426 Part IV: Additional Considerations 
The trader makes 5 points from the stock trade, buying it at 45 and selling it at 50 via 
the put exercise, and also collects the I-point dividend, for a total inflow of 6 points. 
Since he loses the 5¾ points he paid for the put, his net profit is ¼ point. 
Far in advance of the ex-dividend date, a deeply in-the-money put may trade 
very close to parity. Thus, it would seem that the arbitrageur could "load up" on these 
types of positions and merely sit back and wait for the stock to go ex-dividend. There 
is a flaw in this line of thinking, however, because the arbitrageur has a carrying cost 
for the rrwney that he must tie up in the long stock. This carrying cost fluctuates with 
short-term interest rates. 
Example: If the current rate of carrying charges were 6% annually, this would be 
equivalent to 1 % every 2 months. If the arbitrageur were to establish this example 
position 2 months prior to expiration, he would have a carrying cost of .5075 point. 
(His total outlay is 50¾ points, 45 for the stock and 5¾ for the options, and he would 
pay 1 % to carry that stock and option for the two months until the ex-dividend date.) 
This is more than ½ point in costs - clearly more than the ¼-point potential profit. 
Consequently, the arbitrageur must be aware of his carrying costs if he attempts to 
establish a dividend arbitrage well in advance of the ex-dividend date. Of course, if 
the ex-dividend date is only a short time away, the carrying cost has little effect, and 
the arbitrageur can gauge the profitability of his position mostly by the amount of the 
dividend and the time value premium in the put option. 
The arbitrageur should note that this strategy of buying the put and buying the 
stock to pick up the dividend might have a residual, rather profitable side effect. If 
the underlying stock should rally up to or above the striking price of the put, there 
could be rather large profits in this position. Although it is not likely that such a rally 
could occur, it would be an added benefit if it did. Even a rather small rally might 
cause the put to pick up some time premium, allowing the arbitrageur to trade out 
his position for a profit larger than he could have made by the arbitrage discount. 
This form of arbitrage occasionally lends itself to a limited form of risk arbi­
trage. Risk arbitrage is a strategy that is designed to lock in a profit if a certain event 
occurs. If that event does not occur, there could be a loss (usually quite limited); 
hence, the position has risk. This risk element differentiates a risk arbitrage from a 
standard, no-risk arbitrage. Risk arbitrage is described more fully in a later section, 
but the following example concerning a special dividend is one form of risk arbitrage. 
Example: XYZ has been known to declare extra, or special, dividends with a fair 
amount of regularity. There are several stocks that do so - Eastman Kodak and 
General Motors, for example. In this case, assume that a hypothetical stock, XYZ, has