Guide
Time Frames with Futures Contracts
Futures do not have one standard time frame: contract months, expiration dates, holding periods and hedge horizons are separate decisions that affect liquidity, risk and rolling costs.
Read more →
MarketReview author profile
Eric Baker
Trading and Quantitative Markets Contributor
ActiveEric Baker brings more than two decades of trading experience to MarketReview, including work with personal accounts and at a proprietary trading firm. He continues to follow and participate in markets, with a particular interest in the decisions traders make when outcomes cannot be known in advance.
His writing concentrates on process: estimating probabilities, sizing positions, comparing expected return with downside risk and deciding how much uncertainty a strategy can bear. He also draws an important distinction between decision quality and outcome. A winning trade may have been poorly judged, while a sound decision can still lose money.
Eric contributes to MarketReview’s coverage of active trading, futures, derivatives and quantitative decision-making. He explains numerical ideas in practical terms, while making clear that models and calculations are tools for managing uncertainty—not ways to remove it.
Areas of coverage
- Trading
- Market probabilities
- Quantitative decision-making
- Risk management
- Futures
- Derivatives
Published work
Latest work by Eric Baker
News, analysis and evergreen financial guides credited to this author.
Guide
Futures Contracts as Hedging Strategies
Futures can reduce the effect of adverse moves in commodity, currency, interest-rate and equity prices, but an effective hedge depends on contract direction, timing, size, basis and liquidity.
Read more →
Guide
Futures Contracts for Speculation
Futures speculation lets traders seek profit from rising or falling prices, but contract size, margin, daily settlement and expiration make risk management as important as the market forecast.
Read more →
Guide
What Can Be Traded with Futures
Futures markets cover far more than commodities, with standardized contracts providing exposure to equity indexes, interest rates, currencies, crypto, weather and other benchmarks.
Read more →
Guide
Banks as Investment Facilitators
Banks can give investors convenient access to brokerage, advisory and wealth-management services, but the product, legal entity, fees and protections may differ sharply from an ordinary bank deposit.
Read more →
Guide
Banks as Lenders
Bank lending combines balance-sheet funding, underwriting, pricing and ongoing credit-risk management to turn deposits and other funding into loans for households and businesses.
Read more →
Guide
Banks as Payment Processors
Banks sit behind much of the modern payments system, moving transaction instructions, settling obligations and connecting customers, merchants, payment networks and other financial institutions.
Read more →
Guide
Banks as Stores of Deposits
Bank deposits give customers liquid claims on a bank rather than segregated cash, while banks manage those liabilities as part of their funding, payments and liquidity operations.
Read more →
Guide
Banks as Traders and Investors
Banks invest in securities, make markets, hedge risks and support client trading, but these activities serve different purposes and face different regulatory limits.
Read more →