This week, I have opened a futures trading account. So far, I have longed a futures contract, and short a futures contract. From my experience so far, futures trading is more geared towards short-term. There are two reasons for this statement.

The futures contract are short term in nature. 1 month, 2 months, 3 months or 6 months contracts. Unlike company stock whereby you can hold long term for dividends and capital appreciation.

The tools used are mainly charts, like the candlestick chart. People track these weekly, daily or even hourly charts.

It seems to me futures is like a gambling tool. Betting on the direction of the index or prices. It’s different from investing, like buying stocks, which is actually buying a part of the business.