Stock Exchange. [App. an arbitrary or fortuitous formation from continue.] The percentage that a buyer of stock pays to the seller to postpone transfer to the next or any future settling day; continuation; the opposite of BACKWARDATION. Contango-day: continuation-day, the second day before settling-day.
1853. N. & Q., 17 Dec., 586/2. Contango, a technical term in use among the sharebrokers of Liverpool.
1854. C. Fenn, Eng. & For. Funds, 109. Contango is the sum paid per Share or per Cent for carrying over such Shares for a longer period than they were originally bought for, which is from one account to another.
1882. Daily News, 27 July. The settlement was commenced on the Stock Exchange yesterday, and contangoes proved light.
1885. St. James’s Gaz., 25 March, 9/2. On Russian of 1873 stock the contango charged this morning changed to a slight backwardation.
1886. Sir N. Lindley, in Law Times, LXXX. 210/1. The distinction between loans and continuations in the books of the bank was very clear … the continuations being entered as reports, which, we were told, is the French equivalent to contango.
