Answer:
The size of the futures position should be 64.2% of the size of the company’s exposure in a three-month hedge.
Explanation:
As given,
The standard deviation of quarterly changes in the prices of a commodity = $0.65
The standard deviation of quarterly changes in a futures price on the commodity = $0.81
The coefficient of correlation between the two changes = 0.8
Now,
Optimal hedge ratio = 0.8× = 0.8×0.80 = 0.6419
⇒Optimal hedge = 0.6419 ≈ 0.642 = 64.2 %
⇒The size of the futures position should be 64.2% of the size of the company’s exposure in a three-month hedge.