futures contract

In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract, traded on a futures exchange, to buy or sell a certain underlying instrument at a certain date in the future, at a specified price. The future date is called the delivery date or final settlement date. The pre-set price is called the futures price. The price of the underlying asset on the delivery date is called the settlement price.
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Noun
1. an agreement to buy or sell a specific amount of a commodity or financial instrument at a particular price on a stipulated future date; the contract can be sold before the settlement date
(hypernym) derivative instrument, derivative
(hyponym) stock-index futures

Agreement to buy or sell a set number of shares of a specific stock in a designated future month at a price agreed upon today by the buyer and seller. The contracts themselves are often traded on the futures market. A futures contract differs from an option because an option is the right to buy or sell, whereas a futures contract is the promise to actually make a transaction. A future is part of a class of securities called derivatives, so named because such securities derive their value from the worth of an underlying investment.

an agreement to buy or sell a set amount of an investment instrument or commodity at a certain price by a certain date. Unlike options trading, in which investors have a choice whether to exercise their options, both buyers and sellers of futures are required to fulfill their part of the contract (unless one of them sells their contracts to another investor).