A futures contract is a legally binding commitment between two parties to buy or sell a specific financial instrument at a given future date at a price set at the time of dealing. One of the main features of futures is the leverage they provide. With relatively little capital, usually just a small percentage of the contract's value, buyers and sellers are able to participate in the price movement of the full contract.  As a result, the leverage can lead to substantial returns on the original investment. However, it can also lead to substantial losses. The risks associated with futures can be significant and investors must fully understand the risks before buying or selling futures contracts.

Generally speaking, futures contracts can serve three objectives: pure trading, hedging and arbitrage.
Pure trading is mainly based on unidirectional investment strategies, where an investor buys or sells a specific quantity of futures contracts based on his own projection of the movement of an underlying stock or an index. 

The purpose of hedging is to offset the negative impact of market moves on a portfolio’s overall return.
Arbitrage refers to profiting from the difference between the prices of similar financial instruments in the futures and securities markets by buying low in one market and selling high in another.
                                     

An option is a contract entered between the contracting parties, a buyer and a seller.  The buyer has the right, but not the obligation, to trade an underlying asset with the seller at a predetermined price, within a certain time.  The buyer is commonly referred to as the holder and the seller as the writer.  The position of a holder is referred to as a long position and that of a writer as a short position.

There are two types of options: a call and a put.  A call option gives the holder the right to buy the underlying asset.  A put option gives the holder the right to sell the underlying asset.  Therefore, an option holder really has an option to exercise either the right to buy or the right to sell.

While holders have no obligations to exercise their rights, writers are obliged to honor the contracts they have sold if the holders choose to exercise their however disadvantages this may be to the writers.  When writing options, the writers risk incurring a loss or forgoing a profit.  In turn, they receive a premium from the buyers.  The options buyers’ exposure (before exercising their rights) is limited to the premium paid for the options
                                     

In general, positions in client accounts are margined on a gross basis. A special spread margin rate is applied to spread positions, which involve long futures contracts on one contract month and an equal number of short futures contracts on another contract month.
 
Margins for client can be divided into two categories:
1) initial margins,
2) maintenance margins,
Initial margins
Initial margins, as the name implies, are those first paid when opening a position. The initial margin is collected to provide cover against any loss that occurs when the position is first opened.
Maintenance margins
Once an initial margin has been collected, a safety level must be maintained, known as the maintenance margin. The level is calculated based on historical price volatilities and current and future market conditions. To ensure that the margin is maintained, clearing house performs a daily settlement to assess the value of all open positions. When the margin level falls below the maintenance level, a margin call for a deposit to restore the account balance to the initial margin level should be issued.                                    

Index Futures
Agriculture Futures
FX Futures
Interest Futures
Energy Futures
Metal Futures

1) Copy of your passport/ identity card
2) Proof of your residential address(within three months) (e.g. bank statements, utility bills etc.)
 
You may request Guotai Junan’s employee to witness your signature, sign and date the Witness Signature section on the Account Opening Form. Where signing the Account Opening Form in the presence of Guotai Junan’s employee is not possible, you should arrange to have the signed Account Opening Form certified by a Justice of the Peace (JP), or a professional person such as certified public accountant (CPA), lawyer or notary public. PRC clients can obtain account opening verification at Notarial Offices in the PRC. Please note that the Account will not be opened until the application has been accepted by Guotai Junan.

No, only one account is needed to trade different types of product, however if one intends to trade U.S. futures, please sign and date on Form W-8BEN(non-U.S. citizen) or Form W-9(U.S. citizen).

Same as opening an individual account.

Yes, please sign a third party authorized form at the same day and get the approval from our company.

Yes, it will renew automatically and we will send a mail to notice our clients.

Click here to download.

You can choose different order types.

Only accept phone call in dealing, with effect from the date to the contractual maturity.

Margins will be adjusted by exchange. Please click here to download.                                    

One can call our hotline (852)2509 9277 or check it on the trading platform we provide or our dealer will notice our client once the deal is settled

Yes, please fill and sign related forms and we will activate the trading account for you. Click here to download.

Yes. Click here to download.

Futures hotline: (852) 2509-9277

Client can call our dealer to cancel trades or one can cancel it on the online trading system.

If client wants to deposit currency other than HKD, USD and CNY. Please refer our settlement banks or contact futures department.

Client can check it on statement, or call our futures hotline to check the updated balance.

If client applies charged real time quotation system, after we have received the application, client will be received an email for more details.

Please contact our hotline: (852) 2509-9277

Our company provides the trial online futures trading platform for reference purposes on the website.