The basic difference between commodity and financial Futures is the nature of the underlying instrument. In a commodity Futures, the underlying is a commodity which may be Wheat, Cotton, Pepper, Turmeric, corn, oats, soybeans, orange juice, crude oil, natural gas, gold, silver, pork-bellies etc. In a financial instrument, the underlying can be Treasuries, Bonds, Stocks, Stock-Index, Foreign Exchange, Euro-dollar deposits etc. As is evident, a financial Future is fairly standard and there are no quality issues while a commodity instrument, quality of the underlying matters.
