Foreign exchange futures is a standardized contract, in which both parties agree to exchange one currency for another at a certain time in the future according to the agreed ratio. Refers to futures contracts with exchange rate as the subject matter, which are used to avoid exchange rate risks. It is the earliest variety in financial futures.

Compared with forward foreign exchange trading, currency futures trading has the following characteristics:

(1) Different market participants. The participants in forward foreign exchange trading are mainly banks, multinational companies and other financial institutions, while currency futures trading provides all kinds of enterprises with management tools to avoid risks in its flexible way.

(2) Different liquidity. Due to the limitation of the number of participants in forward foreign exchange transactions, the liquidity of contracts is generally low, while the liquidity of currency futures transactions is better because of the large number of participants, speculators and arbitrageurs.

(3) Different trading methods. The market of forward foreign exchange trading is intangible, which is built by financial institutions and their customers through various communication means, while currency futures trading is conducted in special exchanges and is a tangible market transaction.

(4) The degree of standardization of contracts is different. The contract content of forward foreign exchange trading is determined by financial institutions and customers according to their requirements, while the contract of currency futures trading is a standardized contract, and the trading variety, unit, change range, price limit and delivery time are all determined in advance.