What Is a Futures Contract?
A futures contract is a legal agreement to buy or sell a particular commodity asset, or security at a predetermined price at a specified time in the future. Futures contracts are standardized for quality and quantity to facilitate trading on a futures exchange. The buyer of a futures contract is taking on the obligation to buy and receive the underlying asset when the futures contract expires. The seller of the futures contract is taking on the obligation to provide and deliver the underlying asset at the expiration date.
Key Takeaways
Futures contracts are financial derivatives that oblige the buyer to purchase some underlying asset (or the seller to sell that asset) at a predetermined future price and date. A futures contract allows an investor to speculate on the direction of a security, commodity, or a financial instrument, either long or short, using leverage. Futures are also often used to hedge the price movement of the underlying asset to help prevent losses from unfavorable price change.
Understanding Futures Contracts
Futures are derivative financial contracts that obligate the parties to transact an asset at a predetermined future date and price. Here, the buyer must purchase or the seller must sell the underlying asset at the set price, regardless of the current market price at the expiration date.
Underlying assets include physical commodities or other financial instruments. Futures contracts detail the quantity of the underlying asset and are standardized to facilitate trading on a futures exchange. Futures can be used for hedging or trade speculation.
Example of Futures Contracts
Futures contracts are used by two categories of market participants: hedgers and speculators. Producers or purchasers of an underlying asset hedge or guarantee the price at which the commodity is sold or purchased, while portfolio managers and traders may also make a bet on the price movements of an underlying asset using futures.
An oil producer needs to sell their oil. They may use futures contracts do it. This way they can lock in a price they will sell at, and then deliver the oil to the buyer when the futures contract expires. Similarly, a manufacturing company may need oil for making widgets. Since they like to plan ahead and always have oil coming in each month, they too may use futures contracts. This way they know in advance the price they will pay for oil (the futures contract price) and they know they will be taking delivery of the oil once the contract expires.
Futures are available on many different types of assets. There are futures contracts on stock exchange indexes, commodities, and currencies.
Futures Explained
Futures—also called futures contracts—allow traders to lock in a price of the underlying asset or commodity. These contracts have expirations dates and set prices that are known up front. Futures are identified by their expiration month. For example, a December gold futures contract expires in December. The term futures tend to represent the overall market. However, there are many types of futures contracts available for trading including:
- Commodity futures such as in crude oil, natural gas, corn, and wheat
- Stock index futures such as the S&P 500 Index
- Currency futures including those for the euro and the British pound
- Precious metal futures for gold and silver
- S. Treasury futures for bonds and other products
It’s important to note the distinction between options and futures. Options contracts give the holder the right to buy or sell the underlying asset at expiration, while the holder of a futures contract is obligated to fulfill the terms of the contract.