Contract Comparisons and Futures Basics

Contract Comparisons and Futures Basics 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 Futures, Forwards, and Contracts 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 move from this landing page into the term page that best matches the instrument evidence.

Key Terms in This Branch

Example in Use

A business expecting to buy a commodity can use a long futures position to reduce the risk of a future price increase.

What to Check

• Underlying asset, contract size, expiration, delivery or cash-settlement terms, margin, and exchange or OTC venue.
• Spot price, forward price, carry cost, funding rate, income yield, storage cost, and basis.
• Hedging objective, roll schedule, delivery risk, liquidity, and counterparty or clearing exposure.
• Effect on price risk, cash-flow timing, leverage, margin calls, and portfolio or business exposure.

Common Mistakes

• Treating futures and forwards as identical despite standardization, clearing, and margin differences.
• Ignoring roll yield, delivery terms, and basis risk when using futures exposure.
• Using leveraged derivatives without understanding margin calls and loss potential.

Contract Comparisons content is educational and does not provide personalized investment, tax, legal, accounting, valuation, derivatives, or securities advice.

In this section

Choose a subsection first. Deeper term pages live inside each subsection, which keeps large topic hubs readable.