Forward Ladder
Table of Contents
Summary
A forward ladder (also tenor ladder) is the structured, row-per-tenor presentation of quotes — one row per tenor, typically ordered from shortest to longest — that a trader reads and edits directly. It is distinct from a term structure: a term structure is the abstract, ordered series of tenor points a curve is; a forward ladder is the concrete, tabular surface a user reads and edits it through. The distinction matters because requirements framed against "the ladder" are about entry and display behaviour — what a user can add, remove, or see — while requirements framed against "the term structure" are about the underlying data and its mathematical properties (interpolation, extrapolation, provenance).
Detail
Definition
A forward ladder presents quotes across the standard tenor set as a table: one row per tenor, ordered shortest to longest, each row holding whatever value that tenor carries (an outright rate, a forward point, a discount factor — the specific quantity depends on context). This is the surface a professional trader reads to reference or compare quotes across time horizons at a glance, and — where the system supports editing — the surface through which individual entries are added, removed, or amended.
Ladder vs. term structure
- A term structure is the data: an ordered series of tenor points plus its metadata (holiday calendars, interpolation method). It exists whether or not any user is looking at it.
- A forward ladder is the presentation: a row-per-tenor view onto that same data, plus (where supported) the interaction surface for changing it.
A single term structure can in principle be presented through more than one ladder-like surface — see Multicurve Management for the related tenor × curve-identity grid, which presents an entire curve family rather than one curve's ladder alone.
See also
- Term Structures and Tenors — the hub.
- Term Structure — the underlying data a ladder presents.
- Tenor — the individual labels a ladder has one row per.
- Broken Dates and Turn Points — the entry/display requirements a ladder must satisfy for non-standard entries.
- Multicurve Management — the related tenor x curve-identity grid for an entire curve family.