English

Alternative forms

• lookback, look back

Noun

look-back ‎(plural look-backs)

1. A look in a backward or retrospective manner; an additional or secondary look; a review.
   • 2008, JoAnne Schudt Caldwell, Comprehension Assessment:

     Standardized tests allow for students to engage in look-backs but, unfortunately, many students do not utilize this opportunity.

2. (finance, often attributive) A kind of exotic option whose payoff depends on the optimal (maximum or minimum) underlying asset's price occurring over the life of the option.
   • 2009, Don M. Chance, Robert Edwin Brooks, An Introduction to Derivatives and Risk Management:

     Another interesting path-dependent option is the lookback option. A lookback call allows you to buy the asset at the lowest price and a lookback put allows you to sell it at the highest price attained during the life of the option.

   • 2011, Frans de Weert, Exotic Options Trading:

     The principle of a lookback option is to give the investor the maximum payoff based on perfect hindsight.

Related terms

• look back (verb)