Argo Securities, Market Maker for options at Fish Pool – Fishfarmer Magazine

Argo Securities, Market Maker for options at Fish Pool03 March, 2010 –

The regulated marketplace Fish Pool ASA recently launched salmon options as hedging and investment instruments for its members.

As a part of this product expansion Fish Pool has signed a Market Maker agreement with the leading Norwegian Investment bank Argo Securities. The agreement implies that Argo Sec., on a continuous basis are placing option prices for given periods, with a given spread at Fish Pool’s trading screen. “For Fish Pools members, this agreement is important as there will be available writers and buyers of both Call and Put options for salmon at any time,” says CEO in Fish Pool ASA, Søren Martens.

“Argo Securities will price the premium of the options based on a calculation of the option strike price, time horizon and the implied volatility in the salmon price. This is a complex calculation that requires special expertise which Argo Securities holds “continues Martens.

”It is unique for a regulated market such as ours to bring about a Market Maker agreement already in the launch period for options. We are not aware of any other similar marketplaces that have achieved such agreements in the early stages, “says CEO Søren Martens. “This is an exciting opportunity in line with our strategy to offer a broader range of products to our customers and to expand our presence in derivatives. The Sparebank1 Group has a wide range of clients within the marine industry and this is part of our commitment to this the industry” says the Head of brokerage and trading in Argo Securities, Didrik Kjeldahl.