The future in English is the future, which evolved from the word "future". It means that both parties to the transaction don't have to deliver the physical object at the initial stage of buying and selling, but agree to deliver the physical object at some time in the future, so China people call it "futures".
The original futures trading developed from spot forward trading. The initial spot forward transaction is a verbal commitment by both parties to deliver a certain amount of goods at a certain time. Later, with the expansion of the scope of transactions, oral promises were gradually replaced by sales contracts. This kind of contract behavior is becoming more and more complicated, and it needs intermediary guarantee to supervise the timely delivery and payment of goods, so the Royal Exchange, the world's first commodity forward contract exchange opened by 1570 in London, appeared. In order to adapt to the continuous development of commodity economy, Chicago Grain Exchange introduced a standardized agreement called "futures contract" at 1985, which replaced the old forward contract. With this standardized contract, manual trading can be carried out, and the margin system is gradually improved, so a futures market specializing in standardized contract trading has been formed, and futures has become an investment and financial management tool for investors.
\ Basic concepts of futures
Futures is a standardized contract and a unified and long-term "commodity" contract. Buying and selling futures contracts is actually a promise to buy or sell a certain number of "commodities" in the future ("commodities" can be physical commodities such as soybeans and copper, as well as financial products such as stock indexes and foreign exchange).
The main features of futures contracts are:
A. The commodity variety, quantity, quality, grade, delivery time and delivery place of a futures contract are established and standardized, and the only variable is the price. The standards of futures contracts are usually designed by futures exchanges and listed by national regulatory agencies.
B. Futures contracts are concluded under the organization of the futures exchange and have legal effect, and prices are generated through public bidding in the trading hall of the exchange; Most foreign countries adopt public bidding, while our country adopts computer trading.
C the performance of futures contracts is guaranteed by the exchange, and private transactions are not allowed.
D futures contracts can fulfill or cancel their contractual obligations through settlement of spot or hedging transactions.
The components of a futures contract include:
A. Various transactions
B. Number and unit of transactions
C the lowest change price, and the quotation must be an integer multiple of the lowest change price.
D. daily maximum price fluctuation limit, that is, price fluctuation limit. When the market price rises to the maximum increase, we call it "daily limit", on the contrary, we call it "daily limit".
E. Contract month
F. Transaction time
G. Last trading day: The last trading day refers to the last trading day when futures contracts are traded in the contract delivery month;
H delivery time: refers to the actual delivery time stipulated in this contract;
I. Delivery standards and levels
J. place of delivery
K. security deposit
Length transaction cost
The role of futures contracts is:
One is to attract hedgers to use the futures market to buy and sell contracts, lock in costs and avoid the possible losses caused by the risk of commodity price fluctuations in the spot market.
The second is to attract speculators to conduct venture capital transactions and increase market liquidity.
Characteristics of futures trading
1. two-way futures trading
One of the biggest differences between futures trading and stock market is that futures can be traded in both directions, and futures can be sold short or short. When the price rises, you can buy low and sell high, and when the price falls, you can sell high and make up low. Going long can make money, and shorting can also make money, so there is no bear market in futures.
In a bear market, the stock market will be depressed, while the futures market will remain unchanged and opportunities will still exist.
2. The futures transaction cost is low.
Futures trading countries do not levy stamp duty and other taxes, and the only cost is the transaction fee. At present, the procedures of the three domestic exchanges are about two ten thousandths or three ten thousandths, plus the additional fees of brokers, and the unilateral handling fee is less than one thousandth of the transaction amount.
Low cost is the guarantee of success.
3. Leverage of futures trading.
Leverage principle is the charm of futures investment. You don't need to pay all the money to trade in the futures market. At present, domestic futures trading only needs to pay a deposit of 5% to obtain future trading rights.
Due to the use of margin, the original market has been enlarged ten times. We assume that the daily limit of copper price closes on a certain day (the daily limit in futures is only 3% of the last trading day), and the operation is correct. Our capital profit rate is as high as 60%(3%÷5%), which is six times the daily limit of the stock market.
You can only make money if you have a chance.
4. Double the trading opportunities of "T+0"
Futures is a "T+0" transaction, which makes your capital use to the extreme. After grasping the trend, you can close your position at any time.
Convenient access can increase the safety of investment.
5. Futures is a zero-sum market, but it is greater than a negative market.
Futures is a zero-sum market, and the futures market itself does not create profits. In a certain period of time, regardless of the transaction costs of capital entry and exit, the total amount of funds in the futures market remains unchanged, and the profits of market participants come from the losses of another trader.
The stock market has entered a bear market, the market price has shrunk dramatically, the dividends are meager, the state and enterprises absorb funds, and there is no short-selling mechanism. The total amount of funds in the stock market will show negative growth for a period of time, and the total profit is less than the loss.
Zero is always greater than a negative number.
The comprehensive policy of the country, the needs of economic development and the characteristics of futures all determine that futures have huge development space.
The difference between futures and stocks
The return on investment is different: because of the leverage principle of margin, futures trading can amplify the income, four or two thousand pounds. Futures only need to pay within 10% of the total contract value; For stocks, 65,438+0,000% of capital must be invested, and interest costs must be paid for financing;
Trading methods are different: domestic stocks can only be long, futures can be long or short;
Futures speculation is very similar to the stock market, but there are also obvious differences.
First, fight big with small ones.
Stocks are completely traded, that is, you can only buy as many stocks as you have money, while futures is a margin system, that is, you only need to pay 5% to 10% of the turnover to trade 100%. For example, if an investor has 1 10,000 yuan, he can buy 1000 shares if he buys1000 yuan, and he can clinch a commodity futures contract with110,000 yuan by investing in futures, that is, taking small bets and making big ones.
Second, two-way transactions.
Stocks are one-way transactions, and only stocks can be bought and sold; Futures can be bought or sold first, which is a two-way transaction.
Third, the time limit.
There is no time limit for stock trading. If the quilt can be closed for a long time, and the futures must be delivered at maturity, otherwise the exchange will force the liquidation or physical delivery.
Fourth, the actual profit and loss.
The return on stock investment has two parts, one of which is% C.