NISM-Series-I: Currency Derivatives Certification Examination

Sample Questions
1. Which term best describes EUR currency? (a) Managed float (b) Pegged to USD (c) Pegged to gold (d) Free floating 2. Which of the following is true? (a) Base currency is the first currency in a currency pair (b) Base currency is the second currency in a currency pair (c) Quotation currency is the first currency in a currency pair (d) Exchange rates are quoted in per unit of quotation currency 3. Assume you are an exporter and you want to sell USD that you have received as export remittance. The bank quotes a price of 45.10/ 45.12 for USDINR. At what price can you sell one unit of USD? (a) 45.12 (b) 45.11 (c) 45.09 (d) 45.10 4. As a trader you believe EURUSD will move from 1.38 to 1.44 in next 2 months. Which of the following would you do to execute this view using currency futures contract of EURINR and USDINR? (a) Long EURINR (b) Short EURINR (c) Short EURINR, Long USDINR (d) Long EURINR, Short USDINR 5. As a trader you believe GBPUSD will move from 1.63 to 1.68 in next 2 months. Which of the following would you do to execute this view using currency futures contract of GBPINR and USDINR? (a) Long GBPINR (b) Long GBPINR, Short USDINR (c) Short GBPINR, Long USDINR (d) Short GBPINR 6. One year interest rate is 4% in US and 1% in UK. If current GBPUSD spot rate is 1.65, which of the following could be closest to one year future rate of GBPUSD? (a) 1.6995 (b) 1.6005 (c) 1.7325 (d) 1.6500

7. If one year interest rate is 2% in US and 10% in India. If current USDINR spot rate is 44, which of the following could be closest to the six month future rate of USDINR? (a) 40.48 (b) 47.52 (c) 42.24 (d) 45.76 8. An exporter sells 10 lots of one month EURINR futures at 63. At the expiry, the settlement price was announced as 63.70. How much profit/loss (in Rupees) did he make on the transaction? (a) Profit of 7000 (b) Profit of 700 (c) Loss of 7000 (d) Loss of 700 9. An international trading company has export revenue in USD and it uses part of it to make import payments in GBP and balance is converted to INR. The company is concerned about GBPUSD risk for its import payments. Which of the following best describes company's risk and the currency futures strategy that it may use to mitigate the risk? (a) USD depreciating against GBP; Short GBPINR and long USDINR for same maturity (b) USD appreciating against GBP; Short USDINR and long GBPINR for same maturity (c) USD appreciating against GBP; Short GBPINR and long USDINR for same maturity (d) USD depreciating against GBP; Short USDINR and long GBPINR for same maturity 10. An IT professional buys a house for INR 500,000 for which payment has to be made after three months. As he is expecting to receive USD 10,000 in three months, he executes 10 USDINR futures contracts to hedge currency risk at a price of 50. When he received the payment, he converted USD into INR with his bank at a price of 51 for making the payment for the house and also settles the contract at a price of 49. Given this situation, would he have sold/ bought USDINR futures and would the effective price for house be lower than or higher than USD 10,000? (a) Bought, Higher (b) Sold, Higher (c) Bought, Lower (d) Sold, Lower 11. A trader executes following currency futures trade: buys one lot of USD/INR, sells one lot of JPY/INR. What view has he executed? (a) JPY strengthening against USD (b) JPY weakening against USD (c) INR strengthening against USD (d) INR weakening against JPY 12. A trader in India expects international gold prices to appreciate from USD 1500 per ounce to USD 1800 in next six months. To benefit from the view, he buys 30 grams of gold at Rupees 22,000 per gram and also sold 6 month USDINR futures at 46. After six months, gold prices appreciated to USD 1800 per ounce and the trader sold gold at Rupees 24,000 per gram and

