Specialty Futures
Gold futures, managed futures, and weather-future terms.
Futures, forwards, delivery, contango, futures options, index futures, financial futures, and forward-pricing terms.
Futures, Forwards, and Contracts is the financial-instruments landing page for futures contracts, forward contracts, index futures, rate futures, currency futures, commodity futures, delivery, carry, contango, roll yield, and forward pricing. It keeps related terms in one branch so readers can move from a broad instrument question to the article that owns the contract evidence.
Use this page when a futures or forward contract changes future delivery, settlement, hedge exposure, or pricing basis. Use the parent Derivatives page when you need the broader instrument map. For an individual decision, confirm the contract, term sheet, prospectus, confirmation, exchange specification, or disclosure record before relying on the term.
Use the table below to choose the branch that matches the instrument type, payoff feature, settlement term, or risk exposure being reviewed.
| Branch | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Commodity, Managed, and Specialty Futures | Gold futures, managed futures, and weather-future terms. |
| Contract Comparisons and Futures Basics | Forward-and-futures and options-versus-futures comparison terms. |
| Financial, Index, and Rate Futures | Bond futures, currency futures, index futures, interest-rate futures, stock-index futures, and VIX futures terms. |
| Forward Contracts, Rates, and FX Hedges | Forward exchange contract, forward-rate agreement, forward-forward rate, and forward-margin terms. |
| Futures Contracts and Exchange-Traded Futures | Financial future, futures contract, futures chain, futures option, futures transaction, E-mini futures, and underlying futures contract terms. |
| Futures Pricing, Carry, and Delivery | Contango, cost of carry, roll forward, roll yield, spot price, and taking-delivery terms. |
A business expecting to buy a commodity can use a long futures position to reduce the risk of a future price increase.
Futures & Forwards content is educational and does not provide personalized investment, tax, legal, accounting, valuation, derivatives, or securities advice.
Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.
Gold futures, managed futures, and weather-future terms.
Forward-and-futures and options-versus-futures comparison terms.
Bond futures, currency futures, index futures, interest-rate futures, stock-index futures, and VIX futures terms.
Forward exchange contract, forward-rate agreement, forward-forward rate, and forward-margin terms.
Financial future, futures contract, futures chain, futures option, futures transaction, E-mini futures, and underlying futures contract terms.
Contango, cost of carry, roll forward, roll yield, spot price, and taking-delivery terms.