A credit risk swap (CDS) consists of an agreement entered into by a party to pay the lost principal and interest on a loan to the buyer of CDS when a borrower is defaulted with a loan. Excessive indebtedness and mismanagement of risks in the CDS market were one of the causes of the 2008 financial crisis. Changes in the value of assets can offset changes in the value of the underlying swap portfolio for a number of fluctuations in interest rates, exchange rates or the basis between futures and bonds. Currency swos include two fictitious principles that are exchanged at the beginning and end of the agreement. These fictitious principles are predetermined dollar amounts or capital amounts on which the interest payments exchanged are based. But this principle is never really reimbursed: it is strictly «notional» (which theoretically means). It is only used as a basis for calculating interest payments that change ownership. A swap in which the floating rate index is the acceptance rate of U.S. DREI bankers would have an index entry risk if, for example, the best swap available on that date is the U.S. three-month libor (London Interbank Offered Rate for the U.S. dollar).
If the correlation between the two indices used to hedge the transaction changes, the swap portfolio is exposed to a repayment risk. Swaps and hedges are not interchangeable terms, but the former are often used as second. A swap occurs when two parties agree to exchange cash flows on the basis of a defined principle. Coverage is when an investor tries to secure his income by accepting a future price set for a product. This example does not take into account the other benefits that abc may have obtained by participating in the swap. For example, the company may have needed another loan, but lenders were not willing to do so unless the interest obligations on its other obligations were set. Another Greek option, gamma, is the expression of changes in the size of the position (i.e. changes in the delta), as it corresponds to changes in the level of interest rates, while vega is the sensitivity of the portfolio to changes in the implied volatility of the at-the-money options related to the maturity bump in question. This can be important, z.B. if the portfolio contains swap options.