First, different themes have different reactions to external factors. The subject matter of stock index futures trading is virtual index; The subject matter of commodity futures trading is bulk spot commodities. Therefore, stock index futures are more sensitive to external factors than commodity futures, and price fluctuations are more frequent and intense, so stock index futures are more speculative than commodity futures.
Second, in terms of futures characteristics, the main difference between stock index futures and commodity futures lies in the different delivery methods on maturity. When a commodity futures contract expires, it must be delivered in kind, with one party paying and the other delivering. Considering the particularity of stock index "spot"-stock index, stock index futures introduced by countries all over the world are cash delivery.
Third, the provisions on the settlement price are different. First, the daily settlement price of stock index futures is the weighted average price of the last hour of trading volume of futures contracts; The daily settlement price of commodity futures is the weighted average price of the whole-day trading volume of futures contracts. Second, the maturity settlement price of stock index futures is the arithmetic average price of spot index in the last two hours of maturity date; The maturity settlement price (delivery price) of commodity futures is the average settlement price of the last 10 trading day.
Fourth, the difficulty of price judgment is different. From the price point of view, although the production cost, transportation cost, capital cost and delivery cost of commodity futures can be determined according to the relationship between supply and demand, there is generally no authoritative and unique spot price as a reference in the spot market, and the spot price has information lag and authenticity problems. Therefore, investors in commodity futures are confused about which spot price should be used as the benchmark price for analysis, so as to better judge the reasonable price range of commodity futures. In theory, commodity futures prices should refer to spot prices in all regions, but it is difficult for investors to do so at present. Therefore, the spot price in some areas may be influenced by local factors, which leads investors to make wrong judgments based on the spot price in this area. The subject matter of stock index futures is unique, transparent, open and accurate, and there is no lag problem, which makes stock index futures more efficient than commodity futures.
Fifth, influenced by the fourth factor, the arbitrage space between the two is also different. Spot arbitrage of stock index futures not only has fewer opportunities, but also has less arbitrage space. However, because the spot price of commodity futures lags behind, spot trading is inconvenient, there are relatively many arbitrage opportunities and a large arbitrage space, which is also one of the main differences between the two.
Sixth, the information value of the two hedging discs is different. Commodity futures hedging disk is generated randomly. As long as there are daily production and business activities, it is possible to produce a hedging disk. Therefore, the information value of commodity futures hedging is not great. The hedging disk of stock index futures has great information value, because the hedging disk of stock index futures is not randomly generated, and institutional investors will only hedge when the market trend changes or there is a major negative. Therefore, stock index futures hedging has the value of trend judgment. Tracking the ups and downs of stock index futures hedging can realize dancing with the organization "* * *" and escape in time when the organization makes strategic position adjustment. In fact, investors have found that tracking QFII stock index futures positions does have the function of judging the trend of the index. This is also the most important difference between stock index futures and commodity futures.