Financial markets are divided into money markets and capital markets according to the maturity of financial assets.

1. Money market refers to the financial market in which the term of financial assets to be traded is less than one year, such as interbank lending market, commercial paper market, short-term treasury bill market, and large negotiable certificate of deposit market. It mainly solves the problems of short-term capital turnover and balance adjustment of market participants.

2. Capital market refers to the financial market where the term of financial assets traded is more than one year or has not expired, such as stock market, medium and long-term national debt market, medium and long-term bank loan market, etc.

The financial market is divided into exchange market and over-the-counter market.

The secondary market has two organizational forms: exchange market and OTC market. Financial markets such as stock exchanges, futures exchanges and options exchanges are highly organized financial markets and are called exchange markets. Exchanges are divided into member exchanges and company exchanges. The highest authority of a member exchange is the general meeting of members.

From a global perspective, with the development of the exchange market, more and more exchanges have adopted the corporate structure, and the highest authority is the shareholders' meeting.

Traditionally, the bank credit market, lending market, foreign exchange market, gold market and other markets are relatively loose, and there is usually no fixed trading place, and there is not necessarily a unified trading time. Market participants communicate and trade by telephone, telegraph, Internet and other means. These markets are usually called OTC markets, and in many cases they are also called OTC markets.

Financial markets are divided into spot market and derivative market according to delivery methods.

According to whether the transaction is spot or futures delivery, the financial market can be divided into spot market and derivative market. The spot market actually refers to the spot trading market, which is the most common trading method in the financial market. Compared with forward trading, spot trading refers to the trading behavior that buyers and sellers in the market must go through the delivery procedures on the same day or within the final delivery period stipulated by the market after the transaction is completed. Derivatives market refers to the market where derivatives are traded.

Derivative instruments usually refer to the basic assets or new financial instruments derived from the basic assets, which are generally manifested as some contracts, with the corresponding spot assets as the subject matter, and their prices are determined by the prices of the basic assets, and they do not need to be delivered immediately when trading, but can be delivered at some time in the future.

Common derivatives include forwards, futures, options and swaps. Derivatives can be divided into commodity derivatives and financial derivatives according to the different underlying assets.