The trading futures contracts begun in 17th or 18th century in Japan and Holland for agricultural products like rice and wheat. But the first organized futures trading started in Chicago, United states in 1840. In 1848, the first centralized futures trading market came in to being in Chicago called Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, which allowed both spot trading and futures contract trading. The Board of Trade of the City of Chicago later modified its name as Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

In 19th century the products available for futures trading are common agricultural commodities like wheat, rice, oats etc; also some live stocks and meats. Most of these products are traded across US, from western agricultural lands to eastern populated lands. Later more products such as gold, silver, crude oil, natural gas, heating gas, etc were also become available for trading. With the development of the market the products increased to stock futures and stock index futures. In 1971, with the ending of currency gold standards, CME introduced financial futures for the first time, which soon became the most traded futures item. In 1987 electronic trading of futures started and futures contracts become available to everyone around the world.

All futures contracts are guaranteed by clearing houses and have unalterable contract specifications including delivery time and price of the underlying product. Although both names, futures contracts and forward contracts, are used alternatively, they differ in the trading style. Forward contracts are traded OTC (over the counter) though broker-dealer interactions, which involve price bargaining. But futures contracts are traded by open outcry of screen in public domain or simply through centralized futures markets. Remember unlike options, in futures trading it is mandatory to own/deliver the underlying product at the end of the contract period.

As discussed earlier, there are a variety of products available for futures trading, which are named after the underlying product they have. The most common type of futures is the commodity futures for agricultural, metal, energy, meat and live stock commodities. The financial futures or money futures are the futures contracts which have bonds, treasury notes, and other interest-based assets as underlying product. Stock futures have individual stocks are underlying product, where as stock index futures are meant for hedging stock market fluctuations as a whole. Like wise, currency futures are for individual currencies and index futures are for one group/whole market currencies. Although not a future contract, futures options are also a familiar product which gives the holder the option to buy a contract for a specified price at a specific time.

There are several standardized items involved in any futures contract. They are: the month and date of delivery; the quality of the underlying product (for financial futures they are not required); the quantity of the underlying product; minimum change of price (called ‘tick-size’); price quotation on the units (not the price itself); and finally the settlement location.

Concerning futures, once the trade is confirmed between two members of the exchange, the exchange house becomes the counter-party and guarantees every trade. With the market reporting of volumes and price being standardized futures contracts are more fluid and their price clearer. Any member of the exchange has the ability to reverse a futures contract. A Contango market is when the futures contracts are priced
above the spot price. Should the price of the futures frequently fall below the spot price it is known as a Backwardation. A call option is an option to buy, and is purchased in expectation of rising prices. A put option or sell option is purchased to protect investment profits against the expectation of a falling price.

The use of options, like futures, give both individuals and firms a hedge against the risk in wide price fluctuations. This gives speculator the opportunity to gamble for greater profits with limited liability. With future contracts there are no up front costs (called the Premium) to enter, unlike an options contract that has immediate costs upon entering.

As with any investing you must weigh the risks versus rewards before setting forth.

Commercial hedgers are corporations and sometime individuals, that seek to ensure the stability of a given commodity by taking a position in the commodities market. Take peas for example, and the hedger, a food processor who cans them. If pea prices go up the hedger ends up having to pay the farmer or pea dealer more. Because it is basically a cash commodity, to protect himself against higher pea prices, the processor can “hedge” his risk exposure by buying enough pea futures contracts to cover the amount of peas he expects to buy. Since cash and futures prices do tend to move in tandem, the futures position will profit if the price of peas rise enough to offset cash pea losses.Speculators are the second major group of futures players. These participants include independent floor traders and investors. A speculator is a person, or more likely an institution, that purchases or sells the commodities based on factors other than simply analysis. Whereas investors will focus, by and large, on detailed analysis.Gambling With Your FuturesFive Reasons To Roll the DiceSince most individual traders are speculators, here is a list of some of the advantages and disadvantages of the futures market over other investment possibilities. 1. The possibility exist that a person can make more money faster in the futures market, because  the speed of prices tend to change faster than stocks. Conversely, bad judgment can cause one to suffer greater losses than traditional investments.2. Futures are highly leveraged investments. The trader only puts up about 15-20% as a margin, yet still being able to ride the full amount of the contract. Unlike stocks where at least 50% of its value has to be put up, and the investor pays interest on the difference between the margin and the full contract value. 3. For the most part there is no inside trading. Everyone has the same insiders information on the weather, for example. This is an open outcry market, very public, which insures a fair outcome.4. Commission charges on futures trades are small compared to other investments, and the investor pays them after the position is liquidated.5. Most commodity markets are very broad and liquid. Transactions can be completed quickly, lowering the risk of adverse market moves between the time of the decision to trade and the trade’s execution. I hope this has helped in your research. I don’t profess to being an expert, but I do know of some. I obviously don’t have the time to go into all the details now, but at my site  Market Mentalist you will find all you need to know about investing online. I have a page devoted to futures. There is access to some of the top trading systems available including software, books, newsletters, and Forums. Whether you are an inquisitive novice or a seasoned pro Market Mentalist offers the online investment resource you just might be seeking.

What Are Commodity Futures?

Today, most of the futures commodity trading exchanges are set up in a similar way. Typically, members of the exchange do the actual trading in face-to-face deals on the floor.  Stock stands for equity in a public company, and can be held as long as you want, whereas commodity futures trading contracts have a specified life. In the past, people used commodity futures trading methods generally to hedge risks and fluctuation in prices, or to take advantage of them, and not for actually buying into the commodity. The idea is that a contract requires delivery of the commodity within a certain predefined time period unless it becomes null and void. The person buying the commodity futures trading contract agrees to buy the specified commodity at a fixed price on a certain date. The person selling the commodity futures trading contract agrees to sell the commodity at a certain price on a certain date. As time goes on, the contract price fluctuates, and this brings about profit and loss in the trade. The contract is usually liquidated before its expiry and the delivery generally doesn’t take place. The entire trade is based on the idea that there will be no delivery, but we can speculate on the price of the underlying commodity at a future time to make money. Commodity futures trading is done all over the world now.

Different Types Of Commodities

There are many types of commodities that are traded in the international market.  These can be very broadly categorized into the following: