Futures and Commodities Trading

Futures and commodities pages explain standardized contracts, spot exposure, venues, delivery rules, and basis behavior used in commodity and futures markets.

Start with Commodity Markets and Spot Contracts when the question is about the underlying cash market, physical commodity, or spot transaction. Use Futures Contracts, Pricing, and Basis when the issue is contract size, futures price, carry, basis, contango, backwardation, or delivery month. Use Futures Exchanges, Venues, and Intermediaries for exchange venues, clearing, futures commission merchants, and open-outcry or electronic execution. Use Contract Limits, Delivery, and Settlement for margin, delivery, position limits, daily price limits, and final settlement mechanics.

The main distinction is exposure versus instrument. A spot commodity page explains the cash market. A commodity futures page explains the standardized exchange-traded instrument that transfers or takes price risk. A basis or delivery page explains why the cash and futures prices may not move together perfectly.

What To Check First

Before relying on a futures or commodities term, identify the contract or cash-market reference, delivery month, settlement method, tick value, margin treatment, and basis risk. Those fields determine whether a quote is useful for hedging, valuation, trading, or portfolio allocation.

In this section

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