The clearing house (CH) is a derivatives market infrastructure, which acts as counterparty in all transactions, thus eliminating the counterparty risk in exchange traded operations. Every market player should pay the margin (initial) at the subscription of the contract, and a maintaining margin should be paid to the CH at every price change. The CH selects its members and lets market know about open interest (i.e. number of open contracts) on a daily basis. At expiration, the CH guarantees the obligation referred to in the contract.

Bibliography
HULL  J. (2008) Options, futures and other derivatives, Prentice Hall.
OLDANI C. (2008) Governing Global Derivatives, Ashgate, London.

Editor: Chiara OLDANI
© 2010 ASSONEBB