Win or Lose

In every futures contract there is a buyer and a seller. The seller takes the short position and the buyer takes the long position. The futures contract specifies a buying price, a quantity and a delivery date. Speculators hope to profit by the daily fluctuations in the futures market by buying long (from the buyer) if they expect prices to rise, or by buying short (from the seller) if they expect prices to fall. Futures accounts are settled every day.At the end of the contract period, the contract itself is settled. The final contract buyer can now take delivery of his truckload of whatevers. Of course, he may opt to just start the process all over again by writing up a contract to deliver his whatevers on a certain date at a certain price.