The whole process of futures trading can be summarized as opening positions, holding positions, closing positions or physical delivery.

Opening a position, also known as opening a position, refers to the new purchase or sale of a certain number of futures contracts by traders. In the futures market, buying and selling a futures contract is equivalent to signing a forward delivery contract. If traders keep futures contracts until the end of the last trading day, they must settle futures transactions by physical delivery or cash settlement. However, only a few people make physical delivery, and most speculators and hedgers usually choose the time to sell the futures contracts they bought or buy back the futures contracts they sold before the end of the last trading day, so as to settle futures transactions and relieve the obligation to make physical delivery at maturity. This behavior of buying back a sold contract or selling a bought contract is called liquidation.

An open contract after opening a position is called an open contract or an open contract, also known as a position. After opening the position, traders can choose two ways to close the futures contract: either choose the timing of closing the position or reserve it for physical delivery on the last trading day.