The delivery date of futures can be one week later, one month later, three months later or even one year later.
A contract or agreement to buy or sell futures is called a futures contract. The place where futures are bought and sold is called the futures market. Investors can invest or speculate in futures.
The delivery period of futures is in the future, and the price, quantity, method and place of delivery and payment are stipulated in the spot contract. Commodities and securities can be traded in the futures market. Although the contract has been signed, the goods bought and sold by both parties may be in transit, may be in production, and may not even be put into production. The seller may or may not have goods or securities.
Extended data
Metal futures trading in the world is mainly concentrated in London Metal Exchange, the New York Mercantile Exchange and Tokyo Industrial Products Exchange. In particular, the trading price of the London Metal Exchange futures contract is recognized as the pricing standard for non-ferrous metals trading all over the world. Copper futures trading in China Shanghai Futures Exchange is growing rapidly.
The turnover of a single copper product has surpassed that of the New York Mercantile Exchange, ranking second in the world. Usually, non-ferrous metal futures are also called metal futures, and non-ferrous metals refer to all metals except ferrous metals (iron, chromium and manganese).
Among them, gold, silver, platinum and palladium are called precious metals because of their high value. The quality, grade and specification of non-ferrous metals are easy to be divided, with large trading volume, easy price fluctuation and storage resistance. It is very suitable for futures trading. The main trading varieties include copper, aluminum, zinc, tin, nickel and aluminum alloy futures contracts, among which copper is the leading product and the first established metal futures trading product with a history of more than 100 years.
The emergence of futures trading provides a place and means for the spot market to avoid price risks. Its main principle is to use futures and spot markets for hedging transactions.
In the actual production and operation process, in order to avoid rising costs or falling profits caused by changing commodity prices, futures trading can be used for hedging, that is, buying or selling futures contracts with the same quantity but opposite trading directions in the futures market, so that the gains and losses of futures and spot market transactions can offset each other. Lock in the production cost or commodity sales price of the enterprise, maintain the established profit and avoid the price risk.
Baidu encyclopedia-futures