Beginner
Initial margin maintenance margin and daily cash flows
Futures collateral is a performance bond, while price changes create cash gains or losses. A viable trade must survive both the market move and the funding...
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Futures Trading Guide
Understand futures contracts, read market structure and build strategies for direction, relative value and hedging. Follow ten stages from contract basics to advanced research and disciplined risk management.
Start with What a futures contract commits you to, then follow the next lesson links. Explore 40 lessons with worked examples, exercises and further reading.
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Margin and Contract Lifecycle · All lessons
Margin and Contract Lifecycle
Follow collateral, daily cash flows, expiration and the roll into a new contract.
Beginner
Why low intraday margin does not mean low risk
An intraday collateral concession changes funding access, not the size of a contract’s price risk. Position size must be decided independently.
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Beginner
Expiration delivery and final settlement
Expiration is a process with several deadlines. The last charted trading day may not be the date by which your broker requires a position to be...
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Beginner
Rolling futures without confusing the price gap with profit
Rolling closes one maturity and opens another. The difference between their prices is a spread, not an instant trading profit or loss by itself.
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