How to trade futures?
To actively work with futures, a trader needs to choose a limited number of instruments in order to "not spread out" and gain experience with fewer assets. Traders can take long and short positions in futures: which direction to work is chosen based on risk tolerance and goals.
A long position in a futures contract means that a participant buys a contract and expects the value of the underlying asset to increase in the future in order to sell it more expensive and earn on it. Risks arise at the moment when the underlying asset does not move up, but starts to fall in price, in this case the trader loses by buying the futures.
A short position means that the trader is selling the futures and expects the value of the underlying asset to fall in the future. There are also risks when working here, because if a trader takes a short position on a futures, and the price of the underlying asset starts to rise, the losses may be too high, because there is no limit to growth.
There is also such a thing as "calendar spreads". They are a strategy in which a trader takes both a long and a short position in the same asset, but with different delivery times.
Potential profit is formed due to a small difference in prices between the sold and purchased contracts. With a positive calendar spread, a trader buys a future with a shorter maturity and sells a future with a longer maturity. In the case of a negative calendar spread, the trader is already selling a contract with a short expiration date and buying a futures contract with a long expiration date.
