Futures on the index – a group of futures contracts, which are derivatives of the estimated value of the corresponding stock index. Transactions in futures on the index may be treated as a package deal on the securities included in the index calculation. Futures on the index – calculated, so there is no delivery of securities is not carried out.

This group includes the following futures: Index Dow Jones, Russell 2000, DAX, S & P500, CAC 40, FTSE, Nikkei, NASDAQ and others.

Stock index (stock market index) – a measure of changes in a specific group of assets in a certain ratio (eg shares). In the United States currently have widely deal with the three major indexes: Standard & Poors 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones. The first one covers the 500 largest companies in terms of the share issue and is calculated as the average rate for these volumes. In the same manner it is formed and the second index, but it is less versatile and is primarily related to the structure of a turn technology stocks. The third index is based on only 30 of the largest US industrial companies, but it is considered to be very reliable in reflecting the overall market situation.