First, the price fluctuates greatly. Only when commodity prices fluctuate greatly, traders who intend to avoid price risks need to use forward prices to determine prices first. For example, some commodities are subject to monopoly prices or planned prices, and the prices are basically unchanged. There is no need for commodity operators to use futures trading to avoid price risks or lock in costs.
Second, the supply and demand are large. The function of the futures market is based on the extensive participation of both the supply and demand sides of commodities. Only goods with large spot supply and demand can fully compete in a wide range and form authoritative prices.
Third, it is easy to classify and standardize. The quality standard of the delivered goods is stipulated in the futures contract in advance. Therefore, futures varieties must be commodities with stable quality, otherwise, it will be difficult to standardize.
Fourth, it is convenient for storage and transportation. Commodity futures are generally forward delivery commodities, which requires these commodities to be easy to store, not easy to deteriorate and easy to transport, so as to ensure the smooth delivery of futures.
According to the types of transactions, futures trading can be divided into commodity futures and financial futures. Commodity futures with physical commodities as futures varieties, such as soybeans, corn, wheat, copper, aluminum, etc.; Financial products, such as exchange rate, interest rate and stock price index. , are all financial futures. Generally, there are no quality problems in financial futures, and most of them are settled by cash and price difference. At present, China only conducts commodity futures trading, and the listed varieties mainly include copper, aluminum, soybeans, wheat and natural rubber.