You have been assigned to implement a three-month hedge for a stock mutual fund

Question

You have been assigned to implement a three-month hedge for a stock mutual fund portfolio that primarily invests in medium-sized companies. The mutual fund has a beta of 1.15 measured relative to the S&P Midcap 400, and the net asset value of the fund is $175 million. Should you be long or short in the Midcap 400 futures contracts? Assuming the Midcap 400 Index is at 858 and its futures contract size is 500 times the index, determine the appropriate number of contracts to use in designing your cross-hedge strategy.

Explanation / Answer

Since the mutual fund has long exposure to the market, you need to be short in the Midcap 400 futures to hedge the exposure.

Beta of fund = 1.15

Beta of Midcap 400 index = 1 (as it is equivalent to the market)

Hence:

Number of contracts to hedge * 500 * 858 = 1.15 * 175,000,000

=> Answer = ~470 contracts

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