Give a popular example. For example, if you are a fruit merchant and you buy 10,000 yuan of fruit from a supplier, then you earn 10,000 yuan. Only when the price of fruit goes up can you make money. This is securities.
You're still the fruit seller. You set the fruit in May next year, and the deposit 10000 yuan (if the deposit is one tenth of the total amount). If the fruit price in May next year is higher than the purchase price you set, you will make a profit, because you bought the fruit at a low price. On the other hand, if it is lower than the price you set, you will lose. No matter how much you earn, you will count it as 1 10,000 yuan, although you actually only use110,000 yuan.
This is the significance of margin trading in futures. Although the investment is small, the profit and loss are amplified and the risk is amplified.
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.
The basic concept 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). Strictly speaking, futures is not a commodity, but a standardized commodity contract, which stipulates that both parties to the transaction will trade a specific commodity or financial asset in the future according to the contract content. Futures trading is a trading method relative to spot trading, which is developed on the basis of spot trading and is an organized trading method by buying and selling standardized futures contracts on futures exchanges. The object of futures trading is not the commodity itself, but the standardized contract of the commodity.
Let me give you a small example in life to help you understand. For example, if you go to a flower shop to buy flowers, buy them now and pay them now, which is a spot transaction; If it is agreed to pay and deliver on the birthday two months later, it is a forward transaction. The emergence of futures trading is derived from spot trading and forward trading, and developed on the basis of forward trading. The futures contract mentioned above is actually a standardized forward contract. That is to say, the type, quality, quantity, delivery time and place of the goods (the subject matter of the contract) are agreed in advance in the contract, so that the buyer and the seller will not dispute the quality, quantity, delivery place and time of the goods.
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.
Futures speculation is very similar to the stock market, but there are also obvious differences.
1. Take small shares as an example: shares are fully traded, that is, you can only buy as many shares as you have, while futures is a margin system, that is, you only need to pay 5% to 10% 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 trading: stocks are one-way trading, and you can only buy stocks first before you can sell them; Futures can be bought or sold first, which is a two-way transaction.
3. Time limit: There is no time limit for stock trading. If the quilt can be closed for a long time, the futures must be delivered at maturity, otherwise the exchange will force the liquidation or physical delivery.
4. Actual gains and losses: The gains from stock investment are divided into two parts, one is the market price difference, and the other is dividends. The gains and losses from futures investment are the actual gains and losses in market transactions.
5. Huge risks: futures are characterized by high returns and high risks due to the restrictions of margin system, additional margin system and forced liquidation at maturity. In a sense, futures can make you rich overnight, or you may be penniless in an instant, so investors should invest carefully.
1. The concept of futures: The so-called futures generally refers to futures contracts, which are standardized contracts made by futures exchanges and agreed to deliver a certain amount of subject matter at a specific time and place in the future. This subject matter, also called the underlying asset, is the spot corresponding to the futures contract. This spot can be a commodity, such as copper or crude oil, a financial instrument, such as foreign exchange and bonds, or a financial indicator, such as three-month interbank offered rate or stock index.
The broad concept of futures also includes option contracts traded on exchanges. Most futures exchanges list both futures and options.
The contents of a futures contract include: contract name, trading unit, quotation unit and minimum.
Price change, daily maximum price fluctuation limit, delivery month, trading time, last trading day, delivery date, delivery level, delivery place, minimum trading margin, transaction cost, delivery method, transaction code, etc. Attachments to futures contracts have the same legal effect as futures contracts.