There may be a small partner here who will ask what is futures?
Today, Bian Xiao used a short story to popularize science for everyone:
Let's start with futures. A feed enterprise plans to buy soybeans, and the behavior of paying with one hand and delivering with the other is called spot trading, that is, the transaction is completed "now".
However, a feed enterprise plans to buy 100 tons of zinc ingots in two months. He found a zinc ingot supplier and agreed to buy it two months later. This behavior is called futures trading.
Futures are used to preserve the value of enterprises. The specific operation method is as follows:
Or a feed company wants to buy soybeans in June. March market price 1980 yuan/ton, futures contract price 1920 yuan/ton. At this time, buy 100t June soybean contract in the futures market, that is, * * *1920x100 =192000 yuan.
By June, the spot market price was 2 1 10 yuan/ton, and the futures contract price was 2040 yuan/ton. At this time, the spot market: buy 100t soybean spot, * * 21100 = 21.1000, and sell100t soybean contract in the futures market.
Results The spot market lost 130 yuan/ton, and the futures market gained 120 yuan/ton. The net loss is100t x130-100t x 120= 1000 yuan.
In this case, due to the rising cost of raw soybean, if the enterprise does not buy futures, its final loss is not 1000 yuan, but 12000 yuan.
This is the price increase. Let's talk about the decline first.
A grain enterprise wants to sell corn in June. March corn spot market 1 100 yuan/ton, futures contract price 1080 yuan/ton. At this time, the futures market sold corn 100 tons, which was1080x100 =108,000.
In June, the spot market price changed to 950 yuan/ton, and the futures contract price was 950 yuan/ton. At this time, corn is sold in the spot market at 950 yuan/ton, 950x 100 = 95,000, and100 tons of corn is repurchased in the futures market, 950x100 = 95,000.
Results The loss in the spot market was 150 yuan/ton, and the profit in the futures market was 130 yuan/ton. The loss was calculated as 20 yuan/ton. Net loss100x150-100x130 = 2000 yuan.
Similarly, if an enterprise does not buy futures, its ultimate loss is not 2000 yuan, but 15000 yuan.
Therefore, crude oil futures refers to this hedging behavior of crude oil, which is actually unprocessed oil.
Our life cannot be separated from oil, which is very important to China and the whole world. And there happens to be a place in the world where there is nothing lacking, but there is a lot of oil. This place is the "Middle East".
Middle East oil countries think about it, it is better to rent a group if you have money to earn together! An organization called the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was established, which almost monopolized most oil transactions in the world.
At first glance, the United States has a good opportunity. As long as we control this organization and let them sell oil in dollars, other countries must buy oil in dollars, and they must reserve a lot of dollars.
So the United States persuaded Saudi Arabia and other small partners to sign an agreement with the United States.
Since then, the dollar has been pegged to oil. Not only that, people in some parts of the Middle East are still very grumpy and ready to fight and kill to start a war. When the country is in turmoil, oil prices also rise and fall.
We have to sit together and discuss the method of making crude oil futures. If you buy future oil at the current price, you will not be afraid of future oil ups and downs, and you will be able to stabilize international oil prices to a certain extent.
Since then, the global crude oil trade mostly uses the futures market price as the benchmark price, which is the origin of "crude oil futures".
At present, more than 10 futures exchanges around the world have launched sub-crude oil futures, including the largest crude oil futures trading center in the world, accounting for more than 95% of the global trading volume.
WTI (Chicago Mercantile Exchange crude oil futures) reflects the relationship between supply and demand in the American market, while Brent (London Intercontinental Exchange crude oil futures) reflects the relationship between supply and demand in the European market, which means that global oil prices should be priced according to these two markets.
Then the problem comes, because there is no pricing benchmark in the Asia-Pacific region, the national functions in the Asia-Pacific region accept pricing from other regions.
At this time, China has become the world's largest importer of crude oil, and the right to speak on crude oil pricing is more urgent. Therefore, China has launched its own crude oil futures market, and stipulated that it should be traded and settled in RMB.
This means that we don't have to follow others in pricing in the future, which can effectively save costs.
However, we should know that the currency of oil settlement in the world at present is US dollars. Once it is settled in RMB, it can compete for the universal currency space of RMB and attack the currency link between the US dollar and oil.
In addition, investors who are unwilling to use RMB can also switch to gold, which is equivalent to linking RMB and gold in disguise. In this way, the reserve currency status of the RMB will continue to rise, thus shaking the position of the US dollar as the world currency column leader.
Of course, it is not difficult to open crude oil futures. What is difficult is the internationalization of crude oil futures. How to make China price have international influence, because we still have a long way to go ~ ~