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What is a contango position?

Updated: 9/14/2023
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A commodity market is in contango if the spot price is lower than the futures price. A contango position is the futures position you hold with a price higher than spot price.

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Q: What is a contango position?
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What is the symbol for Contango Oil and Gas Company in the AMEX?

The symbol for Contango Oil & Gas Company in the AMEX is: MCF.


What is the market cap for Contango Oil and Gas Company MCF?

As of July 2014, the market cap for Contango Oil & Gas Company (MCF) is $788,559,617.36


What is the main business of the Contango Group?

The main business of the Contango Group is an investment company. They are located in Sydney, Australia. This company encourages foreign investment in Australia.


What is contango in commodity markets?

In short, whether we have Backwardation or Contango depends on how the expected future spot prices are quantified and how the related commodity strips behave. Contango and Backwardation in Common Usage Investment professionals on financial TV channels and in newspapers colloquially refer to upward trends in futures prices as contango and downward trends in futures prices as backwardation. Contango and Backwardation in Economic TheoryIn economic theory regarding Backwardation and Contango, associated with John Maynard Keyns and John Hicks, for Contango to exist, expected spot prices (someday in the future) have to be lower than current futures prices for the same future moments, and reverse has to apply for Backwardation. Thus whether we have a contango or bacwardation depends on an arbitrary forward estimate of spot prices. For example, if we estimate that today's spot price, price at which a physical commodity is trading today, is an expected spot price someday in the future, and we see an upward trend in a commodity strip (series of future contracts prices), we see a contango. On the other hand, if the futures prices in a commodity strip trending upwards are considered unbiased estimates of the expected future spot prices, meaning they are equal, there is no Contango or Backwardation to speak of. By the way, upward trend of estimates may be a result of storage expenses.


Is the meaning of backwardation and contango used in finance textbooks the same as the colloquial meaning used by Wall Street?

In short, whether we have Backwardation or Contango depends on how the expected forward spot prices are quantified and how the related commodity strips behave. Contango and Backwardation in Common Usage Investment professionals on financial TV channels and in newspapers colloquially refer to upward trends in futures prices as contango and downwards trends in futures prices as backwardation. Contango and Backwardation in Economic TheoryIn economic theory regarding Backwardation and Contango, associated with John Maynard Keyns and John Hicks, for Contango to exist, expected spot prices (someday in the future) have to be lower than current futures prices for the same future moments, and reverse has to apply for Backwardation. Thus whether we have a contango or bacwardation depends on an arbitrary forward estimate of spot prices. For example, if we estimate that today's spot price, price at which a physical commodity is trading today, is an expected spot price someday in the future, and we see an upward trend in a commodity strip (series of future contracts prices), we see a contango. On the other hand, if the futures prices in a commodity strip trending upwards are considered unbiased estimates of the expected future spot prices, meaning they are equal, there is no Contango or Backwardation to speak of. By the way, upward trend of estimates may be a result of storage expenses.


What is backwardation in commodity markets?

In short, whether we have Backwardation or Contango depends on how the expected future spot prices are quantified and how the related commodity strips behave. Contango and Backwardation in Common Usage Investment professionals on financial TV channels and in newspapers colloquially refer to upward trends in futures prices as contango and downward trends in futures prices as backwardation. Contango and Backwardation in Economic TheoryIn economic theory regarding Backwardation and Contango, associated with John Maynard Keyns and John Hicks, for Contango to exist, expected spot prices (someday in the future) have to be lower than current futures prices for the same future moments, and reverse has to apply for Backwardation. Thus whether we have a contango or bacwardation depends on an arbitrary forward estimate of spot prices. For example, if we estimate that today's spot price, price at which a physical commodity is trading today, is an expected spot price someday in the future, and we see an upward trend in a commodity strip (series of future contracts prices), we see a contango. On the other hand, if the futures prices in a commodity strip trending upwards are considered unbiased estimates of the expected future spot prices, meaning they are equal, there is no Contango or Backwardation to speak of. By the way, upward trend of estimates may be a result of storage expenses.


Pay No Money Down When might this be an example of a contango?

If you're paying a premium to defer payment


When do backwardation and contango trends occur in commodity markets?

Backwardation trends are often occurring under expectations for oversupplied markets where buyers dictate conditions. Backwardation trends are common for non-perishable commodities perceived as abundant, inexpensive, and expensive to store. Crude Oil and Natural Gas were in the past frequently viewed as such. Contango trends are often occurring under expectations for undersupplied markets where sellers dictate conditions. Contango trends are common for scarce, expensive (forgone alternative interest is a huge factor), non-perishable and expensive to store commodities like Gold.


Why is the cost of fuel rising?

Becuase contango raises the prise per pump of fuel therefore we pay more because they raise the price of fuel.


What does it mean that the futures contracts are in contango?

The simple answer: When the the futures contract price is higher than the expected spot price when the contract becomes due, or during the lifetime of the contract. When the contract becomes due, the price should be exactly or very close to the spot price (the price of the commodity right now) on the day that it is due. But more often than not, this is not the case. So there would be a decline in prices as the contract approaching the last trading day (or even last minutes of trading that day) as the 'future price' is then matched to meet the spot price. Non-perishable commodities such as oil or gold are typically contango, as it would cost money to insure, store, etc the underlying commodity. This would make the 'future' price of a contract 12 months from now greater than the spot price to buy the same barrel of oil today. Remember, one of the objectives of futures contracts is for suppliers to lock in a price to guarantee that they will have xx barrels of oil, gold, etc in the future at $yy.yy sales price today. Contango is just an adjective that describes the actual phenomena of the futures price falling to line up with the spot price as the contract approaches maturity. The opposite of contango is backwardation.


What has the author Barbara Jefferis written?

Barbara Jefferis has written: 'One black summer' 'Contango day' 'First flight' 'The tall one' -- subject(s): Protected DAISY 'The wild grapes' 'Australian book contracts' -- subject(s): Authors and publishers


Which position is considered the honor position and is the reviewing officer's position?

The position on the right side