First, the emergence of the futures market: The development history of the futures market can be pushed forward to Japan in the16th century, but it was not until the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was formally established in 1848 that futures trading entered an organized era. In fact, the original Chicago Board of Trade was not a market, but a naturally formed chamber of commerce to promote the industrial and commercial development of Chicago. It was not until 185 1 that the Chicago Board of Trade introduced forward contracts. Because the grain transportation at that time was very unreliable and the ship flights were irregular, it took a long time for the supply and demand information of the eastern United States and Europe to reach Chicago, and the food price fluctuated greatly. In this case, farmers can use forward contracts to protect their own interests and avoid losses caused by falling prices or insufficient demand when transporting food to Chicago. At the same time, processors and exporters can also use forward contracts to reduce the risk of rising processing costs caused by various reasons and protect their own interests. Because the initial and most important function of futures exchange is to provide a place for the risk transfer of spot price, we can see the evolution of economic structure in various times from the contracts of futures trading.

1972 is the most important milestone in the futures market history of more than 50 years. 19 On May 6th, the international money market (IMM) of Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) launched foreign currency futures, which marked the birth of a new kind of futures-financial futures, and thus set off a golden age for the development of futures market. 1975 10 In June, the Chicago Board of Trade launched the first interest rate futures contract, namely the mortgage certificate futures trading of the National Mortgage Association (GNMA). In February, 1982, KCBT launched the value line composite index futures trading. In just ten years, interest rate futures and stock index futures have come out one after another, which indicates that the pattern of three categories of financial futures has been formed. Due to the participation of financial futures, the futures market has also undergone structural changes. From 65438 to 0995, the trading volume of financial futures has always accounted for about 80% of the total trading volume in the futures market (see the table below), and has always maintained a mainstream position in the futures market. In addition, the birth of financial futures has given countries and regions outside the United States the opportunity to develop futures markets. Since 1980, these countries and regions have established their own futures exchanges. By 1993, the trading volume of futures exchanges in these countries or regions has surpassed that of the United States, and the growth rate is extremely alarming.

Second, the role of the futures market (1) regulates market supply and demand and slows down price fluctuations;

(2) Provide reference for government macro-control;

(3) promoting the international development of domestic economy;

(4) contribute to the establishment and perfection of the market economic system.

The role of futures market in microeconomics

(1) to form a fair price;

(2) Provide the benchmark price of the transaction;

(3) provide leading economic indicators;

(4) Avoiding the commercial risks caused by price fluctuation;

(5) Reduce the circulation cost and stabilize the relationship between production and marketing;

(6) Attracting speculative capital;

(7) the function of rational allocation of resources;

(8) to achieve the goal of locking production costs and stabilizing production and operation profits.