Handel med derivater – del 1

Today, trading with derivatives makes up an important part of the financial markets, including in the Nordics where Nasdaq Nordic offers trading and clearing of options and futures based on Swedish, Danish, Finnish, and Norwegian shares and indices and where large Nordic investors such as pension funds, asset managers and hedge funds seek to get exposure to the global derivatives markets. The total notional amount of all open derivatives trades at the end of the second quarter of 2023 was more than USD 800 trillion globally. This article shows how trading with derivatives originated, how a series of scandals involving derivatives have led to extensive regulation of trading, what derivatives can be used for, which derivatives are used and how to trade with them. The market for trading derivatives is complex and cannot be adequately described in a single article. This article is an introduction to the subject but it is also the first article in a series on derivatives trading. The upcoming articles will describe the regulation of derivatives trading in the EU in more detail, as well as explain in more detail how the regulation, the specific agreements and the trading infrastructure in interaction influence the practical trading of derivatives. The focus of the articles will be on professional investors' use of derivatives in their hedging and investment strategies. The focus will also be on the legal aspects of derivatives trading rather than on advanced trading strategies or their technical implementation.