unwinds currency futures contract at 44. Assuming 1 ounce is equal to 3 grams, how many lots of currency futures would he have used to hedge the currency risk and how much was the real return for the investor? (a) 15 lots, 13% (b) 18 lots, 12% (c) 15 lots, 13.6% (d) 18 lots, 13.6% 13. In OTC market, one month USDINR is quoting at 43.75/44.00 and futures for same maturity is quoting at 44.50/44.60. Which of the following describes possible arbitrage trade and possible arbitrage profit per USD if the arbitrage trade is carried until maturity? (a) Sell USDINR in OTC and buy in futures, 85 paise (b) Buy USDINR in OTC and sell in futures, 60 paise (c) Buy USDINR in OTC and sell in futures, 75 paise (d) Buy USDINR in OTC and sell in futures, 50 paise 14. If you expect USDINR spot value to remain stable over next one month and also expect forward premium with USD at premium to INR to continue expect the future value of INR at a discount to USD to continue, what trade position could result in losses? (a) Selling USDINR OTC forward (b) Buying USDINR futures (c) Selling USDINR futures (d) Selling long term USDINR futures and buying short term USDINR futures 15. A person has invested USD 100,000 in US equities with a view of appreciation of US stock market. In next one year, his investments in US equities appreciated in value to USD120,000. The investor decided to sell off his portfolio and repatriate the capital and profits to India. At the time of investing abroad the exchange rate was 44.5 and at the time of converting USD back into INR, he received an exchange rate of 46. How much is the return on investment in USD and in INR respectively? (a) 20%, 16% (b) 20%, 24% (c) 20%, 20% (d) 20%, 18% 16. A person has invested INR 100,000 in an Indian corporate bond for a year giving a return of 16% in one year. The person plans to use the proceeds from the maturity of corporate bond to fund his son's education on US. At the time of investing in the corporate bond, USDINR spot rate was 50 and one year premium was 4%. The person decides to hedge currency risk using USDINR one year futures. At the end of one year, how many USD can this person remit to his son? (a) 2320 (b) 2417 (c) 2083 (d) 2231

17. A trading member (TM) has two clients "A" and "B" and he also does proprietary trading in currency futures. On day 1, TM buys 12 lots of USDINR one month futures and also sells 2 lots of the same contract on the same day in his proprietary book. On the same day, client "A" buys 12 lots of USDINR one month futures and also sells 2 lots of the same contract while client "B" buys 12 lots and sells 2 lots. What would be the open position (in USD) of the trading member, client "A" and client "B" respectively at the end of day 1? (a) 30,000; 10,000; 10,000 (b) 10,000; 10,000; 10,000 (c) zero, 10,000; 10,000 (d) 10,000; zero; zero 18. A trading member (TM) has two clients "A" and "B" and he also does proprietary trading in currency futures. On day 1, TM buys 8 lots of USDINR one month futures and also sells 2 lots of the same contract on the same day in his proprietary book. On the same day, client "A" buys 8 lots of USDINR one month futures and also sells 2 lots of the same contract while client "B" sells 8 lots and buys 2 lots. What would be the open position (in USD) of the trading member, client "A" and client "B" respectively at the end of day 1? (a) zero; 6,000; 6,000 (b) 18,000; 6,000; 6,000 (c) 6,000; zero; zero (d) 6,000; 6,000; 6,000 19. Which of the following best describes the total open interest which is used for the purpose of monitoring of open position during the day? (a) Minimum open interest in the previous day (b) Total open interest at the time of monitoring (c) Total open interest at end of previous day (d) Maximum open interest in the previous day 20. Which of the following best describes the SEBI prescribed open position limit for EURINR contracts for a client? (a) 5% of open interest or EUR 5 million, whichever is higher (b) 5% of open interest or EUR 10 million, whichever is higher (c) 6% of open interest or EUR 5 million, whichever is higher (d) 6% of open interest or EUR 10 million, whichever is higher 21. Which of the following best describes the SEBI prescribed open position limit for JPYINR contracts for a bank trading member? (a) 15% of open interest or JPY 2000 million, whichever is higher (b) 15% of open interest or JPY 1000 million, whichever is higher (c) 15% of open interest or JPY 75 million, whichever is higher (d) 12.5% of open interest or JPY 2000 million, whichever is higher 22. Which of the following acts is mainly responsible for governing the securities trading in India? (a) FEMA, 1999 (b) SC(R)A, 1956

(c) SEBI Act 23. Which of the following segments of market participants are not allowed to trade in currency futures? (a) Trusts (b) NRIs (c) Any corporate not having exposure to foreign currency 24. What is the minimum net worth for a company for it to be eligible for applying to become an authorized exchange for currency futures? (a) Rs 200 crore (b) Rs 100 crore (c) Rs 50 crore (d) Rs 75 crore 25. Which of the following organizations issues guidelines for accounting of currency futures contracts? (a) ICSI (b) ICWAI (c) IIM (d) ICAI 26. What are the basic accounting heads to be maintained by any market participant for maintaining currency futures accounts? (a) Initial margin - currency futures (b) Profit and Loss - currency futures (c) Mark to market - currency futures (d) Initial margin - currency futures and Mark to market - currency futures 27. Which of the following best describes the guidelines for brokers with respect to execution of client orders? (a) Promptly intimate the execution or non-execution of the order (b) Intimate the execution or non-execution within two hour of deal execution (c) Intimate the execution or non-execution by the end of the day (d) Intimate the execution or non-execution within three hour of deal execution 28. Which of the following best describes the guidelines for brokers with respect to issuing of contract notes for execution of orders? (a) Broker should make guidelines for his sub-brokers to issue contract notes (b) Broker should promptly issue contract notes to his clients and clients of his sub-brokers (c) Broker should ensure that his sub-brokers issue contract notes every week to their clients (d) Broker should have a separate audit team which inspects the process of issuing contract notes at all his sub-brokers 29. An employee of a broking house has started giving advice on taking trading position on USDINR currency futures on TV. Which of the following best describes the steps that broking house needs to take to ensure that its employee complies with guidelines?

