Futures

A Future is a standardized contract to buy or sell a predefined amount of a specified commodity at a certain date in the future, at a market determined price (the futures price). The contracts are traded on a futures exchange.

More information about the history and the working of Futures can be found on Wikipedia

Naming

Most futures follow a very simple naming standard, including the future code, followed by the expiry month and year.

Tradable Months

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
F	G	H	J	K	M	N	Q	U	V	X	Z

As an example, the e-Mini S&P 500 future (ES) expiring in September (U) 2009, is named ESU9.

List

There are thousands of different futures, but I limit myself to trading electronically traded and very liquid futures.

The list below is not yet complete - I will be adding contracts over the next few days

Currency Futures

Symbol	Name	Size	Months	Tick	Tick Value
Standard (liquid, small spread)
6A	AUS/USD	100 000 AUD	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	10.00 USD
6B	GBP/USD	62 500 GBP	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	6.25 USD
6C	USD/CAD	100 000 CAD	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	10.00 USD
6E	EUR/USD	125 000 EUR	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	12.50 USD
6J	JPY/USD	12 500 000 JPY	H,M,U,Z	0.000001	12.50 USD
6S	CHF/USD	125 000 CHF	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	12.50 USD
Mini (less liquid, larger spread)
E7	EUR/USD Mini	62 500 EUR	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	6.25 USD
J7	JPY/USD Mini	6 250 000 JPY	H,M,U,Z	0.000001	6.25 USD
Micro (less liquid, larger spread)
M6A	AUD/USD Micro	10 000 AUD	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	1.00 USD
M6B	GBP/USD Micro	6 250 GBP	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	0.625 USD
M6C	USD/CAD Micro	10 000 USD	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	1.00 CAD
M6E	EUR/USD Micro	12 500 EUR	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	1.25 USD
M6J	USD/JPY Micro	10 000 USD	H,M,U,Z	0.01	100.00 JPY
M6S	USD/CHF Micro	10 000 USD	H,M,U,Z	0.0001	1.00 CHF

If you are interested in trading more exotic currency pairs using futures, please read this article

Index Futures

Symbol	Name	Size	Months	Tick	Tick Value
ES	e-Mini S&P 500	50 x index	H,M,U,Z	0.25 Points	12.50 USD
NQ	e-Mini Nasdaq 100	20 x index	H,M,U,Z	0.25 Points	5.00 USD
YM	e-Mini Dow	5 x index	H,M,U,Z	1 Point	5.00 USD
FESX	EuroStoxx 50	10 x index	H,M,U,Z	1 Point	10.00 EUR
FDAX	DAX	25 x index	H,M,U,Z	0.5 Points	12.50 EUR

Metal Futures

Symbol	Name	Size	Months	Tick	Tick Value
Standard (liquid, small spread)
AL	Aluminum	44 000 pounds	All	0.0005 USD	22 USD
HG	Copper	25 000 pounds	All	0.0005 USD	12.5 USD
GC	Gold	100 troy ounces	All	0.10 USD	10 USD
SI	Silver	5 000 troy ounces	All	0.005 USD	25 USD
PA	Palladium	100 troy ounces	All	0.05 USD	5 USD
PL	Platinum	50 troy ounces	All	0.10 USD	5 USD
Mini (less liquid, larger spread)
QC	miNY Copper	12 500 pounds	All	0.0020 USD	12.5 USD
QO	miNY Gold	50 troy ounces	All	0.25 USD	12.5 USD
QI	miNY Silver	2 500 troy ounces	All	0.0125 USD	12.5 USD
Micro (almost no volume, huge spread)
8Q	E-mini Gold	33 troy ounces	All	0.10 USD	3.33 USD
6Q	E-mini Silver	1 000 troy ounces	All	0.005 USD	5 USD

Commodity Futures

Symbol	Name	Size	Months	Tick	Tick Value
Standard
ZC	Corn	5 000 bushels	H,K,N,U,Z	1/4 C	12.5 USD
ZW	Wheat	5 000 bushels	H,K,N,U,Z	1/4 C	12.5 USD
ZS	Soybeans	5 000 bushels	F,H,K,N,Q,U,X	1/4 C	12.5 USD
Mini
XC	Mini Corn	1 000 bushels	H,K,N,U,Z	1/8 C	1.25 USD
XW	Mini Corn	1 000 bushels	H,K,N,U,Z	1/8 C	1.25 USD
XK	Mini Soybeans	1 000 bushels	H,K,N,U,Z	1/8 C	1.25 USD

Interest Rate Futures

Symbol	Name	Size	Months	Tick	Tick Value
ZT	2 year U.S. Treasury Bonds	200.000 USD	H,M,U,Z	1/128 th	15.625 USD
Z3N	3 year U.S. Treasury Bonds	200.000 USD	H,M,U,Z	1/128 th	15.625 USD
ZF	5 year U.S. Treasury Bonds	100.000 USD	H,M,U,Z	1/128 th	7,8125 USD
ZN	10 year U.S. Treasury Bonds	100.000 USD	H,M,U,Z	1/64 th	15,625 USD
ZB	30 year U.S. Treasury Bonds	100.000 USD	H,M,U,Z	1/64 th	15,625 USD

Energy Futures

Symbol	Name	Size	Months	Tick	Tick Value
QG	miNY Natural Gas	2 500 mmBtu	All	0.005 USD	12.50 USD
QH	miNY Heating Oil	21 000 gallons	All	0.001 USD	21.00 USD
QM	miNY Light Sweet Crude Oil	500 barrels	All	0.025 USD	12.50 USD
QU	miNY Gasoline	21 000 gallons	All	0.001 USD	21.00 USD