In simple words, futures is a contract for the supply of a primary asset after a certain time in the future, but at a pre–agreed price. The daily turnover of futures trading on Mosbir exceeds 4.5 billion. $, it is less for options up to $ 100 million. Assuming, for example, that the value of gold will grow, you buy gold futures and if you are right, the value of the futures increases, which allows you to sell it more expensive. Futures are issued for a certain period after which (expiration date) this contract must be executed. Usually traders get rid of futures before the expiration date. The main idea of futures is that with the help of futures you can fix the price of the asset you need. For example, if you think that the cost of 1 ton of wheat in 3 months will cost 20,000 rubles, and now it costs 15,500 rubles, then you buy futures now at 15,500 rubles, wait for the price to rise and then sell futures at a new price, for example, 19800 rubles. Your profit will be 4,300 rubles. One feature, profit or loss is credited to you during clearing, which is done daily, i.e. if by the time of clearing the price was 15,600 rubles, then you will be credited 100 rubles to your account today (this is the so-called variation margin). This money can be used immediately.
Also, considering that for futures you should only have the amount for GO, by the way, you can buy a futures contract for 100 shares of Gazprom JSC not for 30,000 rubles, but 5 times cheaper – 6000 rubles. You will receive a profit as from 100 shares (meaning the difference in the price of a futures contract for 100 shares). Great! This explains the extreme popularity of futures among traders. You need less money and more profit. However, do not forget about the increased risk.
What is the difference between futures and stocks?
– Futures have no dividends.
– The stock can be held as long as you like, futures until the expiration date.
– When we buy a stock on a brokerage account, there must be 100% of the amount of the lot price. If it is necessary to buy futures per share, the entire amount is not required, only the amount of guarantee is needed (it is better to have more, of course, so that there is no margin stake), on the Moscow Exchange it is 10-20%. I.e., the leverage of 5-10x is immediately laid in futures. It is free, which is the main advantage of futures. When buying stock futures, you do not borrow shares from a broker, which means you do not pay anything as a commission.
– Reduced commission compared to the stock market.
– When you bought a share, and even when the price of this share falls to zero, you can hold the share and wait for growth to go. For futures, if there is a shortage of funds in the account to cover the guarantee, the broker can close the transaction on margin call. Thus, the investor loses money.
Futures have a huge number of varieties, so index futures, stock futures, bond futures, currency, interest rates, commodity contracts are presented on the Moscow Exchange. For a more detailed acquaintance, visit the Mosbirzhi website www.moex.com and select the Futures Market from the site menu.
Table 1. Index futures.
| Name of the contract | Code | Quote |
| Moscow Exchange Index Futures Contract | MIX | 100 х MICEX Index |
| Moscow Exchange Index Futures Contract (mini) | MXI | MICEX Index |
| RTS Index Futures Contract | RTS | 100 х RTS Index |
| RTS Index Futures Contract (mini) | RTSM | RTS Index |
| Blue Chip Index Futures Contract | RTSS | Blue Chip Index |
| Industry indexes | ||
| Oil and Gas Index Futures Contract | OGI | Oil and Gas Index (MOEXOG) |
| Metals and Mining Index Futures Contract | MMI | Metals and Mining Index (MOEXMM) |
| Finance Index Futures Contract | FNI | Finance Index (MOEXFN) |
| Consumer Sector Index Futures Contract | CNI | Consumer Sector Index (MOEXCN) |
| Moscow real estate Index DomClick | ||
| Futures contract for the Moscow Real Estate Index DomClick | HOME | Moscow real estate index DomClick (MREDC) |
| Government Bond Index | ||
| Index Futures Contract RGBI | RGBI | 100 х Government Bond Index (RGBI) |
Table 2. Stock futures (example for June contracts).
