CFAI Sample Exam #3 (Spoiler) - I need to vent...

Has anyone else taken this exam yet? In the derivatives section, one of the questions was in regards to a statement some portfolio manager made about the characteristics of forwards and futures. One of his statements concerned futures having no value throughout the duration of the contract and the question was to state whether he was correct or not. Knowing futures are marked-to-market, I said he was correct and subsequently got the question wrong. The correct answer, according to CFAI: Futures have values between being marked-to-market. While technically I agree, I thought this was a cheap question.

I think they explicitly mention that in the CFAI literature, but I agree, that was tricky. I remember thinking, no, they probably are not thinking about the few hours in between mark-to-market…

nope they are right… futures value are only zero when they are marked to market - during the day they have value… i paused on that question too…and then put my CFAI hat on…and bingo…i knew they would want that answer :slight_smile: hang in there…you get used to it!