Financial Swaps
John Hull, in the financial classic, Introduction to Futures and Options Markets, defines a swap this way.
“An agreement to exchange cash flows in the future according to a prearranged formula.”
For propane, and almost all energy commodities, financial swaps work in this manner:
- The buyer of the swap will pay the seller a fixed price.
- The seller of the swap will pay the buyer a floating (variable) price. This variable price is often an average value.