The so-called futures [1] generally refers to futures contracts, that is, standardized contracts made by futures exchanges and agreed to deliver a certain number of subject matter at a specific time and place in the future. This subject matter, also known as the underlying asset, can be a commodity, such as copper or crude oil, a financial instrument, such as foreign exchange and bonds, or a financial indicator, such as three-month interbank offered rate or stock index. If the buyer of a futures contract holds the contract until the expiration date, he is obliged to purchase the subject matter corresponding to the futures contract; If the seller of a futures contract holds the contract until it expires, he is obliged to sell the subject matter corresponding to the futures contract (some futures contracts do not make physical delivery when they expire, but settle the difference, for example, the expiration of stock index futures refers to the final settlement of the futures contract in the opponent according to a certain average value of the spot index). Of course, traders of futures contracts can also choose to reverse the transaction before the contract expires to offset this obligation.

The broad concept of futures also includes option contracts traded on exchanges. Most futures exchanges list both futures and options.

Futures trading is developed on the basis of spot trading, and it is an organized trading method to buy and sell standardized futures contracts on futures exchanges. If people who invest in futures are classified, they can be roughly divided into two categories-hedgers and speculators.

Hedging means spot hedging. Buying when bullish (that is, bulls) and selling when bearish (that is, bears) simply means buying (or selling) commodities in the spot market and selling (or buying) the same kind of commodities in the futures market, so that no matter how the price of the spot supply market fluctuates, you can eventually lose money in one market and make profits in another market, and the loss is roughly equal to profit, thus achieving the purpose of avoiding risks.

Speculators aim at obtaining the price difference, and their income comes directly from the price difference. Speculators make a decision to buy or sell according to their own judgment on the trend of futures prices. If this judgment is the same as the market price trend, speculators can get speculative profits after closing their positions. If the judgment is contrary to the price trend, the speculator will bear the speculative loss after closing the position. Speculators take the initiative to take risks, and his appearance promotes the liquidity of the market and ensures the realization of the price discovery function; For the market, the emergence of speculators has eased the possible excessive fluctuations in market prices.

Hedgers and speculators are indispensable in futures trading! Speculators provide the venture capital that hedgers need. Speculators use their own funds to participate in futures trading and bear the price risk that hedgers hope to pass on. Its participation makes the price changes of related markets or commodities tend to be consistent, increasing the market trading volume, thus increasing the market liquidity, which is convenient for hedgers to hedge their contracts and enter and leave the market freely.

The emergence of futures makes investors find a relatively effective channel to avoid market price risks, which is helpful to stabilize the national economy and establish and improve the market economic system!

Futures contract: a standardized contract made by a futures exchange to deliver a certain quantity and quality of goods at a specific time and place in the future.

Margin: refers to the funds paid by futures traders in accordance with the prescribed standards for settlement and performance guarantee.

Settlement: refers to the settlement of the trading gains and losses of both parties according to the settlement price announced by the futures exchange.

Delivery: refers to the process that when a futures contract expires, both parties to the transaction end the expired open contract by transferring the ownership of the goods contained in the futures contract in accordance with the rules and procedures of the futures exchange.

Open position: the trading behavior of starting to buy or sell futures contracts is called "opening positions" or "establishing trading positions".

Liquidation: refers to the behavior of futures traders to buy or sell futures contracts with the same variety, quantity and delivery month but with opposite trading directions, and to liquidate futures transactions.

Open position: refers to the number of open positions held by futures traders.

Warehouse receipt: refers to the standardized delivery certificate issued by the delivery warehouse and recognized by the futures exchange.

Matchmaking: refers to the process that the computer trading system of the futures exchange matches the trading orders of both parties.

Price limit: refers to that the trading price of futures contracts in a trading day shall not be higher than or lower than the prescribed price limit, and the quotation exceeding this price limit will be regarded as invalid and cannot be traded.

Compulsory liquidation system: refers to the system in which futures brokerage companies carry out compulsory liquidation to prevent further expansion of risks when customers' trading margin is insufficient and their positions exceed the prescribed position limit, and are punished for violating the rules, and should be forced to liquidate according to the emergency measures of the exchange, as well as other situations that should be forced to liquidate.

Position: market agreement. The buyer of the futures contract is in a long position, and the seller of the futures contract is in a short position.

Arbitrage: a trading technique that speculators or hedgers can use, that is, buying spot or futures commodities in one market and selling the same or similar commodities in another market in the hope of making a difference between the two transactions, thus making a profit.

Financial forward: forward is the expected goal in the future, and financial forward refers to the forward value of financial products.

Financial futures: futures are forward standardized contracts, and financial futures refer to financial product futures. China is about to launch stock index futures.

Financial options: options are future rights, and warrants are financial options.

Financial swap: When you buy a financial product, you reach an agreement. The two sides agreed to convert one financial product into another in a certain period of time in the future, such as converting bonds into stocks and converting preferred stocks into common stocks.