract Size * Price Multiplier
Buy Currency: Pay Currency from SMF, a receipt will be created for this amount
Receipt = (# of contracts assigned * Contract Size * Price Multiplier) / Strike Price
Canceling Exercise/Assign Events
Canceling an exercise or assign event requires the use of Batch Cancel Trades. Query for the appropriate date range, entity, and security, then set Choose Trade to Cancel (962) = the target exercise/assign event. This will roll back the exercise/assign event by removing the actions on underlying currencies and restoring the original position. FX Option trades can be canceled using the regular Cancel Trade panel or rebooked using Cancel & Rebook Trade.
Expire
If the contract is not closed prior, Accounting will expire the FX Option on expiration date plus the number of days defined in the entity’s Options and Futures Expiration Delay Days election.
Reporting
STAR to PACE (S2P)
Almost all reports in Eagle leverage data from Data Management, which is populated by the S2P process. This will be scheduled as part of the daily workflow, but can also be triggered manually as described in the Accounting section.
The S2P process creates a single row for each FX Option in the POSITION, POSITION_DETAIL, TRADE, and CASH_ACTIVITY tables. The MARKET_VALUE_INCOME column captures the total market value. Cash activity is appropriately signed based on whether the FX Option is bought or written.
Accounting Reports
Eagle has a core set of accounting reports that can be used to review FX Option information. These are designed to support the daily operational workflow for business users, allowing Grid Reports to be easily exported to Excel and customized to provide additional details as needed. Advanced Reports are intended to be client-facing and do not provide the same level of customization.
Insurance Reporting
Data Management Reporting
Performance
The performance toolkit calculates market value-based performance for FX Options using data supplied by the S2P process. However, this can be misleading because traditional market values do not capture an Option’s true exposure. Exposure-based analyses, which can be implemented using Eagle Enrichment, calculate more meaningful returns. The documentation and .egl files linked below as attachments are available for beta testing. Additional details are available in Exposure Reporting Best Practices and the Eagle Enrichment User Guide 2015.
Automation
Refer to Options Automation Processing Notes for general information about options security setup and trade processing via Message Center.
Sample messages for the standard interfaces are listed below.
Transaction Type | Default Message Center Stream | Sample Files |
---|---|---|
SMF Setup | eagle_default_in_csv_smf | |
Trades | eagle_default_in_csv_trades OR |