FRA. Prices are always quoted in rate terms, not price.

This is different from futures.

For example, what you see on screen is a typical FRA quote sheet showing bid and offer rates for a range of forward periods.

The convention for quoting RAs is to express the start and end of the forward period in months from the spot date.

So for example, a three by nine also described as threes nines.

FRA refers to a contract that starts three months from now and references a six month interest rate in this case from month three to month nine.

In trading conversations, you'll often hear something like threes, nines the 10th, meaning the trader is looking to enter into a three by nine FRA, starting on the 10th of the start month.

Now let's apply this to a specific quote.

Suppose an investor wants to buy a six by 12 or sixes twelves, FRA.

That means they want to lock in a six month interest rate starting six months.

In the future as a market taker, the investor would cross the spread, meaning they would be buying at the offer rate, effectively locking in a borrowing rate.

Looking at the screen, the six by 12 FRA is shown on the row labeled oh six x 12.

The offer rate is 2.082%.

So that's the rate at which the client would be able to buy the six by 12 FRA.