Introduction

Future rates are simply a view of the valid rate prices contained in our database that extend into the future. There is no speculation involved with futures; they are simply a view of current contracts that have validity periods extending beyond the current day. You can view future rates for up to three months into the future.

Viewing Future Rates

1. Search for a trade lane from the Dashboard
2. Click the View Graph button
3. Select either the Trends or Benchmarks tab
4. Set the Contracted Within filter to include only long-term contracts
5. Click on the ending date from the date selector
6. Click the Show Futures button

Once you enable futures, the graph will display the information in a new section — with a gray background — extending past the current date.

If there are not enough rates available for us to confidently display futures, the button will be disabled. In this case, changing the Contracted Within filter to six months or all contracts may produce more results. Otherwise, changing from a port-to-port search to a region-to-region search may increase results as well, as there may be additional rates available within the overall region. 

Additional Details

By looking at future rates, users can get a view of where market rates are heading in the future based on Xeneta's currently available information. Using this feature means that it's possible to view the rates contracted for future dates (up to three months) from today's date.

Viewing future rates is achieved by analyzing valid rate data currently contained within our database. Valid rates refer to rates that have been contracted and are presently in effect. The Contracted Within filter will affect the rates used to display the future calculations.

For example, selecting Contracted Within — 3 Months in the search filters will only display future rates that have been contracted within the past three months. Rates older than 90 days will not be included in the future rates calculation.