The object of futures trading is futures contracts. Traders choose a legitimate futures brokerage company, sign a futures brokerage contract, open a trading account, and pay a certain margin to become a legitimate futures investor, and then issue trading instructions through the market representative of the brokerage company in the exchange, and the market representative conducts the actual transaction.

So the futures contract you mentioned is really bought and sold on the exchange.

Attached to the website of futures association.