Financial futures trading has the characteristics of general futures trading: ① trading and delivery are not synchronized, and delivery is allowed after a certain period of trading; (2) Due to the frequent changes in the financial market, futures trading must be settled at a pre-agreed price, and it is inevitable that the market price at the time of delivery will be inconsistent with the trading price. If the price rises at the time of delivery, the buyer will benefit, otherwise the buyer will suffer losses; (3) At the time of delivery, the buyer and the seller can offset each other through liquidation without physical exchange; (4) Due to the time difference and price difference of futures trading itself, it will bring benefits to traders. Therefore, investors who participate in futures trading hope to protect their investments and avoid losses caused by market changes, while speculators try to make use of the time difference and spread of this transaction to buy at a low price and sell at a high price to earn speculative profits.

Financial futures trading has different characteristics from commodity futures trading: ① The trading object is not material products, but financial commodities. In the United States, the main trading objects are national debt, commercial paper and other securities including common stock; (2) The trading volume is large and there are many kinds of trading objects, including gold, foreign exchange, interest rate and stock index, among which interest rate futures are the most; (3) Not only in the form of a tangible market (usually in a stock exchange), but also with an effective margin system, so the transaction is safer and more reliable. The so-called margin system means that after a transaction is concluded, the trader not only has to pay an original margin to the clearing house composed of members with excellent credit, but also carries out clearing with the market every night according to market changes in the time before the contract delivery.