Futures are contracts.
If you're a lawyer, athlete or bridge player, you know about contracts, but these are a little different. These contracts are legally binding agreements, made on the trading floor, to buy or sell something in the future. Each contract specifies the quantity of the item and the time of delivery or payment. The buyer and the seller of a futures contract agree on a price today for a product to be delivered and paid for in the future . Now lets see if we can complicate things.