Jim Burns wrote:
Kind of like the stock market, all on emotion.

I agree. In theory, if you get "caught" owning a futures contract when it
closes, you can be forced to take delivery of the actual product. You can
also be forced to deliver the actual product.

That is not true. Here is an example of what a future is:

Suppose you and I were neighbors. You pay me $3 if I agree to
pay you the price posted at the local gas station for regular at 9
AM tomorrow.

A future is nothing more than a bet on the future price in the
spot market.

If futures traders were forced
to own facilities to accommodate delivery of the underlying product, or
forced to own the product before selling a futures contract, there would be
a LOT less speculation.

Jim