Futures market first appeared in Europe. As early as ancient Greece and Rome, there were central trading places, bulk barter transactions, and trading activities with the nature of futures trade. The original futures trading was developed from spot forward trading. The first modern futures exchange was established in Chicago, USA in 1848, and the standard contract model here was established in 1865. In 1990s, China Modern Futures Exchange came into being. There are four futures exchanges in China, namely Shanghai Futures Exchange, Dalian Commodity Exchange, Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange and China Financial Futures Exchange. The price changes of its listed futures have a far-reaching impact on related industries at home and abroad.
The background of China futures market is the reform of grain circulation system. With the cancellation of the policy of unified purchase and marketing of agricultural products and the liberalization of most agricultural products prices, the market is playing an increasingly important role in regulating the production, circulation and consumption of agricultural products. The ups and downs of agricultural products prices, the undisclosed and distorted spot prices, the ups and downs of agricultural production, and the lack of value-preserving mechanism of grain enterprises have attracted the attention of leaders and scholars. Whether a mechanism can provide price signals to guide future production and operation activities and prevent market risks caused by price fluctuations has become the focus of people's attention. 1February, 988, the leaders of the State Council instructed relevant departments to study the foreign futures market system and solve the problem of domestic agricultural product price fluctuation. 1In March, 1988, the government work report of the First Session of the Seventh National People's Congress put forward: actively develop all kinds of wholesale trade markets and explore futures trading, which opened the prelude to the research and construction of China's futures market.