CFTC Glossary

A Guide to the Language of the Futures Industry

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Unable: All orders not filled by the end of a trading day are deemed “unable” and void, unless they are designated GTC (Good Until Canceled) or open.

Uncovered Option: See Naked Option.

Underlying Commodity: The cash commodity underlying a futures contract. Also, the commodity or futures contract on which a commodity option is based, and which must be accepted or delivered if the option is exercised.

Variable Price Limit: A price limit schedule, determined by an exchange, that permits variations above or below the normally allowable price movement for any one trading day.

Variation Margin: Payment made on a daily or intraday basis by a clearing member to the clearing organization based on adverse price movement in positions carried by the clearing member, calculated separately for customer and proprietary positions.

Vault Receipt: A document indicating ownership of a commodity stored in a bank or other depository and frequently used as a delivery instrument in precious metal futures contracts.

Vega: Coefficient measuring the sensitivity of an option value to a change in volatility.

Vertical Spread: Any of several types of option spread involving the simultaneous purchase and sale of options of the same class and expiration date but different strike prices, including bull vertical spreads, bear vertical spreads, back spreads, and front spreads. See Horizontal Spread and Diagonal Spread.

Visible Supply: Usually refers to supplies of a commodity in licensed warehouses. Often includes floats and all other supplies "in sight" in producing areas. See Invisible Supply.

Volatility: A statistical measurement (the annualized standard deviation of returns) of the rate of price change of a futures contract, security, or other instrument underlying an option. See Historical Volatility, Implied Volatility.

Volatility Quote Trading: Refers to the quoting of bids and offers on option contracts in terms of their implied volatility rather than as prices.

Volatility Spread: A delta-neutral option spread designed to speculate on changes in the volatility of the market rather than the direction of the market.

Volatility Trading: Strategies designed to speculate on changes in the volatility of the market rather than the direction of the market.

Volume:  The number of contracts traded during a specified period of time. It is most commonly quoted as the number of contracts traded, but for some physical commodities may be quoted or as the total of physical units, such as bales, or bushels, pounds or dozens or barrels.