Money market

As money became a commodity, the money market became a component of the financial markets for assets involved in short-term borrowing, lending, buying and selling with original maturities of one year or less. Trading in the money markets is done over the counter, is wholesale. Various instruments exist, such as Treasury bills, commercial paper, bankers' acceptances, deposits, certificates of deposit, bills of exchange, repurchase agreements, federal funds, and short-lived mortgage-, and asset-backed securities. It provides liquidity funding for the global financial system. Money markets and capital markets are parts of financial markets. The instruments bear differing maturities, currencies, credit risks, and structure. Therefore they may be used to distribute the exposure.

Money Market: Treasury Bills (T-Bills)

Treasury Bills (T-bills) are the most marketable money market security. Their popularity is mainly due to their simplicity. Essentially, T-bills are a way for the U.S. government to raise money from the public. In this tutorial, we are referring to T-bills issued by the U.S. government, but many other governments issue T-bills in a similar fashion. T-bills are short-term securities that mature in one year or less from their issue date. They are issued with three-month, six-month and one-year maturities. T-bills are purchased for a price that is less than their par (face) value; when they mature, the government pays the holder the full par value . Effectively, your interest is the difference between the purchase price of the security and what you get at maturity. For example, if you bought a 90-day T-bill at $9,800 and held it until maturity, you would earn $200 on your investment. This differs from coupon bonds, which pay interest semi-annually. Treasury bills (as well as notes and bonds) are issued through a competitive bidding process at auctions. If you want to buy a T-bill, you submit a bid that is prepared either non-competitively or competitively. In non-competitive bidding, you'll receive the full amount of the security you want at the return determined at the auction. With competitive bidding, you have to specify the return that you would like to receive.

Call Market
A type of market in which each transaction takes place at predetermined intervals and where all of the bid and ask orders are aggregated and transacted at once. The exchange determines the market clearing price based on the number of bid and ask orders. A call market is contrasted to an auction market, where orders are filled as soon as a buyer/seller is found for any given order at an agreed upon price. In a call market, the price is set by the exchange so the market will clear, or almost clear, every time orders are filled. This is in stark contrast to the auction market, where prices are determined by buyers and sellers. Because the call market groups transactions together, there is a substantial increase in liquidity. Although liquidity is generally considered to be a good quality in any marketplace, sellers may lose some of the liquidity premium, which is can be substantial.

Commercial papers
In the global money market, commercial paper is an unsecured promissory note with a fixed maturity of 1 to 364 days. Commercial paper is a money-market security issued (sold) by large corporations to get money to meet short term debt obligations (for example, payroll), and is only backed by an issuing bank or corporation's promise to pay the face amount on the maturity date specified on the note. Since it is not backed by collateral, only firms with excellent credit ratings from a recognized rating agency will be able to sell their commercial paper at a reasonable price. Commercial paper is usually sold at a discount from face value, and carries higher interest repayment rates than bonds. Typically, the longer the maturity on a note, the higher the interest rate the issuing institution must pay. Interest rates fluctuate with market conditions, but are typically lower than banks' rates.

Certificate of deposit
A savings certificate entitling the bearer to receive interest. A CD bears a maturity date, a specified fixed interest rate and can be issued in any denomination. CDs are generally issued by commercial banks and are insured by the FDIC. The term of a CD generally ranges from one month to five years.

A certificate of deposit is a promissory note issued by a bank. It is a time deposit that restricts holders from withdrawing funds on demand. Although it is still possible to withdraw the money, this action will often incur a penalty. For example, let's say that you purchase a $10,000 CD with an interest rate of 5% compounded annually and a term of one year. At year's end, the CD will have grown to $10,500 ($10,000 * 1.05). CDs of less than $100,000 are called "small CDs"; CDs for more than $100,000 are called "large CDs" or "jumbo CDs". Almost all large CDs, as well as some small CDs, are negotiable.

Repo market
The over-the-counter repo market is now one of the largest and most active sectors in the US money market. Repos are widely used for investing surplus funds short term, or for borrowing short term against collateral. Dealers in securities use repos to manage their liquidity, finance their inventories, and speculate in various ways. The Fed uses repos to manage the aggregate reserves of the banking system. What are Repos? Repos, short for repurchase agreements, are contracts for the sale and future repurchase of a financial asset, most often Treasury securities. On the termination date, the seller repurchases the asset at the same price at which he sold it, and pays interest for the use of the funds. Although legally a sequential pair of sales, in effect a repo is a short-term interest-bearing loan against collateral.

Forex market
Forex (FOReign EXchange market) is an inter-bank market that took shape in 1971 when global trade shifted from fixed exchange rates to floating ones. This is a set of transactions among forex market agents involving exchange of specified sums of money in a currency unit of any given nation for currency of another nation at an agreed rate as of any specified date. During exchange, the exchange rate of one currency to another currency is determined simply: by supply and demand exchange to which both parties agree...