fu·ture n: a contract traded on an exchange in which a party agrees to buy or sell a quantity of a bulk commodity (as soybeans) at a specified future date and at a set price
— usu. used in pl.
◇ If the price of the commodity has gone up when the future date arrives, the buyer in the contract profits. If the price has gone down, the seller profits.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster. 1996.