Naked Call - See Naked Option.

Naked Option - The sale of a call or put option without holding an offsetting position in the underlying commodity.

Naked Put - See Naked Option.

National Futures Association (NFA) - A self regulatory organization in the US, composed of futures commission merchants, commodity pool operators, commodity trading advisors, introducing brokers, leverage transaction merchants, commodity exchanges, commercial firms, and banks, that is responsible--under CFTC oversight--for certain aspects of the regulation of FCMs, CPOs, IBs, CTAs, and their associated persons, focusing primarily on the qualifications and proficiency, financial condition, retail sales practices, and business conduct of these futures professionals.

Nearbys - The nearest delivery months of a commodity futures market.

Near Month - The month of the futures contract closest to maturity.

Negative Carry -The cost of financing a financial instrument (the short-term rate of interest), when the cost is above the current return of the financial instrument. See Carrying Charges and Positive Carry.

Net Position - The difference between the open long contracts and the open short contracts held by trader in any one commodity.

NOB Spread - Note Against Bond. A futures spread trade involving the buying (selling) of a Treasury note futures contract and the selling (buying) of a Treasury bond futures contract.

Non-Member Traders - Speculators and hedgers who trade on the exchange through a member but do not hold exchange memberships.

Nominal Price (or Nominal Quotation) - Compute price quotations on futures for a period in which no actual trading took place, usually an average of bid and asked prices.

Notice Day - Any day on which notices of intent to deliver on futures contracts may be issued.

Notice of Delivery - A notice that must be presented by the seller of a futures contract to the clearinghouse. The clearinghouse then assigns the notice and subsequent delivery instrument to buyer. Also Notice of Intention to Deliver.

Notional Amount - The amount (in an interest rate swap forward rate agreement, or other derivative instrument) or each of the amounts (in a currency swap) to which interest rates are applied (whether or not expressed as a rate or stated on a coupon basis) in order to calculate periodic payment obligations. Also called the notional principal amount, the contract amount, the reference amount, and the currency amount.