Futures: With spot as the anchor unit, participants will guess the price trend of spot price in a certain period.
Spot is the anchor unit of futures, and futures are the expectation of spot value movement.
There are still many differences between futures and spot. Here are six aspects to introduce their differences.
The subject of spot trading with different attributes is the actual commodity that already exists in the market. Spot electronic transaction is to unify the existing commodities (spot) through e-commerce and call auction on the Internet according to certain standards, and the trade attribute of commodities is greater than the financial attribute.
Futures and spot are completely different. Futures are mainly not commodities, but standardized tradable contracts with some popular products such as cotton, soybeans and oil and financial assets such as stocks and bonds as the subject matter, which can be a commodity (such as gold, crude oil and agricultural products) or a financial instrument.
Different margin ratios The margin ratio in the futures market is about 5%- 10%, which is relatively low and has a large leverage, and at the same time magnifies the risks and benefits of investment. The spot market margin is usually around 20%, and it will be increased under special circumstances (continuous ups and downs, near delivery, etc.). ), moderate leverage and moderate risk.
The transaction contract is different. Futures trading contracts are mostly industrial materials and financial assets, while spot trading contracts include basic materials such as agricultural products, Chinese herbal medicines and metals.
The smallest unit of futures market with different trading basis is hand. Generally speaking, each contract represents goods of 10 tons or more, that is, the trading base of the futures market is calculated in tons, and the threshold is higher, while the smallest unit of the spot electronic trading market is batch, and each contract represents goods of several kilograms to several hundred kilograms, that is, the trading base is calculated in kilograms, and the threshold is lower.
The trading time is different. Generally, spot trading is 22 hours, and futures trading is only 9 hours.
Futures have different price limits, but the spot does not. Domestic futures are not in line with international standards, international futures trading time is different, and spot is in line with international standards.
Deferred information futures is a contract system, that is, delivery at maturity, which stipulates that delivery must be made at maturity. There is no spot, as long as the account has enough funds, it can be held all the time.