Futures first appeared in the United States, and the emergence of futures trading is based on the development of spot forward contract trading and the extensive commercial practice of commodity producers, traders and processors. /kloc-In the middle of 0/9th century, Chicago 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. Because of this trading method, the price fluctuates extremely sharply. During the harvest season, farmers all transport grain to Chicago, and the oversupply in the market leads to a sharp drop in prices, so that farmers often can't even receive the freight. The following spring, when food was scarce, it was difficult for processors and consumers to buy food, and the price soared.

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 then sell it after the grain humidity 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.

At the same time, 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 at the time of 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 1848 and 13, the first modern futures exchange-Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was established, which marked the formal birth of futures trading.

In a word, futures trading is an organized trading method developed on the basis of spot trading and conducted by buying and selling standardized futures contracts on futures exchanges.

The purpose of futures trading is to transfer price risk or gain risk profit.