Futures are derivative contracts to buy or sell an asset at a future date at an agreed-upon price.

That asset might be soybeans, coffee, oil, individual stocks, exchange-traded funds, cryptocurrencies or a range of others. Futures contracts can be used by many kinds of financial players, including investors and speculators, as well as companies that actually want to take physical delivery of the commodity or supply it.

Oil, for example, is a commodity that can be traded in futures contracts. Investors can also trade S&P 500 futures contracts — an example of stock futures investing.