And now try to read the whole sentence. Do you see somewhere the word"stocks"? Do you know what indexfutures are? Probably not.
You are aware that an index is composed of stocks, right? Some have names, like S&P500, which is an index composed of 500 stocks. Russell 2000. 2000 stocks. and Nasdaq 100. Not sure exactly how many stocks in that one??? 100, that's how many. As far as whether or not I know what index futures are, I know you imagine you're being clever and insulting, but you come across like a pouty mouth kid that lost an argument because he couldn't read very good. Go on, keep it up, I know you can't help yourself. But, I can't bother arguing with someone who is such a child.
Sheesh. The answer is NO, ok? lol! A stock index future cannot go negative, because all the stocks in the index cannot go negative! Everyone is freaking out about this bloody WTI thing! Guys, relax!
seems like no one has answered this question definitely and clearly. Now we know the exchange and trading platform allows for negative commodity price. Practically it is virtually impossible to have negative index futures. Technically speaking, is it possible to have negative index futures ? ie does the exchange and trading platform allows for negative value ? _______________
Technically speaking, no, negative index futures cannot happen. The whole world would blow up. Like, 401Ks, government bonds, etc. CL was a fluke guys! CME warned about it and was planning for it for weeks before it happened. When the CME starts testing for negative equity index prices on their exchange, THEN it will become a reality. Those guys are weirdly prescient.
Before the indexfutures will go negative, US politicians will sell all their stocks. Like some did, and got caught, before the Corona virus became public. So if you read politicians start selling again, you should be warned. Follow the "insidertrading" indicator. Or go in politics to have the news first. The 20 biggest stocks in the S&P 500 represent 32.38% of the index. So if all these companies would go broke and stocks would ba at zero, the S&P will still keep 67.62% of his previous value. So far away from zero and even further away from negative values. Do you see these 20 companies go broke all at the same time?
Interestingly thousands of people.will explain why index futures should/would/could/might/will/ought.... ... not be negative. And they don't answer whether exchange and trading platform allows negative number. Humans are simply humans
It's a totally pedantic question for a number of reasons: Oil didn't go negative - front-month went negative for delivery and settlement issues. Not to mention concentration issues - the mistake is self-correcting. Index futures are cash-settled and arbitrage is fairly easy. The number is a composite of the component with some multiplier/divisor. Dispersion books would have A "RAY CHARLES" ARBITRAGE unless the entire marketplace failed. Circuit breakers and most index products must have an 80% cap available or close. We learned from both 87 and LTCM to avoid closing only one component of the trade. Can the marketplaces quote negative spot numbers - I'm not aware of any that can't. Is there a tradeable negative spot - the synthetic. As a retail investor could I be quick enough to benefit? It depends on your technology and resources.
The answer is NO. Index futures is based on the spot index. Only way for, say, ES to go to zero is if the S&P 500 is trading at or near zero. And only way for S&P 500 to trade at or near zero is for its 500 components to trade at or near zero. As such, index futures cannot trade at negative price unless most of the 500 companies are trading below zero. But companies cannot trade below zero because once you go down to zero, you're effectively bankrupt.