ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

S&P futures

Okay kiddo, so you know how sometimes you want to buy something, like a toy or candy, but you don't have enough money right at that moment? So maybe you decide to wait until you have more money saved up.

Well, some grown-up people do something similar with money they have to invest. They might want to buy a share of a big company like McDonald's or Apple, but they don't have all the money they need right now. So they wait and save up more money, and when they have enough, they can buy a share.

But instead of just waiting and saving up money, some grown-up people do a different thing called trading futures. Futures are like a special way to buy things that you want in the future, like a share of a company, but you don't have to wait until you have all the money saved up.

So with S&P futures, people are trading futures for something called the S&P 500. That sounds like a fancy name, but it's really just a big group of 500 companies in the United States that are doing well and making a lot of money. If people think that the companies in the S&P 500 are going to keep doing well and making lots of money in the future, then they might want to buy S&P futures.

But why do people do this? Well, buying S&P futures can be a way to make money. If you buy them and the companies in the S&P 500 keep doing well, then the futures could become worth more and you could sell them for a profit. But it can also be risky, because if the companies in the S&P 500 don't do well, then the futures could become worth less and you could lose money.

So that's what S&P futures are, kiddo. A way for grown-up people to buy a piece of the companies in the S&P 500 in the future, without having to wait until they have all the money saved up. But remember, it's important to be careful and do your research before buying futures, because it can be a bit tricky and risky.