What Is a Futures Market?

A futures market is an auction market in which participants buy and sell commodity and futures contracts for delivery on a specified future date. Futures are exchange-traded derivatives contracts that lock in future delivery of a commodity or security at a price set today.

The Basics of a Futures Market

Futures markets or futures exchanges are where these financial products are bought and sold for delivery at some agreed-upon date in the future with a price fixed at the time of the deal.

  • Good ’til canceled (GTC) describes a type of order that an investor may place to buy or sell a security that remains active until either the order is filled or the investor cancels it. Brokerages will typically limit the maximum time you can keep a GTC order open (active) to 90 days.

  • An immediate or cancel order (IOC) is an order to buy or sell a security that will execute all or part immediately and then cancel any unfilled portion of the order.

  • Fill or kill (FOK) is a conditional type of time-in-force order used in securities trading that instructs a brokerage to execute a transaction immediately and completely or not at all.