contango

[kuhn-tang-goh]

noun

plural

contangos, contangoes 

1. (on the London stock exchange) a fee paid by a buyer of securities to the seller for the privilege of deferring payment.

contango

/ kənˈtæŋɡəʊ /

noun

1. (formerly, on the London Stock Exchange) postponement of payment for and delivery of stock from one account day to the next

2. Also called: carry-over.  continuation. the fee paid for such a postponement Compare backwardation

verb

1. (tr) to arrange such a postponement of payment (for)

   my brokers will contango these shares

Word History and Origins

Origin of contango¹

1850–55; said to be alteration of continue or contingent

Word History and Origins

Origin of contango¹

C19: apparently an arbitrary coinage based on _continue

Example Sentences

Oil futures recently slipped into a trading pattern known as contango, where oil delivered today is worth less than oil delivered several months from now.

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But contango tends to be bearish.

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In a contango market, traders have an incentive to buy oil and store it instead of selling it for refining or other economically productive uses.

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Typically, owing to storage and financing costs, silver prices are in contango where spot prices are the lower of the two.

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Prompt Brent and WTI inter-month spreads are in slight contango.

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