Based on the number and volume of commodities in which active futures trading exists, the United States occupies first place. The Chicago Board of Trade, the largest of the world’s futures markets in terms of volume and value of business, is the centre for trading in wheat, corn, oats, rye, soybeans, soybean oil, and soybean meal. About 30 commodities in all are traded on organized exchanges in the United States. The wheat market in Minneapolis, the cotton and wool markets in New York City, and the markets in frozen pork bellies and live hogs in the midwestern United States are among them. The number of commodities in which futures trading takes place are far fewer outside the United States.

There are futures markets for wool in London, Paris, and Sydney; for cotton in Liverpool and Bombay; for sugar in London and Paris; for jute goods in Calcutta; for black pepper in Cochin, India; and for turmeric in Sāngli, India. As a result of government controls on futures markets and also of international commodity agreements, the volume of futures trading in several countries has been adversely affected. The commodity markets in Europe, with few exceptions, have been dormant since the end of World War II. Many of the Indian commodity markets, such as those in gur, jute, and oilseeds, which were once active, have met the same fate. The recurrent arguments in the United States, India, and elsewhere against the futures markets are that they encourage speculation and that the participation of speculators causes price instability. These arguments have led to the demand that markets be controlled or prohibited from functioning. To refute such allegations requires a comparison between price variations in the presence and absence of speculation, which is impossible for commodities that have futures markets, since it is not meaningful to say for these markets what the price would have been in the absence of speculation.

Glenn G. Munn, F.L. Garcia, and Charles J. Woelfel, Encyclopedia of Banking and Finance, 9th ed., rev. and expanded (also published as The St. James Encyclopedia of Banking & Finance, 1991), provides comprehensive definitions, many with bibliographies. Edward I. Altman and Mary Jane McKinney (eds.), Handbook of Financial Markets and Institutions, 6th ed. (1987), is a thorough compilation. Detailed information on a variety of markets is provided in Francis A. Lees and Maximo Eng, International Financial Markets: Development of the Present System and Future Prospects (1975), a descriptive treatment; Charles R. Geisst, A Guide to the Financial Markets, 2nd ed. (1989), for the general reader; Frank J. Fabozzi and Frank G. Zarb, Handbook of Financial Markets: Securities, Options, and Futures, 2nd ed. (1986); and Perry J. Kaufman, Handbook of Futures Markets: Commodity, Financial, Stock Index, and Options (1984), including the history, regulation, and mechanics of futures trading. Further discussion of financial futures is found in Mark J. Powers and Mark G. Castelino, Inside the Financial Futures Markets, 3rd ed. (1991), an explanation of the exchanges and their functions; and Nancy H. Rothstein and James M. Little (eds.), The Handbook of Financial Futures: A Guide for Investors and Professional Financial Managers (1984), a discussion of the market’s development, organization, and regulation.

J.R. Hicks, Value and Capital, 2nd ed. (1946, reissued 1975), contains a short discussion of the theory of “normal backwardation,” also known as the Keynes-Hicks hypothesis. Holbrook Working, “New Concepts Concerning Futures, Markets, and Prices,” American Economic Review, 52(1):431–459 (June 1962), presents his theories on the role of hedging and the functions of futures markets. The instability of markets for primary commodities is the theme of the Argentinian economist Raul Prebisch, Towards a New Trade Policy for Development (1964). Recent work on the specific methods and rules of the major world exchanges is included in John Buckley (ed.), Guide to World Commodity Markets, 5th ed. (1986). Basic works on commodity futures trading include Gerald Gold, Modern Commodity Futures Trading, 7th rev. ed. (1975); and Bruce G. Gould, The Dow Jones-Irwin Guide to Commodities Trading, rev. ed. (1981). See also Barry P. Bosworth and Robert Z. Lawrence, Commodity Prices and the New Inflation (1982), comparing the experiences of the United States, West Germany, and Japan, and offering policy proposals; and Robert L. Rothstein, Global Bargaining (1979), utilizing the 1974–77 United Nations conference on trade and development negotiations to develop an international commodity policy. An extensive summary of work on commodity futures trading is provided by James B. Woy, Commodity Futures Trading: A Bibliographic Guide (1976).