There is basically no essential difference between index futures and ordinary commodity futures except for the difference in expiration and delivery.

Take a certain stock market index as an example. Assume that it is currently 1,000 points. That is to say, the current "price" of spot trading for this market index is 1,000 points. There is now a "futures contract for this market index that expires at the end of December."

, if most investors in the market are bullish, the current price of this index futures may have reached 1100 points.

If you think that by the end of December, the "price" of this index will exceed 1100 points, maybe you will buy this stock index futures, which means you promise to buy at the "price" of 1100 points at the end of December.

Enter "this market index".

The index futures continue to rise to 1150 points. At this time, you have two choices, either continue to hold your futures contract, or sell the futures at the current new "price", which is 1150 points. This

When, you have closed the position and gained 50 points of profit.

Of course, before the expiration of this index futures, its "price" may also fall, and you can also continue to hold or close your position.

However, when the index futures expire, no one can continue to hold them, because the futures have become "spot" at this time, and you must buy or sell the index at the promised "price".

According to the price difference between the "price" of your futures contract and the current actual "price", more will be refunded and less will be compensated.

For example, in the above example, if the market index is actually 1130 points when it expires at the end of December, you can get 30 points of price difference compensation, which means you make 30 points.

On the contrary, if the index is 1050 points at that time, you will have to use 50 points to subsidize it, which means you will lose 50 points.

Of course, the so-called "points" of profit or loss are meaningless. These points must be converted into meaningful currency units.

The specific conversion must be agreed in advance in the index futures contract, which is called the size of the contract. If the size of the index futures in this market is 100 yuan, taking 1,000 points as an example, the value of a contract is 100,000 yuan.

The difference between stock index futures trading and stock trading 1. Stock index futures can be short-selling.

A prerequisite for a stock short sale transaction is that you must first borrow a certain number of shares from someone else.

Foreign countries have relatively strict conditions for stock short selling, but this is not the case for index futures trading.

In fact, more than half of all index futures trades include short selling positions.

For investors, the most attractive aspect of the short-selling mechanism is that when the overall trend of the stock market is expected to be downward in the future, investors can take the initiative instead of passively waiting for the stock market to bottom out, allowing investors to survive the falling market.

can make a difference.

2. Transaction costs are low.

Compared with spot trading, the cost of index futures trading is quite low, only about one-tenth of the cost of stock trading abroad.

The costs of index futures trading include: trading commissions, bid-ask spreads, opportunity costs for paying margin (also called deposits) and possible taxes.

The fee charged for a futures transaction in the United States (a complete transaction including opening and closing a position) is only about $30.

3. Higher leverage ratio.

A higher leverage ratio means a lower proportion of margin charges.

In the UK, for a futures trading account with an initial margin of only 2,500 pounds, the trading volume of Financial Times 100 (FTSE-100) index futures can reach 70,000 pounds, with a leverage ratio of 28:1.

4. The market has high liquidity.

Studies have shown that the liquidity of the index futures market is significantly higher than that of the stock spot market.

For example, in 1991, the trading volume of FTSE-100 index futures reached 85 billion pounds.

5. Stock index futures implement cash delivery.

Although the futures index market is a derivative market based on the stock market, the futures index delivery is carried out in the form of cash, that is, only the profit and loss is calculated at the time of delivery and no physical objects are transferred. During the delivery period of the futures index contract, investors do not have to buy or sell the futures index contract at all.

The corresponding stocks are sold to fulfill the contract obligations, which avoids the phenomenon of "crowding" in the stock market during the delivery period.

6. Generally speaking, the stock index futures market focuses on buying and selling based on macroeconomic data, while the spot market focuses on buying and selling based on the conditions of individual companies.

The structure and function of the stock index futures market 1. Futures exchanges Futures exchanges refer to the specific places allowed by law to buy and sell stock index futures contracts.

Futures exchanges are an important part of the futures market. The laws of most countries (regions) in the world stipulate that futures trading must be conducted in designated exchanges. Any transaction conducted outside the futures exchange is illegal.

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Although various exchanges have seen a trend of corporatization in recent years, most exchanges in the world are non-profit membership organizations.

Article 7 of my country's "Interim Regulations on the Administration of Futures Trading", which was implemented on September 1, 1999, stipulates that futures exchanges are not for the purpose of profit and implement self-discipline management in accordance with the provisions of their charter; futures exchanges shall bear civil liability with all their properties.

The "Administrative Measures for Futures Exchanges" promulgated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission stipulates that the registered capital of a futures exchange is divided into equal shares of membership fees, which are subscribed by members.

The rights and interests of the futures exchange are jointly enjoyed by the members. During its existence, the accumulated rights and interests of the futures exchange may not be distributed to members.