Using the short-selling mechanism of stock index futures to hedge the systemic risks of the market and obtain stable absolute returns is a research topic for institutional investors at present.

For holders of stock portfolio positions with a large amount of funds, they can sell futures contracts to hedge when the market is facing a decline, and then close futures contracts when the stock market improves, thus hedging the risk of stock spot decline. We can call it a time-selective hedging strategy. However, there are still some defects in the current futures hedging strategy, and institutional investors need to understand and make corresponding preparations when using this strategy.

We know that in the application of timing strategy, the actual income of most institutional investors is lower than expected. Although the hedging strategy has played a good hedging effect in the downtrend market, the short-term sharp decline in portfolio value is inevitable.

In the process of using timing strategy, fund companies will encounter the problem of large fluctuation of income, which comes from many influencing factors. On the one hand, due to the short application time of timing strategy, this kind of hedging idea really gets attention and development after the stock index futures are listed for half a year to 1 year. So far, there are not many actual data samples, and the reliability of indicators such as income fluctuation obtained from limited data statistics is relatively weak. On the other hand, it is due to the inherent defects of timing indicators.

The analysis object of most timing indicators in the market is inseparable from the price, and the lag of reading the price by the indicator model is inevitable, which causes the inherent defects of the indicators.

At present, any timing index will face the problem of blind spot, and there is no fundamental solution. A multi-index timing system is proposed and applied. The specific method is to use different types of timing indicators * * * to form a new index system, forming the signal standard of the timing hedging ratio of the system to the spot value. However, this method reduces the volatility of income, limits the absolute value of income, and inevitably leads to the blind spot of timing signal.

But in any case, timing hedging strategy is still the main direction of futures index hedging application, and timing index is the core of this strategy.

Because of the objectivity of signal blind spots, investors should avoid too complicated system when choosing timing indicators, choose appropriate indicators according to the basic objectives of the portfolio, focus on the strategic risk exposure of high-yield expected portfolio, don't care too much about the losses caused by signal blind spots, strictly follow the instructions of strategic indicators signals, and respond to the objective environment with a good investment attitude.