If you think the futures price will go up, go long (buy and open positions), go up (sell) and close positions, and earn: price difference = close positions-open positions.
If you think the futures price will fall, short (sell the position), fall (buy) and close the position, and earn: price difference = opening price-closing price.
It is generally easy to understand how long futures are, but it is not easy to understand how short futures are. Let's take shorting wheat as an example (the seller may not have the goods in his hand when signing the selling contract) to explain the principle of shorting futures:
When the price of wheat is 2000 yuan per ton, it is estimated that the price of wheat will fall. You signed a (first-class) contract with the buyer in the futures market, for example, you agreed to sell him 10 ton of standard wheat at a price of 2000 yuan per ton at any time within six months. (the value is 2000× 10 = 20000 yuan, calculated in 600 yuan. )
This is short selling (selling open positions). In practice, you are selling open wheat futures contracts.
Why should a buyer sign a contract with you? Because he's awesome.
When signing a contract, you don't necessarily have wheat in your hand (generally you don't really want to sell wheat). If you observe the market, as you wish, it drops to 1800 yuan per ton, you buy 100 tons of wheat per ton/800 yuan, and sell it to the buyer at 2000 yuan per ton, and the contract is fulfilled (yours
(2000-1800) × 10 = 2000 (yuan) (the handling fee is generally10 yuan, which is ignored).
This is profit liquidation. In fact, you are buying a futures contract to liquidate primary wheat.
The buyer (not specified) who signed the contract with you lost 2000 yuan (the handling fee was ignored).
● Overall operation, you only need to sell one hand of wheat at 2000, and buy one flat at 1800, which is very convenient.
After the futures are opened, they can be closed at any time before the delivery date, or they can be bought and sold multiple times on the same day (generally, there is no handling fee for closing positions on the same day). If the price of wheat rises within half a year, you have no chance to buy low-priced wheat to close your position, you will be forced to buy high-priced wheat to close your position (the contract must be closed at the expiration), you will lose money, and the buyer who signed with you will make a profit.
If you close your position at 2200, you will lose money:
(2200-2000)× 10=2000 (yuan)+10 yuan handling fee.
The buyer (not specified) who signed the contract with you earned 2000 yuan (the handling fee was ignored).
Futures speculation is very similar to the stock market, but there are also obvious differences.
First, large-cap stocks are traded in full, that is, you can only buy as many shares as you have, while the futures system 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 only buy shares of 1 10,000 yuan. If he invests in futures, the margin of 10%, he can sign (buy or sell) a commodity futures contract of 65,438+10,000 yuan, that is to say, he can save money by taking small bets.
Second, the two-way trading of stocks is one-way. Only by buying stocks first can you sell them. Futures can be bought first and then sold, which is a two-way transaction, and bear market can also make money.
Three, futures trading is generally a commodity, the fundamentals are relatively transparent, the number of contracts (buying and selling) is theoretically infinite, the trend is relatively stable, and it is not easy to manipulate. The number of stocks is limited, the fundamentals are opaque, and it is easy to be manipulated by bad bookmakers.
Four, the futures price is relatively small, generally 3%-6%. When the board stops trading three times in a row in one direction, the exchange can arrange for customers who want to stop losses to close their positions. The range of the stock price limit is 10%, and there are times when the daily limit can't come out for several consecutive times.
5. Due to the restrictions of margin system, additional margin system and forced liquidation at maturity, futures are characterized by high returns and high risks. If Man Cang operates, futures can make you rich overnight, or you may lose all your money in an instant (short position), so the risk is great, but it is controllable. Investors should invest carefully and remember not to operate in Man Cang. There is basically no loss in doing stocks.
6. Futures is T+0 trading, and it can be traded several times a day. You can close the position immediately after opening the position. The handling fee is lower than that of stocks (about 1/10,000 to 5/10,000, and generally there is no handling fee for closing positions on the same day). Shares are traded at T+ 1 and can only be sold on the second trading day. The transaction cost is about eight thousandths of the turnover.
Futures can make money. But the money it earned was lost by others, and it had to bear the transaction cost, so it was not easy to make money in futures (but it was easier than when the bear market fell).
Futures are risky, so be careful when entering the market!