What is commodity futures? Commodity futures refer to futures contracts with physical goods as the subject matter. Commodity futures have a long history and a wide variety, including the following:
(1) Agricultural products futures: such as soybean, soybean oil, soybean meal, indica rice, wheat, corn, cotton, sugar, coffee, pork brisket, rapeseed oil, palm oil, etc.
⑵ Metal futures: such as copper, aluminum, tin, lead, zinc, nickel, gold, silver, rebar, wire rod, etc.
⑶ Energy futures: such as crude oil (plastic, PTA, PVC), gasoline (methanol) and fuel oil. Emerging varieties include temperature, carbon dioxide emission quota and natural rubber.
2. Financial futures
Financial futures refers to a binding standardized contract in which both parties buy and sell a financial instrument at an agreed time and price in the financial market. So it is a futures contract with financial instruments as the subject matter. General financial futures are divided into the following three categories:
(1) Stock index futures: such as FTSE in the UK, DAX in Germany, Nikkei in Tokyo, Hang Seng in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index, etc.
⑵ Interest rate futures: refers to futures contracts with bond securities as the subject matter, which can avoid the risk of securities price changes caused by interest rate fluctuations. Interest rate futures are divided into short-term interest rate futures and long-term interest rate futures. Short-term interest rate futures are based on the three-month interbank lending rate, while long-term interest rate futures are based on long-term bonds with a term of more than five years.
⑶ Foreign exchange futures: also known as currency futures, are futures contracts that convert one currency into another at the current exchange rate on the last trading day. Refers to futures contracts with exchange rate as the subject matter, which are used to avoid exchange rate risks. It is the earliest variety in financial futures.
3. Precious metal futures
Futures contracts dominated by gold and silver.