Toksyczne opcje walutowe – negatywne aspekty ograniczania ryzyka walutowego dla przedsiębiorstw na przykładzie wydarzeń z roku 2008

This article provides information about the exchange rate risk in companies. At the beginning the definitions of risk and exchange rate risk are provided. Next, the article includes a short analysis of the main financial instruments that can reduce those risks – forward/futures contract, option and SWAP contract. Besides many positive features of those instruments, the inappropriate usage of them can cause many serious problems. For this reason a reader will find herein not only a list of positive attributes of those instruments but also a description of their negative impact on entrepreneurs in the year 2008. The final part shows that although the described event took place five years ago, till now the market has not managed to solve problems caused by toxic derivatives and entrepreneurs still do not trust in this sort of exchange rate risk reduction possibilities.