(a) Employee to also disclose the proprietary interest, including long and short position, of broking house in USDINR currency futures contracts (b) Employee to be presentable (c) Employee to also share technical analysis to support currency view 30. Which of the following best describes the guidelines with respect to nature of agreement that a sub-broker has to execute with his clients? (a) Tripartite agreement between him, broker and his client clearly specifying the rights of broker but not his obligations (b) Bipartite agreement between him and his client clearly specifying rights and obligations of each party (c) Bipartite agreement between him and his client clearly specifying the brokerage to be charged (d) Tripartite agreement between him, broker and his client clearly specifying rights and obligations of each party 31. A client buys a USD call option at strike of 45.5 and pays a premium of INR 0.3. What would be the breakeven point for the transaction? (a) 45.2 (b) 45.6 (c) 46.1 (d) 45.8 32. A client sells a USD call option at strike of 45.8 and receives a premium of INR 0.3. What would be the breakeven point for the transaction? (a) 45.5 (b) 46.1 (c) 46.8 (d) 45.8 33. One of the key difference in OTC and Exchange traded USD-INR currency option market is related to ___________. (a) Lot size (b) Requirement of proof of underlying FX transaction (c) Market timings (d) Both (b) and (c) 34. A trading member has two clients in currency futures segment and one client in currency option segment. At the end of a trading day, one of the clients in currency futures segment has 5000 USD short position and the other client has 4000 USD long position. Additionally, the currency option client has 2000 USD long position. What is the gross open position for the trading member for the purpose of monitoring open position? (a) 4000 USD (b) 11000 USD (c) 2000 short for currency futures and 2000 long for currency options (d) 20000 USD

35. For a person who is trading in both currency futures and currency options, the open interest would be monitored for combined gross positions in futures and options. (a) TRUE (b) FALSE 36. A trading member has two clients in currency futures segment and one client in currency option segment. During the day, each of the clients in currency futures segment sold 6000 USD and bought 3000 USD. At the end of a trading day, each of the client in currency futures segment have 6000 USD short position and 3000 USD long position. Additionally, the currency option client has 3000 USD long position. What is the gross open position for the trading member for the purpose of monitoring open position (a) No open position (b) 12000 USD (c) 2000 short for currency futures and 2000 long for currency options (d) 9000 USD 37. An active trader in currency options market wants to execute his view on change in volatility over a period of time and wants to be insulated from changes in other factors impacting option pricing. What option strategy is he likely to use? (a) Short option (b) Long option (c) Covered call (d) Calendar spread 38. Assume that price of a USD-INR call option is quoted as INR 0.25 / 0.27 (bid price / ask price). Given this quote, at what price could a company buy the call option? (a) 0.27 (b) 0.25 (c) 0.23 (d) 0.29 39. In OTC currency derivative market in India, is it possible for a corporate to write an option and receive a net premium? (a) Possible (b) Not possible (c) Possible, if he can give to the bank a copy of underlying trade transaction against which option has been written 40. Assume that on 1st December 2010, USD-INR spot was at 45, premium for January 2011 maturity put option at strike of 45.5 is INR 0.54/0.55 and premium for January 2011 maturity call option at strike of 45 is INR 0.71/0.72. A client executes a trade wherein he buys put at a strike of 45.5 and sells a call at a strike of 45. On expiry the RBI reference rate is 44.75. How much net profit/loss did the client make per USD? (a) Loss of INR 0.2 (b) Profit of INR 0.15 (c) Profit of INR 0.91 (d) Loss of INR 0.96

ANSWERS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. (d) (a) (d) (d) (b) (a) (d) (c) (d) (d) (b) (c) (d) (b) (b) (d) (a) (b) (c) (c) 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. (a) (b) (b) (b) (d) (d) (a) (b) (a) (d) (d) (b) (d) (b) (a) (d) (d) (a) (b) (c)