Commodity futures refer to futures contracts with physical commodities as the subject matter, mainly including agricultural products futures, metal futures and energy futures.
(1) Agricultural products futures
The Birth of Chicago Board of Trade 1848.
(2) Metal futures
The earliest metal futures trading was born in Britain. The London Metal Exchange was established at 1876, which is the first exchange to trade metal futures. Today, the futures price of the London Metal Exchange is still a barometer of the international non-ferrous metal market. At present, the main business varieties are copper, tin, lead, zinc, aluminum, nickel and silver.
American metal futures appeared later than Britain. The New York Mercantile Exchange was founded in 1933, which was formed by the merger of leather, raw silk, rubber and metal exchanges. Trading varieties include gold, silver, copper and aluminum. Among them, the gold futures contract introduced by 1974 had a certain impact on the international futures market in the 1970s and 1980s.
(3) Energy futures
At present, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is the most influential energy product exchange in the world, and its listed products include crude oil, gasoline, heating oil and propane.
The emergence and development of financial futures
Foreign exchange futures first appeared. 1972 in may, CME established the international money market (IMM), and introduced foreign exchange futures contracts including pound sterling, Canadian dollar, German mark, French franc, Japanese yen and Swiss franc for the first time.
1975 10, CBOT listed the national mortgage association bond futures contract, thus becoming the first exchange in the world to launch interest rate futures contracts. 1In August, 977, the American long-term treasury bond futures contract was listed on the Chicago Board of Trade, which is by far the largest financial futures contract in the international futures market.
1February, 982, the Kansas City Stock Exchange (KCBT) developed the value line composite index futures contract, which made the stock price index also the object of futures trading.
At present, in the international futures market, financial futures have occupied a dominant position and have had a far-reaching impact on the whole world economy.