the futures market first sprouted in Europe. As early as in ancient Greece and Rome, there were central trading places, bulk barter transactions, and trading activities with the nature of futures trade. At that time, the Roman Parliament Building Square and the big trading market in Athens were once such central trading places. By the 12th century, this trading mode had developed on a large scale in Britain, France and other countries, and the degree of specialization was also very high. In 1251, the British Magna Carta officially allowed foreign businessmen to attend seasonal fairs in Britain. Later, in trade, there appeared the phenomenon of signing documents in advance for goods in transit, listing the variety, quantity and price of the goods, paying a deposit in advance to buy them, and then buying and selling documents and contracts. In 1571, Britain established the first centralized commodity market, the Royal Exchange of London, and later established the London International Financial Futures Options Exchange on its original site. Later, the first grain exchange was established in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the coffee exchange was opened in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1666, the Royal Exchange of London was destroyed by the London fire, but trading continued in several cafes in London at that time. Around the 17th century, the Netherlands invented the option trading method on the basis of futures trading, and formed the option market for trading tulips in Amsterdam Trading Center. In 1726, another commodity exchange was born in Paris, France.

Futures trading is an organized trading method developed on the basis of spot trading and conducted by buying and selling standardized futures contracts on futures exchanges.

In the futures market, most futures contracts bought and sold by traders are closed in the form of hedging before they expire. That is to say, people who buy futures contracts can sell them before the contract expires; People who sell futures contracts can buy futures contracts to close their positions before the contract expires. It is allowed to buy before selling or sell before buying. Generally speaking, the physical delivery in futures trading is only a small part.

the object of futures trading is not the entity of commodity (subject matter), but the standardized contract of commodity (subject matter).

the purpose of futures trading is to transfer price risk or gain risk profit.

the futures market has the following functions in stabilizing and promoting the development of market economy.

(1) the function of avoiding price risk. The most prominent function of the futures market is to provide producers and operators with means to avoid price risks. That is, producers and operators hedge their futures markets to avoid the risks caused by price fluctuations in spot transactions, lock in production and operation costs and realize expected profits. In other words, the futures market makes up for the shortage of the spot market.

(2) the function of price discovery. Under the condition of market economy, the price is formed according to the market supply and demand. Traders from all directions in the futures market have brought a lot of information about supply and demand, and the transfer of standardized contracts has increased market liquidity. The prices formed in the futures market can truly reflect the supply and demand situation, and at the same time provide reference prices for the spot market, which plays the role of "discovering prices".

(3) it is conducive to the stability of market supply and demand and prices. First of all, the futures market trades futures contracts that will be performed in a certain period of time in the future. It can make buyers and sellers predict the future supply and demand of commodities according to futures prices before a production cycle begins, guide the production and demand of commodities, and play a role in stabilizing supply and demand. Secondly, due to the involvement of speculators and the multiple transfers of futures contracts, the price risks that buyers and sellers should bear are evenly distributed to many traders involved in the transaction, which reduces the range of price changes and the risks that each trader bears.

(4) save transaction costs. The futures market provides traders with a safe, accurate and rapid trading place, improves trading efficiency, and avoids the occurrence of "triangle debt", which is conducive to the establishment and perfection of the market economy.

(5) Futures trading is an important investment tool, which helps to make rational use of social idle funds.