First, when individual investors predict the rise of the stock market, they can buy stocks to increase their positions, or they can buy stock index futures contracts. When the prediction is accurate, both methods are profitable. In contrast, the transaction cost of buying and selling stock index futures is relatively cheap.
Second, when individual investors predict that the stock market will fall, they can sell the existing stock spot or stock index futures contracts. Selling the spot is to turn the previous book profit into actual profit, which is a liquidation behavior. When the stock market really falls, it can no longer be profitable. Selling stock index futures contracts is a correct prediction of the future and a profit, and it is a kind of opening behavior. Because of the short selling mechanism, when the stock market falls, even if there is no stock in hand, you can make a profit by selling stock index futures contracts.
Third, for long-term investors who hold stocks, or investors who cannot sell stocks for some reason, when they are pessimistic about the short-term market prospects, they can continue to hold positions in the spot market by selling stock index futures, while locking in profits and transferring risks.
There are many benefits of buying and selling stock index futures that cannot be obtained by buying and selling individual stocks. Individual investors are often worried about the difficulty of stock selection, without insider information reference and full and comprehensive technical analysis and fundamental analysis; Compared with institutional investors, it is also at an absolute disadvantage in terms of funds. Therefore, it is a good choice to obtain the average profit synchronized with the market, and its specific method is securities indexation. Buying and selling stock index futures is equivalent to securities indexation, which is in sync with the market; In addition, buying and selling stock index futures also disperses the risk of individual stocks, and really does not put eggs in one basket.
Individual investors want to trade stock index futures. First, they should choose a reputable futures brokerage company to open a personal account. The account opening procedure includes three aspects. First of all, after reading and understanding the risk statement of futures trading, they should sign the statement. The second is to sign a futures brokerage contract with a futures brokerage company to obtain the customer code; The third is to deposit the deposit for opening an account, and you can place an order for trading after opening an account.
Different from spot stock trading, stock index futures trading implements margin system. Assume that the margin of stock index futures contract is 10%, and the value of each point is 100 yuan. If you buy a primary stock index futures contract at 1000, the contract value is 654.38+10,000 yuan. The deposit is 65438+ ten thousand yuan multiplied by 10%, which is equal to 1 ten thousand yuan. This deposit is the customer's performance bond and must be paid as a position guarantee. If the futures index of the next day rises to 1050, the customer's performance bond is 10500 yuan, with a profit of 50 points and a value of 5,000 yuan. The profit and loss will be settled on the same day, and the 5 thousand yuan will be transferred to the customer's fund account after the settlement on the same day. This is the daily debt-free settlement system. Similarly, if there is a loss, it must be settled on the same day.
The main factors affecting individual investors' participation in stock index futures trading are contract value and standardization of futures market. The greater the contract value, the fewer individual investors will participate. The standardization of the market makes the risk of non-market smaller, which will improve the enthusiasm of investors to participate in futures market transactions. Introduction of major international stock index futures: The subject matter contract multiplier of major international stock index futures contracts is the minimum variable price. Standard & Poor's 500 Index Futures 500 USD 0.05 Index Point (25 USD) 3 6 9 12 Hong Kong Hang Seng Index Futures 50 HK dollars 1 Index Point (50 HK dollars). 3 6 9 12 Financial Times 100 Index Futures 25 lbs 1 Index Point (25 lbs) 3 6 9 12 Standard & Poor's 500 Index was compiled by Standard & Poor's Company in 1957. The initial constituent stocks include 425 industrial stocks, 15 railway stocks and 60 public utility stocks. From July 1 9761,its constituent stocks were changed to 400 industrial stocks, 20 transportation stocks, 40 public utilities stocks and 40 financial stocks. It takes 194 1 year to 1942 as the base period, and the index of the base period is set to 10, which is calculated by the weighted average method, with the listed amount of the stock as the weight, and the weighted calculation is carried out according to the base period. Compared with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index has the characteristics of wide sampling area, strong representativeness, high accuracy and good continuity, and is generally regarded as the ideal target of stock index futures contracts.
Take the current Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index as an example: if the multiplier is 50 yuan/point, the margin is 10% (the total contract price).
There are eight kinds of futures contracts: March, September, 65438+February this year and March, September and 65438+February next year.
Today's index is 1020. If the index of futures contracts is 1050 in March and 1070 in June, and so on.
If you buy the latest March futures contract, you need margin 1050 points *50 yuan/point * 10%=5250 yuan/lot. If the current 300 index rises by 10 tomorrow, it will be 1030, and the March index will also rise by 10, that's right. That can be profitable. 50 yuan/point * 10 point =500 yuan/hand. Similarly, if the trend is correct, if you buy at 900 points, the current profit is (1060 -900 points) *50 yuan/point = 8,000 yuan/hand. The total capital is the principal +8000 yuan/hand.
Because the futures index is a T+0 transaction, it can be bought and sold for many times, or it can be held until the final delivery date in March, and the maturity should be understood according to the designated 300 index, or the futures index contract that was transferred to June before and any subsequent contract month (flat March, then trading in June or September, etc. ).