(1) commodity futures
Commodity futures refer to futures contracts with physical goods as the subject matter. Commodity futures have a long history and a wide variety, mainly including agricultural futures, metal futures and energy futures.
1. Agricultural futures. After the birth of 1848 Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the introduction of 1865 standardized contract, with the expansion of spot production and circulation, new futures varieties appear continuously. In addition to wheat, corn, soybeans and other grain futures, from the end of 19 to the beginning of the 20th century, with the emergence of new exchanges in Chicago, new york, Kansas and other places, cash crops such as cotton, coffee, cocoa, butter, eggs, and later livestock and poultry products such as pigs, live cattle, pork breast meat, and forest products such as wood and natural rubber were also listed one after another.
2. Metal futures. The earliest metal futures trading was born in Britain. The London Metal Exchange (LME) was established in 1876, which pioneered the metal futures trading. At that time, the name was London Metal Trading Company, which was mainly engaged in futures trading of copper and tin. 1899, the London metal exchange introduced the practice of trading twice a day in the morning and afternoon to copper and tin trading. 1920, lead and zinc were also officially listed and traded on the London metal exchange. Britain was originally a copper exporter before the industrial revolution, but the industrial revolution became its turning point. Because a large amount of copper is imported from abroad as a means of production, it is necessary to transfer the risk brought by copper price fluctuation through futures trading. London Metal Exchange (LME) has been doing brisk business since its establishment, and LME futures prices are still a barometer of the international nonferrous metal market. At present, the main trading varieties are copper, tin, lead, zinc, aluminum, nickel and silver. American metal futures appeared later than Britain. /kloc-from the end of 0/9 to the beginning of the 20th century, the American economy turned from agriculture to the establishment of a modern industrial production system, and the types of futures contracts gradually expanded from traditional agricultural products to metals, precious metals, finished products and processed products. The New York Mercantile Exchange was founded in 1933, which was COMEX by the merger of leather, raw silk, rubber and metal exchanges. The trading varieties are gold, silver, copper and aluminum, among which the gold futures contract launched by 1974 had a great impact on the international futures market in the 1970s and 1980s.
3. Energy futures. The oil crisis in the early 1970s brought a huge impact on the world oil market, and the prices of oil and other energy products fluctuated greatly, which directly led to the emergence of oil and other energy futures. At present, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and London International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) are the most influential energy product exchanges in the world, and the listed products include crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, natural gas and propane.
(2) Financial futures
With the disintegration of the Bretton Woods system after the Second World War, the international economic situation changed greatly in the early 1970s. The fixed exchange rate system was replaced by the floating exchange rate system, and financial control policies such as interest rate control were gradually abolished. Frequent and violent fluctuations in exchange rates and interest rates have prompted people to re-examine the futures market. 1972 In May, CME established the International Money Market Division (IMM), and launched foreign exchange futures contracts including British pound, Canadian dollar, German mark, French franc, Japanese yen and Swiss franc for the first time. 1975 10, the Chicago Board of Trade listed the National Mortgage Association (GNMA) bond futures contract, thus becoming the first exchange in the world to launch interest rate futures contracts. 1In August, 977, the American long-term treasury bond futures contract was listed on the Chicago Board of Trade, which is one of the financial futures contracts with a large trading volume in the international futures market so far. 1In February, 982, the Kansas Futures Exchange (KCBT) developed the value line composite index futures contract, which made the stock price index also the object of futures trading. So far, foreign exchange futures, interest rate futures and stock index futures of the three major categories of financial futures have all been listed and traded, and have formed a certain scale. After entering the 1990s, financial futures trading occupied most of the futures markets in Europe and Asia. In the international futures market, financial futures have also become the main products of trading. The emergence of financial futures has brought earth-shaking changes to the futures market and completely changed the development pattern of the futures market. Most futures exchanges in the world were born in the last 20 years of the 20th century. At present, in the international futures market, financial futures have occupied a dominant position and have had a far-reaching impact on the whole world economy.
(3) Futures options
Shortly after the introduction of financial futures in the 1970s, new changes have taken place in the international futures market. 1 9821June1day, the American long-term treasury bond futures option contract was listed on the Chicago Board of Trade, which opened up a new world for other commodity futures and financial futures trading and triggered another revolution in futures trading. This is one of the most important financial innovations in the early 1980s. Both option trading and futures trading have the functions of avoiding risks and providing hedging. Futures trading mainly provides hedging channels for spot traders. Option trading not only has the function of avoiding risks for spot traders, but also has the function of avoiding risks for futures traders to some extent. It is equivalent to buying an insurance for high-risk futures trading. Therefore, various flexible trading strategies unique to option trading or combined with futures trading have attracted a large number of investors. At present, most futures trading products in the international futures market have introduced option trading methods.
It should be pointed out that in the development of the international futures market, various varieties and markets promote each other and develop together. It can be said that the basic situation of the international futures market at present is that commodity futures remain stable, financial futures come from behind, and futures options are in the ascendant. The object of futures option trading is neither material goods nor value goods, but a kind of right, a kind of "power and money transaction". Option trading originated from stock trading and then transplanted to futures trading, which developed more rapidly. Now option trading is not only carried out in futures exchanges and stock exchanges, but also in Chicago and other places in the United States. Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) is the largest options exchange in the world.