However, only spot trading is not enough. Because in production, people are faced with the risk of price fluctuation, which makes producers at a loss.
For example, the raw materials of grain processing plants fluctuate seasonally, and neither the processing plants nor farmers know what the food price will be in three months.
If the harvest is good, food prices will fall and farmers will suffer serious losses (farmers are most afraid of a bumper harvest! ); If the harvest is not good and food prices skyrocket, it will be the turn of the grain processing plant to suffer heavy losses and may close down or close down.
People have learned the lesson that grain processing plants can sign "long-term contracts" with farmers. Forward is a concept relative to the present. Not trading now, but trading again at some time in the future.
After three months of forward trading, it is affordable for the processing factory to buy farmers' grain at the agreed price, that is, it is profitable; Farmers can accept it. If a long-term transaction can be reached, it will be beneficial to both the processing plant and the farmers.
Of course, after three months, the actual price may be lower than the price of this forward contract, and the processing factory must also pay at the higher price stipulated in the contract, and the processing factory will suffer losses, but the price is affordable to the processing factory; Farmers will benefit from it.
The processing plant may cheat and fail to perform the contract. Therefore, when signing a contract, you can find a middleman, and the middleman collects the deposit for the performance of the contract from both parties.
Forward trading is a new trading method invented by grain traders in Chicago, USA 1948. Today's futures trading is developed on the basis of forward trading, but there are substantial differences!
Futures trading is not buying and selling commodities, such as grain, but contracts. Sales are "standardized contracts".
A standardized contract is a contract formulated by a futures exchange to deliver a certain number of subject matter at a certain time and place in the future.
The subject matter is the "basic asset" corresponding to the contract. This basic asset can be grain, crude oil, steel and other commodities, but also foreign exchange, stock index and other financial instruments.
If the subject matter is commodity, it is commodity futures; Where the subject matter is a financial instrument, it is a financial futures.
The difference between futures and forward transactions is that forward transactions are conducted in a decentralized manner, contracts are not standardized and diverse, futures transactions are concentrated in special trading places, and contracts are standardized and unified. For example, soybean futures in China are traded on Dalian Commodity Exchange, copper futures are traded on Shanghai Metal Exchange and cotton is traded on Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange.
The bigger difference is that the price of forward trading is decided privately by both parties, while the price of futures is decided by many buyers and sellers of the exchange through call auction, just like the price of stocks.
Since it is a fair, there are many people attending. For the future price trend of a certain subject, there must be bulls and bears, because everyone has different views on the world, otherwise, the transaction will not exist.
Spot trading means clearing money and goods, and must be paid in full. Nobody owes anyone, and nobody will sell a penny less. Futures trading does not need the full amount, because futures trading does not actually deliver the subject matter, it is purely short.
For example, soybean futures trading, the two sides do not deliver soybeans. Therefore, futures trading is a margin system, as long as a certain proportion of the amount involved in the contract is enough.
To put it bluntly, the function of the deposit is that if you lose the bet, the money is enough for you to compensate each other. This is the famous "leveraged trading".
Futures trading has a leverage effect, that is, small bets are big. For example, leverage amplifies the benefits and risks.
Miss Zhang invested RMB 654.38+10,000 in soybean futures, assuming that the initial margin stipulated by the exchange is 654.38+00%. On 1 October 1 day, she bought the contract that expired on March 1 day at the price of1ten thousand yuan/share (one set by the exchange, for example, 10 ton).
As the initial margin is 10%, Miss Zhang Can bought the 100 soybean contract with 100 yuan, which is unimaginable in the spot market.
The next day, that is, 65438+10.2, the soybean contract price rose by/kloc-0.0% (of course, because of the soybean price increase), so Miss Zhang can sell the contract, and she can earn 65438+10,000 yuan with a yield of/kloc-0.00%!
If the price drops by 10%, her yield is-100%. At this time, Miss Zhang's total deposit is only enough to pay compensation. If she wants to do business again, she must add a deposit. If she doesn't add, the exchange will force Miss Zhang to "close the position" in order to ensure the interests of the other party.
Warehouse, that is, the "contract position" held by investors, is called "long position" because of buying and "short position" because of selling.
Closing a position is to close the contract in your hand. If you buy a contract, closing the position is selling; If the contract is sold (futures can be sold short, that is, the psychology should be known), closing the position is buying.
Forced liquidation ensures that no one defaults, so the default risk of futures trading is zero! Think about it, which other market can do this.
People who are concerned will find that Miss Zhang did not wait until three months later, but sold the contract the next day.
This is the characteristic of futures trading. Few people wait until the contract expires, but they can trade at any time as long as they feel they can. Just like gambling, the right person can get the money without waiting for the maturity; Those who lose money also pay in advance.