Simply put, the term means the future, and the commodity means the commodity. As a financial derivative, futures are mainly used to hedge the risks brought by the spot market. Futures is a standardized contract developed from forward contract, which is a contract with others to buy forward goods, so as to achieve the purpose of hedging.
Futures (English: futures) are the subject matter that is bought and sold now and delivered in the future. This subject matter can be gold, crude oil, agricultural products, financial instruments, financial indicators and other commodities. The delivery date of futures can be one week later, one month later, three months later or even one year later.
Futures market first appeared in Europe. The object of futures trading is futures contracts, not physical objects. Therefore, futures investors can make physical delivery or cash delivery when the contract expires. As far as physical delivery is concerned, one party pays cash and the other party hands over the goods of the specified specifications agreed in the contract, which is the same as the forward transaction; The difference is that futures contracts can be closed before the contract expires to reverse the original transaction. So the liquidity of futures trading is relatively strong.
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 initial spot forward transaction is a verbal commitment by both parties to deliver a certain amount of goods at a certain time. Later, with the expansion of the scope of transactions, oral promises were gradually replaced by sales contracts. This kind of contract behavior is becoming more and more complicated, and it needs intermediary guarantee to supervise the timely delivery and payment of goods. So the Royal Exchange, the world's first commodity forward contract exchange, opened in London on 157 1. In order to adapt to the continuous development of commodity economy, improve transportation and storage conditions and provide information for members, 1848, 82 businessmen initiated and organized the Chicago Board of Trade (Board 185 1 Chicago Board of Trade to launch forward contracts; 1865, Chicago Grain Exchange introduced a standardized agreement called "futures contract" to replace the previous forward contract. This standardized contract allows manual contract trading, and gradually improves the margin system, thus forming a futures market specializing in standardized contract trading, and futures become investors' investment and financial management tools. 1882 exchange allows hedging to be exempted from performance obligations, which increases the liquidity of futures trading.