A forward contract is an agreement to exchange one currency, commodity or asset for another at a rate fixed now, on a specified future date. It removes uncertainty about the rate and replaces it with a firm obligation. Typically it is bilateral and over the counter rather than exchange-traded, which has two consequences worth stating plainly. You carry counterparty risk: if the other side fails before settlement you are left re-covering at whatever the market then offers. And it is not easily unwound — closing out usually means negotiating with the same counterparty or entering an offsetting trade, not selling into a market. Nothing defines the instrument, and the obligation is to perform, not an option to walk away if the rate moves your way.
Why this entry carries no source list. This lexicon cites an official primary source wherever one exists and says plainly where none does. No body defines this term: it is commercial vocabulary, and what it means in any particular deal is whatever the document says. Citing a bank’s product page, an insurer’s brochure or a consultancy’s explainer would dress one firm’s usage as a general rule. The paragraph above therefore ends by naming what to read instead of the word.