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
A complete list of futures can be found here.
