1, different concepts.
Futures and spot are completely different. Spot is actually a tradable commodity. Futures are mainly not commodities, but standardized tradable contracts based on some popular products such as cotton, soybeans and oil and financial assets such as stocks and bonds. Therefore, the subject matter can be commodities (such as gold, crude oil and agricultural products) or financial instruments.
Option refers to a contract, which originated in the American and European markets in the late18th century. This kind of contract gives the holder the right to buy or sell assets at a fixed price on or before a certain date.
Forward-both parties to the contract promise to buy or sell a certain amount of subject matter at a specific price in the future (the subject matter can be physical commodities such as soybeans and copper, or financial products such as stock index, bond index and foreign exchange).
2. The symmetry of investors' rights and obligations is different.
Futures contracts are two-way contracts, and both parties to the transaction have the obligation to deliver futures contracts at maturity. If you are unwilling to actually deliver, you must hedge within the validity period; The option is a one-way contract, and the buyer of the option has the right to perform or not to perform the option contracts after paying the insurance premium, without having to bear the obligation.
3. Different cash flows
In option trading, the buyer has to pay the insurance premium to the seller, which is the price of the option, which is about 5% ~10% of the price of the traded commodity or futures contract; Option contracts can be circulated, and their insurance premiums will change according to the changes in market prices of traded commodities or futures contracts.
In futures trading, both buyers and sellers have to pay an initial deposit of 5% ~ 10% of the face value of the futures contract, and during the trading period, they have to collect additional deposits from the losing party according to the price changes; The profitable party may withdraw the excess margin.
The differences between options and forwards are as follows:
1, different transaction objects. The object of futures trading is standardized contracts, and the object of forward trading is mainly physical objects.
2. Different functions. One of the main functions of futures trading is to find the price, while the contract in forward trading lacks liquidity, so it does not have the function of finding the price.
3. Different ways of expression. There are two execution modes of futures trading: physical delivery and hedging liquidation, and the final execution mode of forward trading is physical delivery.
4. Different credit risks. Futures trading adopts the daily debt-free settlement system, and the credit risk is very small. It takes a long time from forward trading to final physical delivery, during which various changes will take place in the market, and any behavior that is not conducive to performance may occur, and the credit risk is great.