What it is: Futures markets are places (exchanges) to buy and sell futures contracts. There are several futures exchanges. Common ones include The New York Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Options Exchange, the Chicago Climate Futures Exchange, the Kansas City Board of Trade, and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. How it works (Example): A futures contract is a financial contract giving the buyer an obligation to purchase an asset (and the seller an obligation to sell an asset ) at a set price at a future point in time. The assets often underlying futures contracts include commodities, stocks , and bonds . Grain, precious metals, electricity, oil, beef, orange juice,and natural gas are traditional examples of commodities, but foreign currencies, emissions credits , bandwidth and certain financial instruments are also part of today's commodity markets. There are two kinds of par...