Futures Market

To hedge interest rate risks in the euro area, investors make extensive use of forward contracts supplied with German government securities.

The high liquidity of Federal securities is strongly supported by the futures contracts traded on the German derivatives exchange Eurex. Only Federal securities are accepted for delivery of the contracts. The underlying securities of the futures contracts are the 2-, 5-, 10- and 30-year, and since 2020 also the green Federal securities.

The focus of turnover on the futures exchange in 2023 was clearly on the Bund Future, with almost 216 million contracts traded and a trading volume in the market value of more than 29 tn euros. Delivery obligations from this contract are supplied with nominal interest-bearing federal bonds with 10-year original maturities. Accordingly, these have accounted for the lion's share of turnover in Federal securities for years.

Contract Specifications of Futures on German Government Securities

ContractResidual time of underlying (years)cupon (%)minimum volume (€ bn)
Euro-SCHATZ-Futures1,75 - 2,2564
Euro-BOBL-Futures4,5 - 5,564
Euro-BUND-Futures8,5 - 10,564
Euro-BUXL-Futures24,0 - 3544

Eurex

Further information on the derivatives market for German Government securities is available from Eurex, the German derivatives exchange.

GO TO EUREX