The future in English is the future, which evolved from the word "future". It means that both parties to the transaction don't have to deliver the physical object at the initial stage of buying and selling, but agree to deliver the physical object at some time in the future, so China people call it "futures".
The original futures trading developed from spot forward trading. The initial spot forward transaction is a verbal commitment by both parties to deliver a certain amount of goods at a certain time. Later, with the expansion of the scope of transactions, oral promises were gradually replaced by sales contracts. This kind of contract behavior is becoming more and more complicated, which requires the guarantee of intermediary agencies to supervise the timely delivery and payment of goods. Therefore, the Royal Exchange, the world's first commodity forward contract exchange, opened in London on 157 1. In order to adapt to the continuous development of commodity economy, Chicago Grain Exchange introduced a standardized agreement called "futures contract" on 1865, which replaced the old forward contract. With this standardized contract, manual trading can be carried out, and the margin system is gradually improved, so a futures market specializing in standardized contract trading has been formed, and futures has become an investment and financial management tool for investors.
The difference between futures and stocks is that the return on investment is different: futures trading can amplify the income by four to two thousand pounds because of the leverage principle of its margin. Futures only need to pay within 10% of the total contract value; In the case of stocks, you must invest 100% of the funds, and interest costs are needed to raise funds.
Trading methods are different: domestic stocks can only be long, and futures can be long or short.
Edit this paragraph, futures account
I. Opening an account
1. Select an account opening institution.
2. Account opening conditions
In any of the following circumstances, it shall not become a customer of a futures brokerage company:
A natural person without or with limited capacity for civil conduct;
Staff of futures supervision departments and futures exchanges;
Company employees and their spouses and immediate family members;
The futures market is forbidden to enter;
Financial institutions, institutions and state organs;
State-owned enterprises or enterprises with state-owned assets holding or leading position that cannot provide the approval documents signed by the legal representative;
The entrusted account opening unit fails to provide authorization documents;
Other circumstances stipulated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission;
3. Time and place of account opening: You can choose to go to the business place of the futures company at any time.
4. Account opening amount: not less than 50,000 yuan;
5. Information required for opening an account:
Individual household: the head portrait and scanned ID card of the natural person investor;
Legal person account: the head photo of the account opening agent of the institutional investor, the scanned ID card of the account opening agent, the business license (copy) of the institutional investor and the scanned organization code certificate.
Second, deposits.
The deposit method can be cash, wire transfer, money order, check and bank transfer. Only when funds are deposited into our account are telegraphic transfers, drafts and checks deemed to have arrived in our account.
Third, the application transaction code
After the customer fills in the application code table of each exchange, the futures company will handle the application procedures for the trading code for the customer, and the trading can only be carried out after the code is approved.
Fourth, trading.
Verb (short for verb) solution
The settlement department will settle customers' daily transactions, and customers in the business hall will ask for and sign for the statement from the business department computer room every day, and customers who trade online will query the statement through the online query function every day.
Sixth, cancel the household.
After the customer closes the account according to the regulations of the futures company, both parties sign a termination agreement to terminate the agency relationship.
Seven, gold
The finance department of the futures company handles the withdrawal of funds for customers by means of cash, wire transfer, draft, check and bank transfer.
Futures arbitrage method
There are three main forms of arbitrage in the futures market, namely, cross-delivery month arbitrage, cross-market arbitrage and cross-commodity arbitrage.
(1) Cross-delivery month arbitrage (cross-month arbitrage)
Speculators use the price difference of the same commodity in different delivery periods in the same market to buy futures contracts in one delivery month and sell similar futures contracts in another delivery month, thus making profits. Its essence is to profit from the relative change of the price difference of the same commodity futures contract in different delivery months. This is the most commonly used form of arbitrage.
For example, if you notice that the price difference between May and July exceeds the normal delivery and storage costs, you should buy the soybean contract in May and sell the soybean contract in July. After that, when the July soybean contract is closer to the May soybean contract and the price difference between the two contracts narrows, you can make a profit from the change of the price difference. Cross-month arbitrage has nothing to do with the absolute price of goods, but only with the trend of price difference in different delivery periods.
Specifically, this arbitrage method can be subdivided into bull spread, bear market arbitrage and butterfly arbitrage. , not expanded here. If you need to know more, you can consult the Shanghai Interim Sales Department. (2) Cross-market arbitrage (cross-market arbitrage)
Cross-market arbitrage is an arbitrage transaction between different exchanges. When the same futures commodity contract is traded in two or more exchanges, there is a certain price difference relationship between commodity contracts due to geographical differences between regions. Speculators take advantage of the different futures prices of the same commodity on different exchanges and buy and sell futures contracts on two exchanges at the same time to make profits.
When the price difference of the same commodity in two exchanges exceeds the transportation cost of the commodity from the delivery warehouse of one exchange to the delivery warehouse of another exchange, it can be predicted that their prices will shrink, reflecting the real cross-market delivery cost in a certain period in the future. For example, if the price of wheat is much higher than that of Kansas City Futures Exchange, which exceeds the transportation cost and delivery cost, then a spot dealer will buy wheat from Kansas City Futures Exchange and transport it to Chicago Futures Exchange for delivery.
