Futures and spot are completely different. Spot is actually a tradable commodity. Futures are mainly not commodities, but standardized tradable contracts with some bulk products such as cotton, soybeans and oil and financial assets such as stocks and bonds as the targets. Therefore, the subject matter can be commodities (such as gold, crude oil and agricultural products) or financial instruments.
The delivery date of futures can be one week later, one month later, three months later or even one year later. A contract or agreement to buy or sell futures is called a futures contract. The place where futures are bought and sold is called the futures market. What we generally call futures operation refers to the operation of futures contracts. The concept of a futures contract is: a standardized contract made by a futures exchange and agreed to deliver a certain quantity and quality of the subject matter at a specific time and place in the future. Futures commission: equivalent to the commission in the stock. For stocks, the expenses of stock trading include stamp duty, commission and transfer fees. Relatively speaking, the cost of engaging in futures trading is only the handling fee. Futures commission refers to the fees paid by futures traders according to a certain proportion of the total contract value after the transaction. Main characteristics of futures contracts
The commodity variety, trading unit, contract month, margin, quantity, quality, grade, delivery time and delivery place of futures contracts are all established and standardized, and the only variable is price. The standards of futures contracts are usually designed by futures exchanges and listed by national regulatory agencies.
Futures contracts are concluded under the organization of futures exchanges and have legal effect. Prices are generated through public bidding in the trading hall of the exchanges. Most foreign countries adopt public bidding, while our country adopts computer trading.
The performance of futures contracts is guaranteed by the exchange, and private transactions are not allowed.
Futures contracts can fulfill or cancel their contractual obligations through the settlement of spot or hedging transactions.