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Financial Instruments
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018
Investments, All Other Investments [Abstract]  
Financial Instruments

4.    Financial Instruments:

The Partnership trades Futures Interests. Futures and forwards represent contracts for delayed delivery of an instrument at a specified date and price.

The fair value of an exchange-traded contract is based on the settlement price quoted by the exchange on the day with respect to which fair value is being determined. If an exchange-traded contract could not have been liquidated on such day due to the operation of daily limits or other rules of the exchange, the settlement price will be equal to the settlement price on the first subsequent day on which the contract could be liquidated.

The General Partner estimates that, at any given time, approximately 26.4% to 51.1% of the Partnership’s contracts are traded over-the-counter.

In general, the risks associated with non-exchange-traded contracts are greater than those associated with exchange-traded contracts because of the greater risk of default by the counterparty to a non-exchange-traded contract. The Partnership has credit risk associated with counterparty nonperformance. As of the date of the financial statements, the credit risk associated with the instruments in which the Partnership trades is limited to the unrealized gain amounts reflected in the Statements of Financial Condition.

The Partnership also has credit risk because MS&Co. acts as the commodity futures broker, or the counterparty, with respect to most of the Partnership’s assets. Exchange-traded futures and exchange-traded forward contracts are fair valued on a daily basis, with variations in value settled on a daily basis. With respect to the Partnership’s non-exchange-traded forward currency contracts, there are no daily settlements of variation in value, nor is there any requirement that an amount equal to the net unrealized gains (losses) on such contracts be segregated. However, the Partnership is required to meet margin requirements with the counterparty, which is accomplished by daily maintenance of the cash balance in a custody account and U.S. Treasury bills held at MS&Co., for the benefit of MS&Co. With respect to those non-exchange-traded forward currency contracts, the Partnership is at risk to the ability of MS&Co., the sole counterparty on all such contracts, to perform. The Partnership has a netting agreement with MS&Co. The primary terms are based on industry standard master netting agreements. This agreement, which seeks to reduce both the Partnership’s and MS&Co.’s exposure on non-exchange-traded forward currency contracts, should materially decrease the Partnership’s credit risk in the event of MS&Co.’s bankruptcy or insolvency.

The General Partner monitors and attempts to mitigate the Partnership’s risk exposure on a daily basis through financial, credit and risk management monitoring systems, and accordingly, believes that it has effective procedures for evaluating and limiting the credit and market risks to which the Partnership may be subject. These monitoring systems generally allow the General Partner to statistically analyze actual trading results with risk adjusted performance indicators and correlation statistics. In addition, online monitoring systems provide account analysis of U.S. Treasury bills, futures, forward and option contracts by sector, margin requirements, gain and loss transactions and collateral positions.

The Futures Interests traded, and the U.S. Treasury bills held, by the Partnership involve varying degrees of related market risk. Market risk is often dependent upon changes in the level or volatility of interest rates, exchange rates, and prices of financial instruments and commodities, factors that result in frequent changes in the fair value of the Partnership’s open positions, and consequently, in its earnings, whether realized or unrealized, and cash flow. Gains and losses on open positions of exchange-traded futures and exchange-traded forward contracts are settled daily through variation margin. Gains and losses on non-exchange-traded forward currency contracts are settled upon termination of the contract.

In the ordinary course of business, the Partnership enters into contracts and agreements that contain various representations and warranties and which provide general indemnifications. The Partnership’s maximum exposure under these arrangements cannot be determined, as this could include future claims that have not yet been made against the Partnership. The Partnership considers the risk of any future obligation relating to these indemnifications to be remote.