{"id":225467,"date":"2025-06-09T15:02:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T19:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/?post_type=glossary-terms&#038;p=225467"},"modified":"2025-06-09T15:02:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T19:02:21","slug":"term-structure-of-futures-prices","status":"publish","type":"glossary-terms","link":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/glossary-terms\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"Term Structure (of Futures Prices)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Term structure refers to the relationship between futures prices for the same commodity with different expiration dates. This structure reflects market expectations of future supply, demand, and storage costs. Two common configurations are contango (when longer-dated futures are priced higher than near-term contracts) and backwardation (when near-term contracts are priced higher than later ones).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In commodities like crude oil or natural gas, the term structure can signal inventory levels, production trends, and seasonal consumption patterns. Traders, hedgers, and analysts monitor these curves to assess market sentiment, profitability of storage, and arbitrage opportunities. Changes in term structure are also influenced by macroeconomic shifts, transportation costs, and geopolitical events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>erm structure refers to the relationship between futures prices for the same commodity with different expiration dates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"traders-glossary":[13278,13258,13251],"class_list":{"0":"post-225467","1":"glossary-terms","2":"type-glossary-terms","3":"status-publish","5":"traders-glossary-ibkr-traders-glossary","6":"traders-glossary-trading-terms-t","7":"traders-glossary-trading-alphabet"},"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Archives Term | IBKR Glossary | IBKR Campus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"erm structure refers to the relationship between futures prices for the same commodity with different expiration dates.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-terms\/225467\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Term Structure (of Futures Prices) | IBKR Campus US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"erm structure refers to the relationship between futures prices for the same commodity with different expiration dates.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/glossary-terms\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IBKR Campus US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-09T19:02:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/glossary-terms\\\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/glossary-terms\\\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Term Structure (of Futures Prices) | IBKR Campus US\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2025-06-09T19:02:20+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2025-06-09T19:02:21+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"erm structure refers to the relationship between futures prices for the same commodity with different expiration dates.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/glossary-terms\\\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/glossary-terms\\\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/glossary-terms\\\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Glossary\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/glossary-terms\\\/\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Term Structure (of Futures Prices)\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"IBKR Campus US\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Financial Education from Interactive Brokers\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Interactive Brokers\",\n\t            \"alternateName\": \"IBKR\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.interactivebrokers.com\\\/campus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/ibkr-campus-logo.jpg\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.interactivebrokers.com\\\/campus\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/ibkr-campus-logo.jpg\",\n\t                \"width\": 669,\n\t                \"height\": 669,\n\t                \"caption\": \"Interactive Brokers\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/ibkrcampus.com\\\/campus\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"publishingPrinciples\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.interactivebrokers.com\\\/campus\\\/about-ibkr-campus\\\/\",\n\t            \"ethicsPolicy\": \"https:\\\/\\\/www.interactivebrokers.com\\\/campus\\\/cyber-security-notice\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Archives Term | IBKR Glossary | IBKR Campus","description":"erm structure refers to the relationship between futures prices for the same commodity with different expiration dates.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-terms\/225467\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Term Structure (of Futures Prices) | IBKR Campus US","og_description":"erm structure refers to the relationship between futures prices for the same commodity with different expiration dates.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/glossary-terms\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\/","og_site_name":"IBKR Campus US","article_modified_time":"2025-06-09T19:02:21+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/glossary-terms\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\/","url":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/glossary-terms\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\/","name":"Term Structure (of Futures Prices) | IBKR Campus US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-09T19:02:20+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-09T19:02:21+00:00","description":"erm structure refers to the relationship between futures prices for the same commodity with different expiration dates.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/glossary-terms\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/glossary-terms\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/glossary-terms\/term-structure-of-futures-prices\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Glossary","item":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/glossary-terms\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Term Structure (of Futures Prices)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/","name":"IBKR Campus US","description":"Financial Education from Interactive Brokers","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/#organization","name":"Interactive Brokers","alternateName":"IBKR","url":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/05\/ibkr-campus-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/05\/ibkr-campus-logo.jpg","width":669,"height":669,"caption":"Interactive Brokers"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"publishingPrinciples":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/about-ibkr-campus\/","ethicsPolicy":"https:\/\/www.interactivebrokers.com\/campus\/cyber-security-notice\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-terms\/225467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-terms"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/glossary-terms"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-terms\/225467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"traders-glossary","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ibkrcampus.com\/campus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/traders-glossary?post=225467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}