> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://data.ornn.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Forward Curves

> How published GPU term marks and the implied forward are constructed from reserved contracts.

The GPU [forward curve](https://data.ornn.com/analytics/gpu/forward) is a ladder of reserved-contract rates by length, plus the leftover rate those contracts layer into. Marks are hand-published, not settled on a cadence. Read them from [`GET /api/forward`](/docs/api-reference/forward/get-the-forward-curve).

## Term price

A **term price** is the flat $/GPU-hour paid across a reserved contract of that length. A three-year deal at $1.46/hr costs \$1.46 every hour for three years. That is the figure a contract actually quotes, and it is the mark stored and returned on the API.

Published tenors are 1M, 6M, 1Y, 3Y, and 5Y. A missing tenor stays a gap. The service never interpolates, carries forward, or fills a mark with a default.

## Implied forward

The **implied forward** is not a separate quote. It is the term contracts layered on top of one another.

Each reserved deal has a total cost: rate times months. Subtract the shorter contract's total from the longer one's. Divide by the leftover months. That leftover rate is the implied forward for the stretch only the longer deal covers.

A ladder quoting $2.10 at one year and $1.46 at three years prices years two and three at $1.14, not $1.46. Only the shortest tenor agrees with its own quote. A ladder whose cumulative cost fails to rise implies a free or negative stretch and is not published.

This is an accounting identity on the reserved ladder. It does not change the stored marks.

## What the curve does not adjust for

The published curve does not take financing, prepayment, volume, or other commitment discounts out of the reserved quotes. A 12-month reserve is entered at the rate it was quoted, even if that rate is cheaper per hour than a 6-month reserve because the buyer locked duration or prepaid. Those discounts stay inside the term mark. The implied forward inherits them when the contracts are layered.

OCPI, the spot index, is a different object. It is on-demand rentals only. See the [OCPI methodology](https://data.ornn.com/methodology).

## Working with the endpoint

| You want…                    | Where                                                                              |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Current published marks      | [`GET /api/forward`](/docs/api-reference/forward/get-the-forward-curve)                 |
| Field-level coverage by plan | [Data dictionary](/docs/data-dictionary#4-forward-curves)                               |
| The curve on the site        | [data.ornn.com/analytics/gpu/forward](https://data.ornn.com/analytics/gpu/forward) |