Derivative financial assets, also known as "financial derivatives", refer to derivative financial contract products based on the value of basic products or basic variables (basic assets), and their prices change with the price (or value) of basic financial products. This kind of contract can be standardized or non-standardized.

Among them, standardized contract means that the transaction price, transaction time, asset characteristics and transaction mode of its basic assets (basic assets) are standardized in advance. Most of these contracts are listed and traded on exchanges, such as futures; Non-standardized contract means that the above items are agreed by both parties to the transaction and have strong flexibility, such as forward contract.

Derivative financial assets can be divided into forward, futures, options and swaps according to product forms; According to the original assets, it can be roughly divided into: stocks, interest rates, exchange rates and commodities; According to the transaction mode, it can be divided into: on-site transaction and off-site transaction.