Futures Markets and Contract Structure

Study how Series 3 begins: core futures terminology, market participants, contract terms, margin, premiums, orders, and trading mechanics.

Series 3 starts with the language and mechanics of the futures markets because nothing else in the exam makes sense without them. The candidate has to understand contract specifications, market roles, pricing terms, order handling, and the way margin and premium operate before moving on to hedging or regulation.

Read this chapter as the base vocabulary layer of the exam. The first lesson covers market participants and contract features. The second covers margin, premium, order types, and the trading process itself.

In this section

Revised on Thursday, April 23, 2026