by When the securities are bought with the sole object of selling them in future at higher prices or these are sold now with the intention of buying at a lower price in future, are called speculation transactions. The main objective of such transactions is to take advantage of price differential at different times. The stock exchange also provides for settlement of such transactions even by receiving or paying, as the case may be, just the difference in prices.
For example, Ramu bought 200 shares of Tata Steel Ltd. at Rs. 210 per share and sold them at Rs. 235 per share. He does not take and give delivery of the shares but settles the transactions by receiving the difference in prices amounting to Rs. 5,000 minus brokerage. In another case, Manu bought 200 shares of ONGC Ltd. at Rs. 87 per share and sold them at Rs. 69 per share. He settles these transactions by simply paying the difference amounting to Rs. 3600 plus brokerage. However, now-a days stock exchanges have a system of rolling settlement. Such facility is limited only to transactions of purchase and sale made on the same day, as no carry forward is allowed.
Speculation: As a matter of basic intention
Though speculation and investment are different in some respects, in practice it is difficult to say who is a genuine investor and who is a pure speculator. Sometimes even a person who has purchased the shares as a long-term investment may suddenly decide to sell to reap the benefit if the price of the share goes up too high or do it to avoid heavy loss if the prices starts declining steeply. But he cannot be called a speculator because his basic intention has been to invest. It is only when a person’s basic intention is to take advantage of a change in prices, and not to invest, then the transaction may be termed as speculation.
Speculation = Settlement by paying difference in price without delivery of securities
In strict technical terms, however, the transaction is regarded as speculative only if it is settled by receiving or paying the difference in prices without involving the delivery of securities. It is so because, in practice, it is quite difficult to ascertain the intention. Some people regard speculation as nothing but gambling and consider it as an evil. But it is not true because while speculation is based on foresight and hard calculation, gambling is a kind of blind and reckless activity involving high degree of chance element. No only that, speculation is a legal activity duly recognised as a prerequisite for the success of stock exchange operations while gambling is regarded as an evil and a punishable activity. However, reckless speculation may take the form of gambling and should be avoided.
Arbitrageurs
Arbitrage is the simultaneous purchase and sale of equivalent assets at prices which guarantee a fixed profit at the time of the transactions, although the life of the assets and, hence, the consummation of the profit may be delayed until some future date. The key element in the definition is that the amount of profit be determined with certainty. It specifically excludes transactions which guarantee a minimum rate of return but which also offer an option for increased profits. Arbitrageurs are in business to take advantage of a discrepancy between prices in two different markets (Eg : NSE and BSE) . If, for example, they see the futures price of an asset getting out of line with the cash price, they will take offsetting positions in the two markets to lock in a profit.
This is the most important part of the arbitrage transaction. You have locked in a riskless arbitrage profit but how do you actually realize the profits that you have locked. In the cash market you can actually realize profits by selling your shares. In the arbitrage market there are actually two ways of realizing the lock-in profit on the arbitrage transaction.
You can realize the profit on arbitrage by unwinding your trade; that means you reverse your long position in equity and your short position in futures simultaneously
You can hold on to your cash market position in your portfolio, but you can roll over your futures position to the next contract based on the spread
Unwinding your arbitrage trade:
As we are aware, in an arbitrage trade you buy in the cash market and sell in the futures market. That means you are long in cash market and short in the futures market on the same stock and in the same quantity. What is interesting to note is that you do not have to wait till the date of expiry to unwind your position. You can even unwind your arbitrage earlier if the spread has come down substantially.
