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Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities (Teucrium Corn Fund [Member])
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Teucrium Corn Fund [Member]
 
Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities

Note 4 -Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities

 

In the normal course of business, the Fund utilizes derivative contracts in connection with its proprietary trading activities. Investments in derivative contracts are subject to additional risks that can result in a loss of all or part of an investment. The Fund's derivative activities and exposure to derivative contracts are classified by the following primary underlying risks: interest rate, credit, commodity price, and equity price risks. In addition to its primary underlying risks, the Fund is also subject to additional counterparty risk due to inability of its counterparties to meet the terms of their contracts. For the three months ended March 31, 2013 the Fund invested only in commodity futures contracts and for the three months ended March 31, 2012, the Fund invested only in commodity futures contracts. Cleared Corn Swaps have standardized terms similar to, and are priced by reference to, the corresponding Benchmark Component Futures Contract. Additionally, Other Corn Interests that do not have standardized terms and are not exchange-traded, referred to as "over-the-counter" Corn Interests, can generally be structured as the parties to the Corn Interest contract desire. Therefore, the Fund might enter into multiple Cleared Swaps and/or over-the-counter Interests intended to exactly replicate the performance of the Benchmark Component Futures Contracts for the Fund, or a single over-the-counter Interest designed to replicate the performance of the Benchmark as a whole. Assuming that there is no default by a counterparty to an over-the-counter Interest, the performance of the Interest will not necessarily correlate exactly with the performance of the Benchmark or the applicable Benchmark Component Futures Contract.

 

Futures Contracts

 

The Fund is subject to commodity price risk in the normal course of pursuing its investment objectives. A futures contract represents a commitment for the future purchase or sale of an asset at a specified price on a specified date.

 

The purchase and sale of futures contracts requires margin deposits with a Futures Commission Merchant ("FCM"). Subsequent payments (variation margin) are made or received by the Fund each day, depending on the daily fluctuations in the value of the contract, and are recorded as unrealized gains or losses by the Fund. Futures contracts may reduce the Fund's exposure to counterparty risk since futures contracts are exchange-traded; and the exchange's clearinghouse, as the counterparty to all exchange-traded futures, guarantees the futures against default.

 

The Commodity Exchange Act requires an FCM to segregate all customer transactions and assets from the FCM's proprietary activities. A customer's cash and other equity deposited with an FCM are considered commingled with all other customer funds subject to the FCM's segregation requirements. In the event of an FCM's insolvency, recovery may be limited to the Fund's pro rata share of segregated customer funds available. It is possible that the recovery amount could be less than the total of cash and other equity deposited.

 

The following tables identify the fair value amounts of derivative instruments included in the statements of assets and liabilities as derivative contracts, categorized by primary underlying risk, at March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012. Balances are presented on a gross basis, prior to the application of the impact of counterparty and collateral netting. The following tables also identify the net gain and loss amounts included in the statements of operations as realized and unrealized gains and losses on trading of commodity futures contracts, categorized by primary underlying risk, for the three months ended March 31, 2013 and 2012.

 

As of March 31, 2013:

 

    Gross Amounts Not Offset in the Statements of
Assets and Liabilities
 
Primary Underlying Risk - Assets   Commodity Futures Contracts   Collateral, Due from Broker  
Commodity price   $ -     $ 3,572,300    
                   
                   
    Gross Amounts Not Offset in the Statements of
Assets and Liabilities
 
Primary Underlying Risk - Liabilities   Commodity Futures Contracts   Collateral, Due to Broker  
Commodity price   $ 2,824,800     $ -    
                   

 

 

As of December 31, 2012:

 

    Gross Amounts Not Offset in the Statements of
Assets and Liabilities
 
Primary Underlying Risk - Assets   Commodity Futures Contracts   Collateral, Due from Broker  
Commodity price   $ -     $ 5,106,775    
                   
                   
    Gross Amounts Not Offset in the Statements of
Assets and Liabilities
 
Primary Underlying Risk - Liabilities   Commodity Futures Contracts   Collateral, Due to Broker  
Commodity price   $ 2,213,775     $ -    
                   

 

 

The following is a summary of realized and unrealized gains and losses of the derivative instruments utilized by the Corn Fund:

 

Three months ended March 31, 2013

    Realized Loss on     Net Change in Unrealized Loss  
Primary Underlying Risk   Derivative Instruments     on Derivative Instruments  
Commodity Price                
Commodity futures contracts   $ (1,859,822)     $ (611,025)  

 

Three months ended March 31, 2012

    Realized Loss on     Net Change in Unrealized Loss  
Primary Underlying Risk   Derivative Instruments     on Derivative Instruments  
Commodity Price                
Commodity futures contracts   $ (2,136,224)     $ (1,442,778)  

 

Volume of Derivative Activities

 

The notional amounts and number of contracts, categorized by primary underlying risk, were as follows:

 

At March 31, 2013, the fair value of derivative instruments was as follows:

    Long Exposure  
    Notional     Number  
Primary Underlying Risk   Amounts     of Contracts  
Commodity price                
Commodity futures contracts   $ 39,975,000       1,373  

 

At December 31, 2012, the fair value of derivative instruments was as follows:

    Long Exposure  
    Notional     Number  
Primary Underlying Risk   Amounts     of Contracts  
Commodity price                
Commodity futures contracts   $ 37,724,525       1,142