1. The commodity variety, quantity, quality, grade, delivery time, delivery place and other terms of the futures contract are established and standardized, and the only variable is the price. The standards of futures contracts are usually designed by futures exchanges and listed by national regulatory agencies.
2. Futures contracts are concluded under the organization of futures exchanges and have legal effect. Futures prices are generated by public bidding in the trading hall of the exchange. Most foreign countries adopt public bidding, while our country adopts computer trading.
3. The performance of futures contracts is guaranteed by the exchange, and private transactions are not allowed.
4. Futures contracts can fulfill or terminate their contractual obligations through the settlement of spot or hedging transactions.
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1. Agricultural futures:1848cbot (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) is the first futures product after its birth. Mainly including wheat, soybeans, corn and other grains; Cash crops such as cotton, coffee and cocoa, and forest products such as wood and natural rubber.
2. Metal futures: Copper, which first appeared on the London Metal Exchange (LME), has developed into two categories: non-ferrous metals represented by copper, aluminum, lead, zinc and nickel, and precious metals such as gold and silver.
3. Energy futures: The oil crisis in the 1970s directly led to the emergence of energy futures such as oil. The main energy sources in the market are crude oil, gasoline, heating oil and propane.
4. Foreign exchange futures: After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970s, the drastic fluctuations in the foreign exchange market caused by the floating exchange rate system prompted people to look for tools to avoid risks. On May 1972, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange took the lead in launching foreign exchange futures contracts. In the international foreign exchange market, there are seven currencies with the largest trading volume, namely US dollar, German mark, Japanese yen, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar and French franc.
5. Interest rate futures: 1975 10 The American National Mortgage Association bond futures contract is listed on the Chicago Board of Trade. There are two main types of interest rate futures-short-term interest rate futures contracts and long-term interest rate futures contracts, and the latter has a larger trading volume.
6. Stock index futures: With the ups and downs of the securities market, investors urgently need a tool that can avoid risks and maintain and increase value. In this context, on February 24th, 1982, Kansas Futures Exchange launched the value line composite index futures. At present, the largest stock index contract in the world is S&; P500 index contract.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Futures Contract