Futures, completely different from spot, are actually tradable goods (commodities). 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.
Futures market first appeared in Europe. As early as ancient Greece and Rome, there were central trading places, bulk barter transactions, and trading activities with the nature of futures trade. The original futures trading was developed from spot forward trading. In 1990s, China Modern Futures Exchange came into being.
The background of China futures market is the reform of grain circulation system. With the cancellation of the policy of unified purchase and marketing of agricultural products and the liberalization of most agricultural products prices, the market is playing an increasingly important role in regulating the production, circulation and consumption of agricultural products. The ups and downs of agricultural products prices, the undisclosed and distorted spot prices, the ups and downs of agricultural production, and the lack of value-preserving mechanism of grain enterprises have attracted the attention of leaders and scholars. Whether we can establish a mechanism that can not only provide price signals to guide future production and business activities, but also prevent market risks caused by price fluctuations has become the focus of attention.