1. Futures, the English name is futures, which is completely different from the spot. 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. 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. Investors can invest or speculate in futures.
The 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. The first modern futures exchange 1848 was established in Chicago, USA, and 1865 established a standard contract model. In 1990s, China Modern Futures Exchange came into being. There are four futures exchanges in China: Shanghai Futures Exchange, Dalian Commodity Exchange, Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange and China Financial Futures Exchange. The price changes of its listed futures products have a far-reaching impact on related industries at home and abroad. 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. 1February, 988, the leaders of the State Council instructed relevant departments to study the foreign futures market system and solve the problem of domestic agricultural product price fluctuation. 1In March, 1988, the government work report of the First Session of the Seventh National People's Congress put forward: actively develop all kinds of wholesale trade markets and explore futures trading, which opened the prelude to the research and construction of China's futures market.