Basis: It is the difference between the spot price and the futures price of a specific commodity at a specific time and place. Its calculation method is the spot price minus the futures price. If the spot price is lower than the futures price, the basis is negative; The spot price is higher than the futures price and the basis is positive. The connotation of basis is determined by the difference between transportation cost and holding cost between spot market and futures market.

Futures premium: the futures price of a specific commodity at a specific place and within a specific time is higher than the spot price.

Futures discount: the futures price of a specific commodity at a specific place and time is lower than the spot price.

The difference between forward exchange rate and spot exchange rate is expressed by premium, discount and average price. Premium means that the forward exchange rate is higher than the spot exchange rate, while the discount is the opposite. In general, the currency forward exchange rate with higher interest rate is mostly discount, and the currency forward exchange rate with lower interest rate is mostly premium.

Extended data

Theoretically, the futures price is the market's forecast of the future spot market price, and there is a close relationship between them. Due to the similarity of influencing factors, futures prices and spot prices often show a relationship of ups and downs. However, the influencing factors are not exactly the same, so the changes of the two are not completely consistent, and the relationship between spot price and futures price can be described by basis.

Basis is the difference between the spot price of a commodity in a specific place and the price of a specific futures contract of the same commodity, that is, basis = spot price-futures price. The basis is sometimes positive (called the inverse market) and sometimes negative (called the positive market). Therefore, the basis is a dynamic indicator of the actual operation change between the futures price and the spot price.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-futures discount and futures premium

Baidu Encyclopedia-Basic