Buying Futures For Dummies Online

This is the biggest difference from stocks. You don't have to pay the full value of the contract upfront. You only put down a small deposit called (usually 3–10% of the total value) [1, 2].

When you buy a futures contract, you aren't getting the physical item delivered to your house today. You are agreeing to a price for a transaction that happens later [2, 5]. buying futures for dummies

Decide if you want to trade commodities (gold, oil), currencies, or stock indices (like the S&P 500) [1, 5]. This is the biggest difference from stocks