1. Report Industry Investment Rating No relevant content provided. 2. Core Viewpoints of the Report - The report comprehensively explores the fundamentals, trading strategies, and price characteristics of stock index futures in the Chinese market. It analyzes the development, trading mechanisms, and influencing factors of stock index futures, aiming to provide investors with a detailed understanding and practical strategies for investment and risk management [18][167][204]. - It emphasizes the importance of basis in stock index futures research, as it is a key indicator for many hedging and arbitrage strategies. The report also highlights the impact of factors such as market sentiment, dividends, and macro - economic indicators on the basis [89][138][109]. 3. Summary by Relevant Catalogs 3.1 Stock Index Futures Preliminary Exploration - **Definition and Characteristics**: Stock index futures are standardized financial futures contracts with stock indices as underlying assets. They have features like standardized contract design, margin - leveraged trading, T + 0 trading, and daily mark - to - market settlement. They play functions such as hedging, speculation, and arbitrage [18][19]. - **Differences from Stock Indices**: Stock indices are used to measure market trends and cannot be directly traded, while stock index futures are tradable contracts with expiration dates, allowing for long and short positions. Their price fluctuations are affected by different factors [18]. - **Contract Design**: There are four listed stock index futures varieties in China. Each variety has four contracts with different expiration dates. The contract value is calculated by multiplying the contract price by the contract multiplier. The naming, switching, and characteristics of contracts are also introduced [27][37]. - **Market Development**: The development of China's stock index futures market has gone through stages of initial exploration, suspension, policy research, and gradual relaxation. The number of varieties has gradually increased, and market liquidity has gradually recovered [38][39][42]. - **Trading Groups**: The participants in the stock index futures market include hedgers, speculators, and arbitrageurs. Different types of institutional investors have different participation purposes and restrictions [52]. - **Seat Data**: Seat data in the stock index futures market reflects the behavior and confidence of investment entities. By analyzing seat characteristics, seats can be classified, which helps in understanding market trends [66][82]. 3.2 Stock Index Futures Basic Research - **Basis Overview**: Basis is defined as the difference between the stock index futures price and the index price. It has characteristics such as converging to zero as the expiration date approaches and showing mean - reversion. The annualized basis rate is used for comparison between different contracts [88][89]. - **Basis and Market Conditions**: The basis can act as a market sentiment indicator and has a leading relationship with the market. It can also show trend divergence from the index, providing insights into market trends [95][98]. - **Basis Distribution Characteristics**: Stock index futures are often in a state of contango, mainly due to hedging demand. The basis is related to factors such as macro - economic indicators (e.g., treasury bond yields), shows seasonality, and has a certain convergence speed [102][109][114]. - **Basis Modeling**: Building a basis prediction model requires identifying relevant factors, quantifying them with appropriate factors, and combining them through mathematical models. The influencing factors are divided into those from the spot market and the futures market [124]. - **Stock Index Futures and Index Dividends**: Index dividends affect the basis of stock index futures. The price index will decline with dividends, and the basis needs to be adjusted according to dividend expectations. Methods for calculating index dividend points and predicting ex - dividend dates are also provided [138][142][148]. 3.3 Stock Index Futures Trading Strategies - **Hedging Strategies**: Hedging aims to reduce investment risks by establishing opposite positions. The four elements of hedging are variety selection, contract selection, hand - number selection, and timing. Different methods can be used for each element to optimize the hedging effect and reduce costs [167][170][175]. - **Cash - and - Carry Arbitrage Strategies**: Cash - and - carry arbitrage takes advantage of the price difference between the spot and futures markets. When the futures are at a premium, a long - spot and short - futures strategy is used; when at a discount, the opposite is done. Setting appropriate opening thresholds can help balance risk and return [204]. - **Calendar Spread Arbitrage Strategies**: Calendar spread arbitrage exploits the price difference between contracts with different expiration dates. The influencing factors of the spread include market sentiment, basis, and trading behavior. When the market is expected to rise, a long - far - short - near strategy can be used; when it is expected to fall, a long - near - short - far strategy is appropriate [208][214].