The turnover for the global market in exchange-traded equity index futures is notionally valued, for 2008, by the Bank for International Settlements at US$130 trillion.
Investing via the use of stock index futures could involve exposure to a market or sector without having to actually purchase shares directly.
These are traded in the wholesale market, but are often used as the basis of guaranteed equity products, which offer retail buyers a participation if the equity index rises over time, but which provides guaranteed return of capital if the index falls.
Forward prices of equity indices are calculated by computing the cost of carry of holding a long position in the constituent parts of the index.
This will typically be the risk-free interest rate, since the cost of investing in the equity market is the loss of interest minus the estimated dividend yield on the index, since an equity investor receives the sum of the dividends on the component stocks.