The Euro Bund (or Bund) futures market is based upon short, medium and long term debt instruments (i.e. bonds) that are issued by Germany and Switzerland (bund is the German word for bond). The Bund futures market is provided by Eurex (Deutsche Boerse and Swiss Exchange) in Europe, and is one of the most liquid markets in the world, trading approximately 800,000 contracts per day. The Bund futures market is traded on Eurex's electronic trading system from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM Central European Time.
Underlying Bonds
The Bund futures market is a physical delivery market (i.e. the underlying instrument will be traded for any positions that are held until expiration). The underlying bonds are German and Swiss bonds with a remaining term of 8.5 to 10.5 years, and an issue amount of at least €5 billion.
Contract Specifications
The full contract specifications for the Bund futures market are as follows:
- Symbol: GBL (FGBL)
- Expiration date (as of March 2009): June 8th 2009 (two trading days before the tenth calendar day of every third month)
- Exchange: DTB (Eurex)
- Currency: EUR
- Multiplier / Contract value: 1,000 EUR
- Tick size / Minimum price change: 0.01
- Tick value / Minimum price value: 10 EUR
Holidays
In 2009, the Bund futures market is open for trading every trading day (Monday to Friday), except for the following holidays:
- January 1st
- April 4th
- April 13th
- May 1st
- December 24th
- December 25th
- December 31st
Exchange Web Site
The Eurex web site is available at http://www.eurexchange.com/, and provides additional information about the exchange, its trading system, and the Bund futures market.
