1.   Derivatives, including futures contracts, allow investors to make leveraged bets on the price of some underlying security.

2.   Derivatives are contracts which can be used to hedge against changes in the value of an asset or to make leveraged bets on price and yield changes.

3.   Derivatives are financial contracts linked to underlying assets such as stocks, bonds, or currencies, and are used to hedge risks or make leveraged bets.

4.   Derivatives are financial contracts linked to underlying assets such as stocks, bonds or currencies, and are used to hedge risks or make leveraged bets.

5.   Derivatives are used to guard against changes in the value of those assets, or to make leveraged bets on price and yield changes.

6.   Derivatives are financial contracts whose value is derived from stocks, currency or other instruments and which are used to make leveraged bets or to hedge against market fluctuations.

7.   In both instances, some of the investors reputed to be selling Treasuries are those who bought them in leveraged bets using borrowed money.

8.   In search of higher yields, many investors -- some knowingly, some not -- placed highly leveraged bets on the direction of interest rates.

9.   Speculators use derivatives to make leveraged bets in financial markets, while corporations often use them to hedge their risks.

10.   The Allentown, Pa., producer of industrial gasses entered into a complex series of swap transactions in what was a leveraged bet that rates would not rise.