What are futures markets?

Futures markets are also called futures exchanges. Traders use futures exchanges to hedge against price volatility and speculate on the future prices of stock indexes, currencies, commodities, interest rates and other assets. A futures contract is a contract to exchange a particular security at a specific price on a specific future date.

How do you trade a futures contract?

Register with a clearinghouse to open a trading account. Buying or selling a futures contract at the current market price (the futures price) Long Position Long position denotes buying of a stock, currency or commodity in the hope that the future price will get higher from the present price.

What happened to the bean market?

After trading mostly weaker on the last trade day of the week, the bean market firmed up for a mixed close on the day. Jan futures were up by 4 cents for the day, resulting in a net weekly drop of 4 ¼ cents – after seeing nearly a 50c range.

What happened to soybean futures?

Soymeal futures closed $0.50 to $2.80 weaker on Friday, limiting the Dec contract’s weekly gain to $7.30/ton. The monthly Crop Production report from NASS raised the national average soybean yield by 0.3 bpa to 49.9 bpa. That raised production by 25 mbu to 4.129 billion. All 25 of it went to carryout, now 245 mbu.