Netting

This Issue in United States

Concept of Netting in Futures Trading

In this context of financial law, the following is a definition of Netting: The process of calculating aggregate risk exposures across the portfolios of market participant. For example, if a trader has entered one trade in which she is long $100 worth of corn and another where she is short $90 of corn, her risk exposure after netting would be long $10 worth of corn. The rules by which netting occurs can have important ramifications for margin requirements. If, in the example above, the traders’ two positions were on different exchanges without any arrangement for netting, she might be required to post collateral as if she had not hedged her position by entering into off-setting agreements.