Are Futures For Trading? Are Futures For Investing? Or Both? As a self-directed trader/investor, you can choose to express risk in markets however you see fit. But generally speaking, futures are best utilized as short-term trading vehicles as opposed to long-term investments. There are 2 main reasons for this: 1) futures contracts expire, and 2) they don't represent ownership in the underlying asset. A futures contract - by definition - is an agreement to buy or sell some … [Read more...]