A futures contract is an obligation, on the part of both buyer and seller, to transfer a certain amount of a commodity or financial abstraction (like the value of a stock index) on a particular date. Example: A December 2008 corn futures contract involves 5,000 bushels of corn. If you went long on Jan. 2, when the future was trading at $4.80 per bushel, you promised to pay $24,000 for this pile of grain and the seller was promising to deliver it to you.
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