Derivatives: An Options Play for Super Sunday

NEW YORK - In an effort to demonstrate the mechanics of derivatives strategies, Societe Generale will create a real-time options market on Super Bowl Sunday, Jan. 29, based on the ongoing score of Super Bowl XXIX.

As part of an annual event that will be especially timely this year due to the controversies surrounding derivatives, a 450-seat auditorium in Manhattan will be converted into a large trading pit - complete with options and spot markets, big-screen TVs, telephone trading, and computerized back-office facilities.

Since the exercise is in the name of entertainment and education, no money will be involved. Participants will be allotted 200 points at the start of trading. The participant who can amass the most points by the end of the game will win a prize.

Participants will be able to trade spot, futures, and options contracts based on the game's ongoing score. The index will be calculated by subtracting the score of Team B from that of Team A and adding 100.

A trading pit will be on a stage, flanked by telephone operators taking orders from participants unable to attend in person. Onstage will be two 9- foot by 12-foot TV screens showing the football game live, along with a number of monitors showing Super Bowl and options market statistics.

Societe Generale said about 400 chief financial officers, treasurers, fund managers, securities and derivatives dealers, and journalists will be invited to participate.

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