The characteristics of asphalt futures include:
1. standardized contract: the asphalt futures contract is standardized, that is, the quality, quantity, delivery time and place of the contract subject matter (asphalt) are predetermined. Traders don't have to worry about these details, just pay attention to the fluctuation of futures prices.
2. Leveraged trading: The margin trading system is adopted for asphalt futures, and traders can buy and sell asphalt futures contracts only by paying a part of the contract value (usually 5%- 10%) as a margin. This leveraged trading method can enlarge the investment income, but at the same time it also increases the risk.
3. Hedging risks: Asphalt futures contracts provide traders with tools to hedge risks. For example, asphalt producers can lock in the future sales price of asphalt by selling futures contracts to avoid the risk of price decline; The demand side of asphalt can lock in the future purchase price by purchasing futures contracts to avoid the risk of price increase.
4. Price discovery: The trading activities in the asphalt futures market can produce representative asphalt prices, which will help market participants to understand the supply and demand situation and future trend of the asphalt market, so as to allocate resources more effectively.
The main participants in asphalt futures include manufacturers, traders, processing enterprises, construction units, investment institutions and individual investors. Asphalt futures provide these participants with a transparent price formation mechanism and a tool to avoid risks, which is helpful to promote the healthy development of asphalt industry.
It should be noted that asphalt futures trading has certain risks, and traders should participate in the trading cautiously on the premise of fully understanding market risks and their own risk tolerance. At the same time, we should pay attention to the policies, regulations and industry trends of asphalt futures market in order to improve the correctness of trading decisions.