The original futures trading originated in Osaka, Japan in the16th century. The rice market in Japan has been developed. Until19th century, it was unique to Japan, and was gradually imitated by the whole world.
From 65438 to 0848, 82 businessmen in Chicago initiated the establishment of Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) to reduce the risk of grain trading, and the establishment of CBOT marked the official start of futures trading. 1865, CBOT launched a standardized contract and implemented a deposit system; 1882, CBOT began to allow the exemption of performance liability through hedging; 1925, the Chicago Board of Trade Clearing Company (BOTCC) was established, and all transactions of the Chicago Board of Trade must enter the clearing company for settlement. At this point, futures trading in a truly modern sense began to take shape.
The emergence of futures trading is not accidental, but based on the development of spot forward contract trading and the extensive commercial practice of commodity producers, traders and processors. From 65438 to 0833, Chicago has become the center of American domestic and foreign trade. After the Civil War, Chicago developed into a transportation hub because of its superior geographical location. By the middle of19th century, Chicago had developed into an important distribution center and processing center for agricultural products. There are a lot of agricultural products in Chicago, and people bargain face to face in the street according to the old trading method. In this way, the price fluctuates extremely sharply. In the harvest season, farmers all transport food to Chicago, and the oversupply in the market leads to a sharp drop in prices, which often prevents farmers from receiving freight. The following spring, food was scarce, and it was difficult for processors and consumers to buy food, and the price soared. Practice puts forward the need to establish an effective market mechanism, prevent the price from soaring and plunging, and establish more storage and transportation facilities.
In order to solve this problem, distributors in grain producing areas came into being. Local distributors set up enterprises, build warehouses, buy farmers' grain and sell it after the humidity of the grain reaches the specified standard. Local dealers buy farmers' grain through spot forward contracts, store it first, and then list it in batches. There are two problems in the local dealer's trade practice: he needs to borrow money from the bank to buy grain storage from farmers, and in the process of storage, he must bear the huge price risk of winter grain. Price fluctuation may make local dealers unprofitable or even unable to recover their costs. The best way to solve these two problems is to sell first and then buy, and contact traders and processors in Chicago in the form of forward contracts to transfer price risks and obtain loans. In this way, spot forward contract trading has become a common trading method.
However, traders and processors in Chicago are also facing the problems faced by local distributors, so they are only willing to pay local distributors at a price lower than their estimated forward price at the time of delivery to avoid the risk of price decline during delivery. Because the purchase price of traders and processors in Chicago is too low, local distributors who go to Chicago to negotiate long-term contracts have to find a wider range of buyers for their own interests and strive for a good price for their own food. Some non-grain merchants believe that it is profitable to buy forward contracts first and then sell them near the delivery date, thus making a profit. In this way, the gradual increase in the purchase of forward contracts has increased the income of local distributors, and the income paid by local distributors to farmers has also increased. On March 3rd, 1848, the first modern futures exchange-Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was established. At the beginning of its establishment, CBOT was not a real modern futures exchange, but a place where spot trading and spot long-term contract transfer were concentrated.
In the development of futures trading, there have been two revolutionary changes, one is the standardization of contracts, and the other is the establishment of settlement system. 1865, Chicago Board of Trade standardized contracts and launched the first batch of standard futures contracts. Contract standardization includes the standardization of quality, quantity, delivery time, delivery place and payment terms in the contract. Standardized futures contracts reflect the most common business practices, which makes it very convenient for market participants to transfer futures contracts, and at the same time enables producers and operators to relieve their performance responsibilities through hedging, and also enables market makers to participate in transactions conveniently, greatly improving the market liquidity of futures trading. While standardizing the contract, the Chicago Board of Trade also stipulates that the trading margin should be paid at 10% of the total contract value.
With the development of futures trading, settlement becomes difficult. At first, the settlement method adopted by the Chicago Board of Trade was ring settlement, but this settlement method was complicated and difficult. 189 1 year, Minneapolis Grain Exchange took the lead in setting up a clearing house, and then Chicago Stock Exchange also set up a clearing house. It was not until the establishment of modern clearing houses that real futures trading appeared and the futures market was fully established. Therefore, the emergence of modern futures trading and modern futures market is the inevitable result of the development of commodity economy and the inherent requirement of social productivity development and production socialization.
1848 to the 1970s, the trading varieties in the futures market were mainly commodity futures, which can be divided into agricultural futures represented by wheat, corn and soybeans. Metal futures represented by copper, aluminum, tin and silver, and energy futures represented by crude oil, gasoline and propane.
In the 1970s, financial futures such as interest rate, stock and stock index, and foreign exchange were introduced one after another, while the American long-term treasury bond futures option contract was listed in CBOT on June 1 982+1October1day, which opened up a new world for other commodity futures and financial futures trading.
The Development of China Futures Market
The development of China's futures market began in the late 1980s and mainly experienced the following periods.
Phase I: Scheme research and initial implementation stage (1988- 1990).
1990 10, Zhengzhou Grain Wholesale Market in China was approved by the State Council, and based on spot trading, the futures trading mechanism was introduced as the first commodity futures market in China.
The second stage: rapid development stage (1990- 1993)
By the second half of 1993, there were more than 50 futures exchanges and nearly 1,000 futures brokers in China, and the futures market showed signs of blind development.
Phase III: rectification period (1993- 1998)
In June, 1993, 1 1, the State Council issued the Notice on Stopping the Blind Development of the Futures Market. 1994 in may, the general office of the State Council approved the request of the State Council securities commission on resolutely stopping the blind development of the futures market, and began to comprehensively sort out the futures exchanges. 35 futures trading varieties were reduced to12; Part-time institutions withdrew from the futures brokerage agency industry, and the original 294 futures brokerage companies were reduced to about 180.
1September, 1999, a regulation and four administrative measures were formally implemented, which established a regulatory framework for the standardized development of the futures market. In this way, after several years of structural adjustment and standardization, the futures market planning framework based on the Provisional Regulations on the Administration of Futures Trading and the four management measures has been basically established, the three-level market supervision system of China Securities Regulatory Commission, China Futures Association and Futures Exchange has been initially formed, the behaviors of futures market participants have been gradually standardized, the market management and risk control capabilities of futures exchanges have been continuously enhanced, futures investors have become more mature and rational, and the standardization of the whole market has been greatly improved.
In the process of rectification, the trading volume of China's futures market dropped sharply, but since 2000, the futures market has gradually stepped out of the trough. At present, Shanghai Futures Exchange has become the largest copper futures trading center in Asia and the second in the world. In 2003, the turnover reached11662900 tons, which increased by more than 50 times in 10. In 2003, the trading volume of soybean futures varieties in Dalian Commodity Exchange reached 2,865,438+880,000 tons, making it the first soybean futures trading center in Asia and the second in the world, second only to CBOT in the United States.
On June 365438+1October 3 1 day, 2004, the state issued "Several Opinions on Promoting the Reform, Opening-up and Stable Development of the Capital Market", clearly proposing the steady development of the futures market, and the policy on the futures market has also changed from normative rectification to steady development. Securities companies and listed companies have participated in futures companies one after another, which makes the futures industry get new capital inflows. New varieties such as rice and stock index futures will also be launched soon. As an important financial tool to find prices and avoid risks, the futures market will play an irreplaceable role in the development of modern market economy in China when China joins WTO and integrates into the international economic family.