What is the specific meaning of futures contract? Futures contract is a standardized contract designed by the exchange and approved by the national regulatory agency. The holders of futures contracts can fulfill or cancel their contractual obligations through the settlement of spot or hedging transactions. A futures contract refers to a standardized contract made by a futures exchange and agreed to deliver a certain quantity and quality of goods at a specific time and place in the future. It is the object of futures trading, and the participants in futures trading transfer the price risk and obtain the risk income by buying and selling futures contracts on the futures exchange. Futures contracts are developed on the basis of spot contracts and spot forward contracts, but their most essential difference lies in the standardization of futures contract terms. Futures contracts traded in the futures market are standardized in the quantity, quality grade, delivery grade, premium standard of substitutes, delivery place and delivery month, which makes futures contracts universal. In the futures contract, only the futures price is the only variable, which is generated by public bidding in the transaction. Specific terms, quantity and unit terms The futures contract of each commodity stipulates a unified and standardized quantity contract form and quantity unit, which are collectively referred to as "trading units". For example, the Chicago Board of Trade stipulates that the trading unit of wheat futures contracts is 5000 bushels (about 27.24 kilograms of wheat per bushel), and each wheat futures contract is the same. If traders buy wheat futures contracts on the exchange, it means that they need to buy 5000 bushels of wheat on the contract expiration date. Quality and grade clauses Commodity futures contracts stipulate uniform and standardized quality grades, and generally adopt internationally recognized commodity quality grade standards. For example, because soybeans from China account for a large proportion in international trade, Japanese Nagoya Grain Exchange takes soybeans made in China as the standard of soybean quality grade. Trading time clause The trading time of futures contracts is fixed. Every exchange has strict rules on trading hours. Generally, it is open for 5 days every week, and it is closed on Saturday, Sunday and national holidays. Generally, each trading day is divided into two periods, namely morning period and afternoon period. The morning session is 9:00- 1 1:30, and the afternoon session is 1:30-3:00. Quotation unit clause Quotation unit refers to the unit used to quote futures contracts in the process of open bidding, that is, the monetary price of each unit of measurement. Domestic cathode copper, sugar, soybean and other futures contracts are all quoted at RMB/ton. Name of contract terms The name of the contract shall indicate the name of the contract variety and the name of its listed exchange. Take the sugar contract of Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange as an example. The name of the contract is "Sugar Futures Contract of Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange". The contract name should be concise and clear, and at the same time avoid confusion. Place of delivery clause The futures contract specifies a standardized and unified delivery warehouse for physical delivery of futures transactions to ensure the normal delivery of physical objects. Delivery period Commodity futures contracts specify the month of physical delivery, and generally specify several delivery months, which are chosen by traders themselves. For example, the delivery months stipulated by the Chicago Board of Trade for wheat futures contracts are July, September, 65438+February, March and May of the following year. Traders can choose their own trading month to trade. If traders buy contracts in July, they will either close their positions before July or make physical delivery in July. The minimum fluctuation price clause refers to the minimum fluctuation range allowed by buyers and sellers in futures trading, and the price change at each quotation must be an integer multiple of this minimum fluctuation price. Futures trading is the most common trading method in domestic and foreign trade at present, but the disadvantage is that futures trading is risky and uncertain about future market dynamics. Therefore, when signing futures contracts, buyers and sellers must pay attention to the agreement of risk points, as well as the situation and application of both parties' liability for breach of contract, so as to protect the interests of both parties from infringement and achieve a win-win transaction.