Trading Futures, Online Futures Trading, Futures Trade

Futures trading is a form of investment involving speculation of the price of a commodity in the future. Futures are derivatives bought or sold on a futures exchange. They are contracts to buy or sell a particular amount of a commodity at a predetermined price on a specified date in the future. Trading futures is not for newcomers to investing, since it involves high risk.

The majority of futures trading is speculative and involves cash settlements (also known as paper investing), rather than for the actual physical delivery of the commodity. Online futures trading is not as popular as online stock trading, since the former is substantially more risky.

Till the 1980s, futures trading comprised of only a handful of farm products. The popularity of the futures market subsequently rose and in the 21st century it involves a huge variety of commodities, including:

metals - like gold, silver and platinum.

livestock – such as pork bellies and cattle.

energy - like crude oil and natural gas.

foodstuffs – such as coffee and orange juice.

industrial products - like lumber and cotton.

currencies.

indices - such as the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500.,,