Futures contract

Futures contracts are contracts stipulating the purchase or sale of commodities, currencies or securities of a specified quantity, at a specific price and on a predetermined date in the future.

Futures contracts tend to be standardised in terms of quantity, price and maturity periods.

They are written against an exchange clearing house and traded through the clearing house.

They also require a refundable up-front security payment (initial margin) and subsequent variation margin adjustments.

Because of their standardisation, futures contracts have a deep secondary market.

Their uses include hedging and speculation.

Often abbreviated to futures.

See also

• Basis
• Bond futures
• Clearing house
• Close out
• Commodity
• Contract
• Currency futures
• Default
• Derivative instrument
• Exchange
• Exchange traded
• Fixing instrument
• Forward contract
• Future-proof
• Hedging
• Initial margin
• Interest rate futures
• International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)
• Margin
• Margin call
• Open interest
• Outturn
• Over the counter
• Secondary market
• Speculation
• STIR
• Swapnote
• Tick
• Variation margin
• West Texas Intermediate (WTI)