Futures contracts are:

1. Legally binding agreements
2. Standardized quantity and quality of underlying product
3. Buy or sell at a specific time in the future
4. Traded on a futures exchange

Futures contracts are legally binding, standardized agreements, made at a futures exchange, to buy or sell something at a specific time in the future. That something could be an agricultural commodity such as live cattle, a financial commodity such as foreign currencies or Eurodollars, or an index such as the S&P 500®.

Each contract specifies the quantity (for example, 40,000 pounds of live cattle or 62,500 British pounds) of a commodity, the quality and the time of delivery (such as October 2009 cattle or September 2008 British pound futures).

There are many types of futures contracts traded at CME Group and on the electronic CME Globex trading platform. Future contracts are classified as product complexes based on the type of underlying asset for each contract type:
1. Interest Rates
a. Short Term Interest Rate
b. US Treasury
c. Swaps
2. Equity Indexes
a. US Equity Indexes
b. International Equity Indexes
c. TRAKRS™
d. ETF
3. Foreign Exchange (FX)
a. Major Currency Pairs
b. Additional US Currency Pairs
c. Cross-Rate Pairs
4. Agricultural Commodities
a. Grain and Oilseed
b. Dairy Spot
c. Dairy
d. Lumber and Pulp
e. Livestock
f. Commodity Index
5. Energy and Metals
a. Ethanol
b. Oil
c. Precious Metals
6. Alternative Investments
a. Credit Events
b. Weather
c. Housing
 

Here are specific examples:

Live Cattle Futures
 

Live Cattle contracts reflects trading of live cattle in units of 40,000 lbs. of 55 percent Choice and 45 percent Select USDA grade live steers.

Euro FX Futures
 

The Euro is the currency of the European Union, introduced January 1, 1999. Euro FX futures traded at CME Group are designed to reflect changes in the U.S. dollar value of the Euro.

Eurodollar Futures
 

Eurodollars are U.S. dollars on deposit in banks outside the U.S. Eurodollar futures contracts reflect the offered interest rate for a 3-month $1 million deposit.

S&P 500 Equity Futures
 

The S&P 500 Index® is based on 500 large-capitalization companies, representing about 80 percent of the value of all stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 futures contract size is $250 times the S&P Stock Index.

Weather Futures
 

Monthly and seasonal weather futures and options are designed to enable businesses to hedge risks associated with unexpected or unfavorable weather conditions. These products are geared to an index of heating degree days (HDD) and cooling degree days (CDD), as well as on the Carvill Hurricane Index for hurricanes.

Video: Defining Futures