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FUTURES 101, EXPLAINED WITH GOLD
What are futures? Pre-orders for gold you never pick up.
A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell something later, at a price you lock in today. Traders buy and sell those agreements, the pre-orders, all day long. Nobody's shipping bars to your house.
100 oz
In 1 gold contract (GC)
×
$4,100
Example gold price per oz
=
$410,000
Of gold on 1 pre-order
● 1 GOLD CONTRACT (GC)
10 oz
10 oz
10 oz
10 oz
10 oz
10 oz
10 oz
10 oz
10 oz
10 oz
10 bars × 10 oz = 100 troy ounces
You trade the pre-order on all 10 bars. The bars stay in the vault.
THE PRE-ORDER ANALOGY
You trade the pre-order, not the gold.
Think about pre-ordering a new phone at today's price. If demand spikes before launch day, your locked-in spot is suddenly worth more. Futures work the same way.
01
Lock in a price
You agree to buy 100 oz of gold in December at $4,100 an ounce. That agreement is your futures contract.
In trader speak: you bought 1 GC, or you're long.
02
The price moves
Gold climbs to $4,110. Anyone who wants December gold now pays more, so your $4,100 pre-order just gained value.
Your pre-order is up $10 × 100 oz = $1,000.
03
Sell the pre-order
Before December, you sell your contract to another trader at the new price. You keep the difference and never touch a bar.
In trader speak: you closed the trade for a profit.
PICK YOUR SIZE
Full size or micro.
Gold comes in 2 popular sizes. Same price, same chart, different number of bars on the pre-order.
● FULL SIZE
Gold (GC): 100 oz
Gold moves $1: your contract moves $100
Smallest move (1 tick = $0.10): $10
At $4,100 gold: about $410,000 of gold
● MICRO
Micro Gold (MGC): 10 oz
Gold moves $1: your contract moves $10
Smallest move (1 tick = $0.10): $1
At $4,100 gold: about $41,000 of gold. A popular way for new traders to start smaller.
WATCH A TRADE PLAY OUT
Buy first or sell first.
Here's the twist that surprises new traders: you can sell a pre-order before you ever buy one. That means you can make money when gold goes up or down.
● LONG: YOU THINK GOLD GOES UP
Buy low, sell higher
BUY
$4,100
SELL
$4,110
+$1,000 on 1 GC · +$100 on 1 MGC
Like buying concert tickets early and selling them closer to the show when demand is higher.
● SHORT: YOU THINK GOLD GOES DOWN
Sell high, buy back lower
SELL
$4,100
BUY BACK
$4,090
+$1,000 on 1 GC · +$100 on 1 MGC
Like a shop that takes orders at today's price and buys the stock later. If the price drops first, the shop keeps the difference.
⚠️ The same math works in reverse. If gold drops $10 after you buy, 1 GC loses $1,000. That's why every BluSky account comes with a drawdown floor, so you always know your max loss before you start.
GOLD IS 1 ITEM ON THE MENU
Same idea, different pre-orders.
Every futures market works like gold. Only the thing on the pre-order changes. And since everyone closes their pre-orders before delivery day, nobody ends up with a garage full of oil barrels.
NQ
Nasdaq-100
A pre-order on the 100 biggest tech-heavy companies on the Nasdaq. Most BluSky traders trade NQ.
ES
S&P 500
A pre-order on 500 of the largest US companies. The market everyone means when they say "the market."
CL
Crude oil
A pre-order on 1,000 barrels of oil. Moves on energy news and global events.
GC
Gold
A pre-order on 100 troy ounces of gold. The micro version, MGC, covers 10 ounces.
FAQ
Gold futures questions
Do I ever own the gold?
Gold futures can end in delivery, but traders close their contracts long before that date. Day traders open and close the same day, so they're trading the price and nothing else.
Why trade futures instead of buying gold?
Futures trade nearly 23 hours a day, you can profit from moves up or down, and there's no storage, shipping or dealer markup.
What's a tick?
The smallest price move a contract can make. In gold it's $0.10 per ounce, worth $10 on GC and $1 on MGC.
Do I need $410,000 to trade 1 GC?
No. Futures use leverage, and with a prop firm you trade the firm's capital. Your cost is the evaluation fee, and your drawdown floor caps the loss.
READY FOR LIFTOFF?
Now you know more than most beginners.
Put it to work with BluSky's capital. New traders get 50% off their first Launch account with code Welcome26.