# Tag Info

33

Garabedian, Typically, the "swap curve" refers to an x-y chart of par swap rates plotted against their time to maturity. This is typically called the "par swap curve." Your second question, "how it relates to the zero curve," is very complex in the post-crisis world. I think it's helpful to start the discussion with a government bond yield curve to ...

24

I like to present to you a slightly different approach: Historically, only one single yield curve was derived from different instruments, such as OIS, deposit rates, or swap rates. However, market practice nowadays is to derive multiple swap curves, optimally one for each rate tenor. This idea goes against the idea of one fully-consistent zero coupon curve, ...

15

I guess it depends on what they're referring to... The traditional swap curve (LIBOR-based) is certainly not risk free, as evidenced by the experience of the financial crisis and the resulting migration to OIS discounting. The OIS curve (which is a kind of swap curve...) is now the standard risk-free curve. The Treasury yield curve is not favored, because ...

11

(In addition to the answers of Freddy and Phil H): With "modern" multi-curve setups: You have to distinguish between discount curves (which describe todays value of the a future fixed payoff (e.g. a zero coupon bond)) and forward curve, which describe the expectation (in a specific sense) of future interest rate fixings. Swaps pay LIBOR rates and are ...

10

The OIS is not the secured (collateralised) lending rate. It represents the cost of repeated overnight unsecured lending over periods of up to two weeks (sometimes more). Because it is based on overnight lending, it is assumed to have a lower credit risk than longer term interbank loans based on say 1M, 2M or 3M Libor and this is what drivers the OIS-Libor ...

9

You should take a look at the example from Hull's book. Assume that the 6-month, 12-month, 18-month zero rates are 4%, 4.5%, and 4.8%, respectively. Suppose we know that the 2-year swap rate is 5%, which implies that a 2-year bond with a semiannual coupon of 5% per annum sells for par: $$2.5 e^{-0.04 \bullet 0.5} + 2.5 e^{-0.045 \bullet 1.0} + 2.5 e^{-... 9 A Basis swap is a broad category of swaps where you exchange one floating rate against another floating rate. Without knowing the specific rates involved it is difficult to say more. An OIS Swap is an Overnight Index Swap, where you exchange a fixed rate against an average of the overnight rates for the tenor of the swap. For example, if the ON rate is ... 8 The reason why you can price a swap without a model is because you can replicate the payoff using only zero-coupon bonds. For the fixed leg this is trivial. For the floating leg, at T_0 invest 1 at Libor, at T_1 you get 1/B(T_0,T_1) = 1 + \tau L(T_0,T_1), you pay the floating coupon \tau L(T_0,T_1) reinvest 1 at Libor etc... at T_{n},... 8 To elaborate on Freddy's answer: These days you need to maintain a separate funding (usually OIS) curve to your Libor* type curves. Once you have this discounting curve, you can calculate from Libor instrument market data what the market estimations of that Libor are: 3m instruments like Interest Rate Futures, IRS with a 3m float leg, 3m FRAs can be used to ... 8 No, I'm afraid you're comparing apples with oranges. Your calculation of the DV01 of the swap is correct (with a caveat, see below), but the figure returned from swap.fixedLegBPS is not comparable. The DV01 tells you what happens to the NPV if the interest-rate curve change; in the case of the fixed leg, this affects the discount factors used to discount ... 7 Chapter 1: Goldilocks is ousted by the bears Once upon a time, the banks used a fixing called LIBOR as a measure of the risk-free interest rate. Then the big hairy crisis came along and ate all our assumptions, leaving just the bones of the fixing (upon which everything else still fixes) and the mantle of risk-free rate proxy was passed on to a family of ... 7 In traditional terminology PV01 is 'present value of a basis point' and DV01 is 'dollar value of a basis point' which are technically only different in different currencies. Bloomberg has decided to bastardise the terminology for different types of curve bumps so I wouldn't place too much attachment to the name. Regardless.. Analytic PV01 What I like to ... 6 It is incorrect to use 1m euribor or O/N euribor in a 6m Euribor forward curve. You should only use instruments based on 6M euribor, such as 1x7 FRA, 6x12 FRA or swaps v 6m Euribor, as you have done in your second example. The actual 6m euribor fixing itself can be thought of as a 0x6 FRA out of spot. Before the financial crisis basis between different ... 6 There is no contradiction. If the strike of the floor and cap are both equal to the swap rate, and all accrual/payment frequencies, etc. are the same, then put-call partiy implies$$C_{t}-F_{t}=S_{t}, where $C_{t},F_{t},S_{t}$ are the values of the cap, floor and swap instruments at time $t$. Since the (theoretical Black-Scholes) volatility is ...

6

At most banks, swaption traders have models that allow non atm volatilities to be controlled by two parameters. Specifically , a parameter to control the smile (richness of out of the money options) and the skew (whether implied vol is upward or downward sloping as a function of strike ). Look up papers on the SABR model. In practice, one would ...