For another example, London Metal Exchange (LME) and Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) both trade cathode copper futures, and the price difference between the two markets will exceed the normal range several times every year, which provides traders with opportunities for cross-market arbitrage. For example, when LME copper price is lower than SHFE, traders can buy LME copper contract and sell SHFE copper contract at the same time, and then hedge and close the trading contract after the price relationship between the two markets returns to normal, and vice versa. When doing cross-market arbitrage, we should pay attention to several factors that affect the spread of each market, such as freight, tariff and exchange rate. Case 1: A company ships about 20,000 tons of imported copper concentrate every year, and delivers it in 6-7 batches, each batch contains about 3,500 tons of copper. The scheme is as follows: If the contract has been set to CIF mode and the price is based on the average LME price in the pricing month, the company can wait for an opportunity to buy LME copper futures contracts, calculate the raw material cost through the purchase price and processing fee, sell SHFE copper futures contracts, and lock in the processing fee (including part of the price difference income). At the beginning of February 2000, a ship import contract was finalized, and the pricing month was June 2000. The processing cost is about $350 (TC/RC = 72/7.2), and the copper content is about 3300 tons (the grade is about 38%). Then, on February 8th, I bought the June contract in LME at the price of 65,438+0,830. At that time, SCF C3-MCU 3× 65,438+00.032 = 6,965,438+0 (due to the Chinese New Year holiday, subject to the closing price of the last trading day), which belongs to the top shelf, so it was bought at SHFE on February 4th for $65,438+0.958. By June 15, domestic delivery, settlement price 17760. At this time, scfc3-mcu3x10.032 = 333. By July 1, the average spot price of LME6 in June was determined as 1755 USD (regarded as the closing price). This process lasted for 4 months, and the specific gains and losses are as follows:
Interest expense (about 4 months): 5.7 %× 4/12× (1830-350 )× 8.28 = 233.
Opening fee: (1830-350) ×1.5 ‰× 8.28 =18.
Transaction cost:1830×116 %× 8.28+19500× 6/10000 = 9+12 = 2/kloc-.
VAT:17760/1.17×17% = 2581.
Commodity inspection fee: (1830-350) ×1.5 ‰× 8.28 =18.
Tariff: (1830-350) × 2 %× 8.28 = 245.
Freight and insurance: 550 pounds
Delivery and related expenses: 20 pounds
Total cost: 233+18+21+2581+18+245+550+20 = 3686.
Profit and loss per ton of copper:19500+(1755-1830) × 8.28-1830× 8.28-3686 = 41.
Total profit and loss: 4 1× 3300 = 13.53 (ten thousand yuan)
This profit and loss belongs to arbitrage spread income, and the handling fee has been guaranteed through the above transactions. Case 2: A professional trading company in Shanghai, acting as an agent for the import and export of copper products, obtained the profit difference between domestic and foreign markets through cross-market arbitrage. For example, on April 7th, 2000, 1650 bought the June contract1000t in LME, and sold the July contract17500t in SHFE the next day. It was sold at LME 1785 on May1and bought at SHFE 18200 on May 12. At this time, scfc3-mcu3x10.032 = 293, and the process continued for 65438.
Margin interest expense: 5.7 %×112×1650× 5 %× 8.28+5 %×112×17500× 5.
Transaction fee (1650+1785) ×116% × 8.28+(17500+18200 )× 6//kloc.
Total cost: 7+39 = 46
Profit and loss per ton of copper: (1785-1650) × 8.28+(17500-18200)-46 = 401.
Total profit and loss: 40/kloc-0 /×1000 = 40.1(ten thousand yuan) (3) cross-commodity arbitrage.
The so-called cross-commodity arbitrage refers to arbitrage by using the futures price difference between two different but interrelated commodities, that is, buying (selling) a futures contract of one commodity in a certain delivery month and selling (buying) another futures contract and another related commodity in the same delivery month at the same time.
Cross-commodity arbitrage must meet the following conditions:
First, there should be correlation and mutual substitution between the two commodities;
Second, the transaction is restricted by the same factor;
Third, futures contracts bought or sold should usually be in the same delivery month.
In some markets, the relationship between certain commodities meets the requirements of real arbitrage. For example, in cereals, if the price of soybeans is too high, corn can be used as a substitute. In this way, the price changes of the two tend to be consistent. Another commonly used inter-commodity arbitrage is cross-commodity arbitrage between raw materials and finished products, such as soybean and its two products-soybean meal and soybean oil. Soybean meal and soybean oil are produced after soybean is pressed. There is a natural connection between soybean and soybean meal, and between soybean and soybean oil, which can limit the price difference between them.
In order to profit from the price difference relationship of related commodities, arbitrageurs must understand the history and characteristics of this relationship. For example, generally speaking, if the price of soybean goes up (or down), the price of soybean meal will inevitably go up (or down). If you predict that the increase of soybean meal price is less than the increase of soybean price (or the decrease is greater than the decrease of soybean price), you should first buy soybeans on the exchange, sell soybean meal and wait for the liquidation to make a profit. On the other hand, if the increase of soybean meal price is greater than the increase of soybean price (or the decrease is less than the decrease of soybean price), you should buy soybean meal while selling soybeans and wait for the liquidation to make a profit.