According to different subject matter, futures contracts can be divided into commodity futures and financial futures.

Commodity futures refers to futures contracts with physical objects as the subject matter, and it is also the earliest futures trading variety. There are many kinds, including agricultural and sideline products, metal products, energy products and so on. But not all commodities are suitable for futures trading. Generally speaking, among many physical commodities, only those with the following attributes can be listed on futures contracts: First, the price fluctuates greatly; Second, the supply and demand are large; Third, it is easy to classify and standardize; Fourth, it is convenient for storage and transportation.

Financial futures refer to futures contracts with financial instruments as your property. As a kind of futures trading, financial futures also has the general characteristics of futures trading. However, compared with commodity futures, their contract targets are not physical objects, but financial products, such as securities, currencies, exchange rates and interest rates. Therefore, financial futures generally do not have quality problems, and most of them are cash delivery with price difference settlement. According to the different underlying assets, financial futures can be subdivided into interest rate futures, stock index futures and foreign exchange futures.

Interest rate futures are futures contracts in which the asset price depends on the interest rate. Such as long-term treasury bonds futures, short-term treasury bonds futures and Eurodollar futures.

The subject matter of stock index futures is the stock index. Because the stock price index is a very unique commodity, it has no specific physical form, and both parties can only convert the points of the stock price index into monetary units for settlement without physical delivery. This is the biggest difference between stock index futures and other subject matter futures.

The object of foreign exchange futures is foreign exchange. Such as US dollar, German mark, French franc, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar.