Generally speaking, we can divide the futures market into commodity futures and financial futures. Commodity futures generally include agricultural products futures, energy futures and metal futures, among which the three commodity futures mentioned just now belong to relatively large categories; Financial futures include stock index futures, foreign exchange futures and interest rate futures. Stock index futures are what we usually contact the most. Next, I will explain these categories in detail.
Agricultural products futures. With the promotion and development of China's agricultural industrialization and the deepening and popularization of modern agricultural concepts, many agricultural products in China have implemented futures trading, such as the soybean trading market in Heilongjiang Province; Tianjin adzuki bean trading market, etc. The commodities that can be traded in agricultural futures include soybeans, corn, wheat, coffee and rubber.
Metal futures. Metal is one of the more mature futures products in the world futures market today. At present, metal futures trading in the world is mainly concentrated in London Metal Exchange, the New York Mercantile Exchange and Tokyo Industrial Products Exchange. Metal futures can trade gold, silver, copper, aluminum, iron, zinc and so on.
Energy futures. Energy futures is a very important part of commodity futures, and its influence is no less than that of spot market. At present, the more important commodities are light crude oil, heavy crude oil and fuel oil; Emerging varieties include temperature and carbon dioxide emission quotas.
Foreign exchange futures. Forex futures trading refers to buying and selling a certain amount of another currency in US dollars at an established exchange rate on an agreed date. There are similarities and differences between forex futures trading and contract spot trading. Contract spot foreign exchange is bought and sold through banks or foreign exchange trading companies, and foreign exchange futures are bought and sold in specialized futures markets. The main varieties of forex futures trading are: US dollar, British pound, German mark, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, French franc and Dutch guilder.
Interest rate futures. Interest rate futures, first introduced by Chicago Stock Exchange, refers to futures contracts with bond securities as the subject matter, which can avoid the risk of securities price changes caused by bank interest rate fluctuations. There are many kinds of interest rate futures, and there are also many classification methods. Generally, according to the contract term, interest rate futures can be divided into short-term interest rate futures and long-term interest rate futures.