Investing Assets & Markets Stocks What Are Dow Futures? By Joshua Kennon Joshua Kennon Joshua Kennon is an expert on investing, assets and markets, and retirement planning. He is the managing director and co-founder of Kennon-Green & Co., an asset management firm. learn about our editorial policies Updated on January 17, 2022 Reviewed by JeFreda R. Brown Reviewed by JeFreda R. Brown JeFreda R. Brown is a financial consultant, Certified Financial Education Instructor, and researcher who has assisted thousands of clients over a more than two-decade career. She is the CEO of Xaris Financial Enterprises and a course facilitator for Cornell University. learn about our financial review board In This Article View All In This Article Definition and Example of Dow Futures How Dow Futures Work Where Do Dow Futures Trade? When Can You Trade? Buying Futures With Leverage Photo: The Balance / Hilary Allison Definition Dow Futures are commodity trades, with set prices and dates for delivery in the future. They enable investors to predict or contemplate the future value of stocks prior to the opening bell. Key Takeaways Dow Futures are commodity trades, with set prices and dates for delivery in the future.They allow investors to predict or speculate the future value of stocks prior to the opening bell.A futures contract is a legally binding agreement between two parties, which can be individuals or institutions.With this agreement, these entities agree to exchange money or assets based on the predicted prices of an underlying index.Dow Futures start trading each day on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) at 7:20 a.m. Central Time. Definition and Example of Dow Futures In the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 indexes, you'll find commodities trading. This is where you can trade commodities futures contracts on the index instead of buying into securities. If you have little exposure to the futures market, you may, at first, feel perplexed by Dow Futures. To help provide clarity, here are some of the basics. Alternate Name: Dow Jones Futures How Dow Futures Work To understand how Dow Futures work, one basic approach is to think of a farmer and a grocer. The grocer knows that the farmer will have a crop of soybeans to be harvested soon, so they offer to buy 100 bushels of soybeans in January for $900. If the farmer agrees, the contract has been made, and each party waits for January. No matter the price of soybeans in January, the price set is what the grocer pays. A futures contract is a legally binding agreement between two parties (which can be individuals or institutions) in which they agree to exchange money or assets based on the predicted prices of an underlying index. Note Futures should not be confused with futures options. Options are derivatives of the futures market, which have a market and exchange of their own. Options are purchased to give the holder the right—but not the obligation—to exercise the terms of the commodities deal. In a futures contract, both parties have an obligation to perform their part of the deal. Where Do Dow Futures Trade? The position you take on a trade is the purchase price you have agreed upon with the seller. Dow Futures contracts trade on an exchange, meaning that the exchange is who you deal with when you create your position (your price and contract) on the commodity. The exchange exists to keep trading fair and eliminate risk—such as one party not delivering on the contract. By having all of the futures contracts cleared through the exchange, this risk is eliminated because the exchange serves to guarantee every position. When Can You Trade? Dow Futures start trading each day on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) at 7:20 a.m. Central Time (8:20 a.m. Eastern Time), which is an hour and ten minutes before the stock market opens. This allows trading to take place so reporters and professionals can get an idea of market sentiment (the attitude of investors on prices and market potential). Market sentiment is fickle—if a company reports huge earnings, and the Dow Futures skyrocket, the odds are good that the stock market itself will rise as well. If an unexpected weather event shuts down major shipping lanes before the stock market opens, it could cause the Dow Futures to drop, because investors begin anticipating problems. This creates the possibility of stocks also falling once the opening bell rings. Buying Futures With Leverage Dow Futures have built-in leverage, meaning that traders can use significantly less money to trade futures while receiving exponential returns or losses. This can allow traders to make substantially more money on price fluctuations in the market than they could by simply buying a stock outright. Note The Dow Jones futures use a multiplier of 10 (often called 10 to one leverage or 1,000% leverage). If Dow Futures are currently trading at 6,000, for example, a single futures contract would then have a market value of $60,000. For every $1 (or "point" as it is known on Wall Street) the DJIA fluctuates, a single Dow Futures contract has an increase or decrease of $10. As a result, a trader who believed the market were going to rally could simply acquire Dow Futures with a smaller amount of money and make a huge profit as a result of the leverage factor. If the market were to return to a level of 14,000 from the current 8,000, for instance, each Dow Futures contract would gain $60,000 in value (6,000 point rise x 10 leverage factor = $60,000). It's worth noting that the opposite can also easily happen. If the market were to fall, the Dow Futures trader could lose huge sums of money. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit Sources The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Princeton University. "The Operation of Futures Markets." Page 22.