6

The key inputs to this calculation are two yield curves obtained from market data: $\{v_i\}$ the discounting factors (value today of \$1 received at time i) and$\{r_i\}the forecasting curve (forward semiannual rates for period i to i+1). The calculation itself proceeds as follows. There are two legs to a fixed/floating interest rate swap. The fixed leg,... 5 Vol_smile. The sentence as you quote it doesn't make much sense, but my guess as to what they mean is this: OIS stands for Overnight Index Swap. In the US the overnight rate is called Fed Funds as 'experequite' mentioned (in the Euro-zone it is Eonia). The bank is borrowing at 3m Libor, which in this example is currently 2.10%. If 3m Fed Funds OIS is at 2%, ... 5 Consider a date sequence \begin{align*} 0 \leq t_0 \leq T_s < T_p < T_e, \end{align*} wheret_0$is the valuation date,$T_s$is the Libor start date,$T_p$is the payment date, and$T_e$is the Libor end date. Let$\Delta_s^e = T_e-T_s$. For$0\le t \le T_s\$, define \begin{align*} L(t, T_s, T_e) = \frac{1}{\Delta_s^e}\bigg(\frac{P(t, T_s)}{P(t, T_e)}-...

5

It turns out that the two things are the same, appropriately scaled. Proof: we can construct a 5 year swap using 3 month libor combined with a 3mo-4.75yr forward swap, weighted by the dv01s of each part. Thus, ignoring discounting, we have 5yr swap rate = (0.25*3mo libor + 4.75*forward rate)/5. This can be rewritten as 0.25*(5yr swap rate - ...

5

are you using the same volatility 20% for both black76 and Bachelier? The black76 is a lognormal model, where volatilities are quoted as relative price changes. The bachelier/normal model quotes volatilities as absolute changes. That might be what you're missing? Kind regards

5

A forward rate agreement is an agreement to exchange a fixed for a floating rate over one period, with the payment being made at the start of the period. A zero coupon swap (with both legs paid at maturity) is an agreement to exchange a fixed for floating rate over one or more periods, with the payments being made at the end of the final period. So the two ...

4

thanks for all answers above. William's answer is more direct. actually i was quite new to the calibration area one year ago, so my question is quite simple but that simplicity might mislead others to a complex context. to comment on my own question in case anyone new to it might drop it, Damiano Brigo's book Interest Rate Models Theory and Practice (2006) ...

4

I recenlty worked on a similar problem and solved it with the help of Quantlib library. Assuming you are working with EUR and USD: get cross currency (xccy) swap data EUR / USD. You want to know how the xccy is collateralized and if Mark-to-Market resets apply to the USD leg. get interest rates swaps fixed vs ois / 3m / 6m in EUR and USD build USD/FedFunds ...

4

The ois curves were (and still are) primarily build from adding together (a) interest rate swap rates and (b) Fed Funds/Libor basis swaps. For example, if 10yr swaps are 2.0%, and 10yr fF/libor is -35bp, the 10yr ois is 1.65%. The basis swaps have been liquid for decades, so this calculation has always been possible. However, participants didn't ...

4

I would not say that this is universally acknowledged but here is my view: Instead of considering par rates, i.e. 10Y and 20Y, consider forward rates, such as 10y and 10y10y. The useful difference here is that forwards do not 'overlap' and therefore incorporate aspects of each other into the price. A 20Y is >50% directly dependent upon the 10Y price for ...

4

Suppose 40yr bond and 30yr bond have the same yield. It is a mathematical fact as @attack68 has pointed out, that the convexity of the 40yr is greater than the convexity of the 30yr bond. So consider the following strategy ; long the 40 yr bond and short the 30yr bond with the same dv01. Then every time the market moves, you make money (get longer when ...

4

It's an interesting question. The fundamentally devout macro wannabe-strategist within cries out for a long-term growth/inflation expectation narrative. However, the cynical realist within reminds that although the market does make long-term predictions thus because it has to create prices then, there is no latent consensus that the world will really look so ...

4

(This is my opinion; someone is likely to disagee). I like to think of the carry as the predictable part (e.g. the coupon that accrues daily) and the rolldown as the stochastic part (the curves moved - maybe the forwards realized, maybe not. A good estimate of what it might turn out to be as to reprice for the next day assuming all forwards are realized. I ...

3

First of all, it seems that you are solely concerned about the Funding Valuation Adjustment (FVA) here, and not CVA; Sovereigns have credit risk which should also be valued here given they would not be posting any collateral as mitigant when the market moves in your favour. But let's focus on FVA: It is important to think about FVA (and all other VAs also) ...

3

An interest rate swap (IRS) can have a vega component if it is not a standard IRS. If you are familiar with the convexity adjustment for FRAs (and single period IRSs) compared with their respective short term interest rate (STIR) future, you will be aware that it is the different gamma components of these products that result in profit-and-loss (PnL) over ...

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