FUTURES TRADING. Market procedures have evolved by degrees ever since man discovered the benefits to be derived from trading. This evolution is divided into at least five stages of development: gift giving, barter, cash market, contracts “to arrive,” or “to deliver,” and futures trading.

期货交易。自从人类发现了交易的好处以来，便逐渐形成了市场过程。这种演变至少分为5个发展阶段：礼物交换，以物易物，现金市场，“到货”或“交付”合同，以及期货交易。

Function.  A futures trade is a two-party agreement to transfer legal rights to incorporeal or intangible properties for delivery and acceptance in the future. A farmer may agree to deliver 36 choice-grade live steers for $12,000 bimonthly throughout the year. What are bought and sold are contracts. The animals, hides, metal, eggs, butter, or grain are never brought to the trading floor, but deliveries are sometimes made at Chicago or Omaha in lien of contract cancellations.

功能。期货交易是一种双方协议对未来交付和接收的非物质或无形财产转让的法定权利。一位农场主可以同意全年每两个月提供36头价值为12000美元的精选活肉用公牛。买卖的东西就是合同。动物、兽皮、金属、鸡蛋、奶油，或谷物从不需要带至交易大厅，但有时在芝加哥或奥马哈进行交付，以取消合同留置权。

Futures markets carry out a function distinctly different from that of a cash market. They determine prices for the present and project them into the future. Futures contracts serve as a directional force guiding the movement of goods into market channels, impart liquidity, make a wider market possible, and act as a means of shifting risks through hedging.

期货市场执行的功能与现金市场执行的功能明显不同。它们决定了当前的价格，并将价格投射到未来。期货合同作为一种定向力量引导着货物进入市场的流通渠道，赋予流动性，使更广泛的市场成为可能，并且扮演着通过对冲，转移风险的一种手段。

Development of Trading.  The practice of gift giving within family groups is probably as old as mankind, and its merits became so obvious that the practice was gradually extended beyond the family. Gift giving eventually formed the basis for barter, in which the parties to the transaction hope to attain a reciprocal exchange of value equivalents without a lapse of time.

交易的发展。在家庭团体中交换礼物的实践可能同人类一样古老，其优势变得如此明显，以至于该实践逐渐扩展到家庭以外。交换礼物最终形成了以物易物的基础，其中交易的各方都希望达成及时的价值等价的互惠交换。

The difficulty in pairing values in bartering led to the innovation of mediums of exchange, such as shells, salt, ivory, cattle, and precious metals. The increasing use of money generated cash markets because the exchange of goods for specie was efficacious and profitable.

在以物易物中配对价值的困难导致了交换媒介的创新，比如贝壳、食盐、象牙、家牛和贵金属。越来越多的货币使用产生了现金市场，因为以货物交换钱币是有效且有利可图的。

The limitations of the cash market, however, became apparent in the 1800’s within the trade centers, where intense negotiations were required for the transfer of titles to goods, services, and properties so that gluts could be avoided. Grain merchants in Tokyo, Liverpool, Chicago, and other places needed to attain greater efficiency in pricing and in moving rice, wheat, and other grain to channels of trade in an orderly way. In Chicago, for example, port facilities for storage were limited, so in 1851 the grain dealers there began making agreements that came to be known as “to arrive’ and “to deliver” contracts. These contracts were based on representative samples of the grain to be delivered in the future for cash and on dates when ships would be available for transport on the Great Lakes.

然而，现金市场的局限性在19世纪的交易中心变得很明显，在那里，为转让货物、服务和财产的所有权需要进行激烈的谈判，这样才可能避免供过于求。东京、利物浦、芝加哥以及其它地方的谷物商需要获得更高的定价效率，并且将大米、小麦和其它谷物有序地运送至交易渠道。例如，芝加哥港口储存设施是有限的，因此在1851年，那里的谷物经销商开始签订协议，以至于后来被称为“到货”和“交付”合同。这些合同都是基于有代表性的，未来以现金交付的谷物样品，以及基于货船在五大湖上可期的运输日期。

The superiority of “to arrive” and “to deliver” contracts over early trading methods led American grain dealers to experiment further with time contracts, and in 1867 the first known instance of futures trading in the United States took place in the Chicago Board of Trade. However, other merchants in other lands had developed futures trading independently. Thus Japan legalized future trading for rice in 1730, and a futures contract was drawn in England for the sale of nutmegs in 1826. See also COMMODITY MARKET; HEDGING.

超过早期交易方式“到货”和“交付”的合同优势导致美国谷物经销商进一步实验了时间合同，1867年，美国已知的第一次期货交易实例发生在芝加哥期货交易所。然而，其它地方的商人也独立发展了期货交易。因此，日本于1730年将大米期货交易合法化，并于1826年在英格兰签订了销售肉豆蔻的期货合同。

                           HENRY H. BAKKEN, University of Wisconsin

                                   亨利·H. 巴肯，威斯康星大学

                                          2023年9月12日译

（译者注：该词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第12卷，第208页）