Introduction to Futures _ Futures _ Sina Finance

（1） Contract standardization
Futures trading is carried out by buying and selling futures contracts, which are standardized. The standardization of futures contracts means that all terms of futures contracts, except the price, are prescribed in advance by the futures exchange, which is characterized by standardization. The standardization of futures contracts brings great convenience to futures trading. The trading parties do not need to negotiate the specific terms of the transaction, saving trading time and reducing trading disputes.
（2） Centralized transaction
Futures trading must be conducted in the futures exchange. The futures exchange adopts the membership system, and only members can enter the market for trading. Those customers outside the market who want to participate in futures trading can only entrust futures brokerage companies to act as agents for trading. Therefore, the futures market is a highly organized market, and a strict management system is implemented, and the futures trading is finally centralized in the futures exchange.
（3） Two way transaction and hedging mechanism
Two way trading means that futures traders can either buy futures contracts as the beginning of futures trading (called buying positions) or sell futures contracts as the beginning of trading (called selling positions), which is commonly referred to as "short selling". Also related to the characteristics of two-way trading is the hedging mechanism. In most futures transactions, the contract is not fulfilled through physical delivery when the contract expires, but through the transaction opposite to the transaction direction when the position is opened. Specifically, after buying and building a position, the performance liability can be relieved by selling the same contract. After selling and building a position, the performance liability can be relieved by buying the same contract. The characteristics of two-way trading and hedging mechanism of futures trading have attracted a large number of futures speculators to participate in the trading, because in the futures market, speculators have double profit opportunities. When the futures price rises, they can buy at a low price and sell at a high price to make profits. When the price drops, they can sell at a high price and buy at a low price to make profits. And speculators can avoid the trouble of physical delivery through hedging mechanism, The participation of speculators has greatly increased the liquidity of the futures market.
（4） Leverage mechanism
Futures trading adopts the margin system, which means that traders need to pay a small amount of margin, usually 5% - 10% of the value of the contract, to complete several times or even dozens of times of contract transactions. This feature of futures trading has attracted a large number of speculators to participate in futures trading. Futures trading has the feature that a small amount of capital can be used to invest a large amount of value, which is known as "leverage mechanism". The leverage mechanism of futures trading makes futures trading have the characteristics of high yield and high risk.
（5） Daily debt free settlement system
The daily debt free settlement system is adopted for futures trading, that is, after the end of each trading day, the profit and loss of the traders on that day are settled, and the funds are transferred between different traders according to the profit and loss. If the traders suffer from serious losses and the margin account is insufficient, they are required to add margin before the opening of the next day, To achieve "no debt every day". The futures market is a high-risk market. In order to effectively prevent risks, the risks brought to traders by adverse changes in futures prices will be controlled within a limited range, so as to ensure the normal operation of the futures market.

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