9 Define Security Preference Classes

Preferences are the options available for defining the attributes of a security. The following are some of the preferences that you can indicate for security:

  • The Market of Issue
  • The tenor
  • If there are Call’ and ‘Put’ options associated with the security
  • If you can trade the security in fractional quantities
  • The lot size in which the security can be traded (say multiples of 10)
  • If the coupon frequency is periodic (and, if yes, the actual frequency)
  • If you would like to automatically initiate Corporate Actions for the security

It is your preferences that give security its distinctiveness. You can maintain several sets or classes of security preferences. Thus, you can maintain a class of preferences for short-term zero-coupon bonds, another for medium-term zero-coupon bonds, a third for long-term zero-coupon bonds, and so on. When defining a security product of a certain type, say short-term zero-coupon bonds, you only need to associate it with the appropriate preference class defined. The product will acquire, by default, all the attributes defined for the class associated with it. You can change these default attributes to suit specific security products.

This topic contains the following sub-topics: