The futures market offers the opportunistic investor the opportunity to use small amounts of money for control of large quantities of products, including gold, currencies and agricultural commodities.

A futures contract is a legally binding contract to provide, if you are selling, or take delivery, if you purchase a specific commodity, index, bond, currency or at a predetermined price or date. A futures contract can include everything from a standard size of grain, oil, or a country’s currency. The amount and date of delivery of the contract are given, although in almost all cases the delivery was not taken as contracts are bought and sold for speculative or hedging.

Futures are used by who the actual use by investors and commodity. For example, in May a farmer plants some corn, but does not know what will be corn for sale in November. He may sell a futures contract for November and “lock in” the future selling price today. On the other hand, investors can buy a term contract if they feel that the price of a security is being appreciated, or they can sell a term contract if they feel that the price of a course of safety is in decline.