Dates on caps and floors follow the X by Y terminology seen in RAs, except the numbers are in years, not months.

The first number is the start date seen from today.

The second number is the end date, again from today.

So for example, on the screen we see a one by five cap, which means it starts one year from today and runs for four years, hence finishing five years from today, a five by 10 at the money Straddle is a combination of a five by 10 cap and a five by 10 floor, both struck at the five year, five year forward swap rate.

It is always important to remember that while we refer to single caps and floors from an option point of view, what we are really considering is a strip of caplets and floors inside each.

So for example, if you were to buy a five by 10 straddle on three month UIO, you would be buying 40 individual options, four caplets per year, over five years in the cap, and the same again in the floor.

Each of those 40 options has its own price, its own at the money rate, its own volatility skew.

This shows how the inherent complexity of the interest rate curve compared to the simpler underlyings in equities and foreign exchange drives increased complexity in interest rate options compared with options in those other markets.