In early March, an energy trader takes a long position in natural gas futures for delivery in June, and hedges this exposure by taking a position in futures for July delivery. These trades were executed on the expectation that over time, the relative prices of the June and July contracts will come into alignment, the movement in these two contracts will largely mirror each other, and as a result of this, the net exposure is minimized and the position is protected against absolute price movements. However, if the two relative prices do not come into alignment with each other due to the scarcity of any of the two traded contracts in the futures market, the trader is likely to become exposed to the