| June stock futures contracts | The last transaction on 03.06.22 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Aeroflot | |
| AFLT-6.22 | 2 690 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Joint Stock Financial Corporation Sistema | |
| AFKS-6.22 | 12 762 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of ALROSA (PJSC) | |
| ALRS-6.22 | 7 100 |
| Futures contract for American depositary receipts for shares of Ali Baba Group Holding Limited | |
| BABA-6.22 | – |
| Futures contract for American depositary receipts for shares of Baidu Inc. | |
| BIDU-6.22 | – |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Severstal | |
| CHMF-6.22 | 71 995 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Detsky Mir | |
| DSKY-6.22 | 6 553 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC FGC UES | |
| FEES-6.22 | 8 911 |
| Futures contract for Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) for shares of X 5 Retail Group N.V. | |
| FIVE-6.22 | 8 556 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (lot 1 share) | |
| GMKN-6.22 | 19 580 |
| GMKN-9.22 | 20 320 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Gazprom | |
| GAZR-6.22 | 29 812 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC RusHydro | |
| HYDR-6.22 | 8 498 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Inter RAO UES | |
| IRAO-6.22 | 30 870 |
| IRAO-9.22 | – |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC NK LUKOIL | |
| LKOH-6.22 | 39 944 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Mechel | |
| MTLR-6.22 | 12 290 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Moscow Exchange | |
| MOEX-6.22 | 8 867 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works | |
| MAGN-6.22 | 33 130 |
| Futures Contract for Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) VK Company Limited | |
| MAIL-6.22 | 3 105 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Magnit | |
| MGNT-6.22 | 4 351 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of MTS PJSC | |
| MTSI-6.22 | 26 049 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC NOVATEK | |
| NOTK-6.22 | 81 703 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of NLMK PJSC | |
| NLMK-6.22 | 12 849 |
| Futures contract for depositary receipts for shares of Ozone Holding PiElSi | |
| OZON-6.22 | 8 468 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC PhosAgro | |
| PHOR-6.22 | 6 945 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC PIK SZ | |
| PIKK-6.22 | 5 400 |
| Futures contract for Polymetal International ordinary shares | |
| POLY-6.22 | 5 111 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Polyus | |
| PLZL-6.22 | 111 996 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC “Russian Networks” | |
| RSTI-6.22 | 5 802 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of MCPAO “OK “RUSAL” | |
| RUAL-6.22 | 6 087 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC NK Rosneft | |
| ROSN-6.22 | 36 719 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Rostelecom | |
| RTKM-6.22 | 5 790 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC “SPB Exchange” | |
| SPBE-6.22 | 2 699 |
| Futures contract for investment units SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | |
| SPYF-6.22 | 405,9 |
| Futures contract for preferred shares of PJSC Surgutneftegaz | |
| SNGP-6.22 | 36 011 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Surgutneftegaz | |
| SNGR-6.22 | 21 980 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Gazprom Neft | |
| SIBN-6.22 | 4 042 |
| Futures contract for preferred shares of Sberbank PJSC | |
| SBPR-6.22 | 11 270 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of Sberbank PJSC | |
| SBRF-6.22 | 11 977 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC “Airplane Group of Companies” | |
| SMLT-6.22 | 2 072 |
| Futures contract for the estimated value (0.1 of the value of one share of PJSC “Transneft”) | |
| TRNS-6.22 | – |
| Futures contract for Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) for shares of Tisios Group Holding PiElSi | |
| TCSI-6.22 | 20 238 |
| Futures contract for preferred shares of PJSC “Transneft” | |
| TRNF-6.22 | – |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of PJSC Tatneft named after V.D. Shashin | |
| TATN-6.22 | 39 297 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of VTB Bank (PJSC) | |
| VTBR-6.22 | 1 768 |
| Futures contract for ordinary shares of Yandex N.V. | |
| YNDF-6.22 | 15 066 |
Futures for commodity contracts are represented by the following varieties (the futures cipher is indicated in parentheses):
Brent oil (BR);
Light Sweet Crude Oil (CL);
Gold (GOLD);
Palladium (PD);
Platinum (PT);
Silver (SILVER);
Raw sugar;
Aluminum (ALMG);
Cobalt (Co);
Nickel (Ni);
Zinc (Zn);
Natural gas (NG); Wheat (WH4).