Why is the contract price of copper different from the spot price in the futures market?
The contract price of copper is different from the spot price. This is the so-called basis, which is the value obtained by subtracting the price of a futures in January from the current spot price. Due to the storage of the spot in the futures month, warehousing costs, interest on occupied funds, etc., the basis is generally negative, but there are also cases where the spot supply is tight and the long-term optimism leads to a positive basis.