| Hedge ratio estimation studies avoid estimating hedge ratios for imminently maturing futures contracts because of the maturity effect whereby futures price volatility increases as price uncertainty is resolved at contract expiration. This study first points out that a futures-price volatility increase is neither necessary nor sufficient for reduced hedging effectiveness because hedging effectiveness depends on the cash-futures price correlation. To analyze the hedging performance of imminently maturing futures contracts risk is defined as the conditional variance of profit outcomes. The conditional mean is modeled as Brownian motion. This model was fit to cash and futures price data for corn, cotton, feeder cattle, soybeans, soybean oil, and soybean... |
