Interest-rate swaps made up nearly half of global derivatives notional amounts in 2004

Evidence

As has already been noted, a swap is a contract to exchange two income streams for example, fixed-rate and floating-rate interest on the same notional sum. Swaps are a recent invention they date only from the early 1980s but they have become important financial derivatives, widely used to manage the risks of interest-rate fluctuations. Around 47 percent of the $273 trillion in total notional amounts of derivatives contracts outstanding worldwide at the end of June 2004 was made up of interest-rate swaps. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 979

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Financial derivatives grew from nothing to $108 trillion by 2000 — Donald MacKenzie & Yuval Millo, Constructing a Market, Performing Theory, 23