A barrel of oil for delivery in six months should not cost the same as a barrel today. Someone must pay for storage, insurance, and the tied-up capital -- or enjoy the convenience of holding physical inventory during a shortage. The cost-of-carry model rolls those forces into one formula: futures price equals spot price grown at the risk-free rate plus storage costs minus convenience yield, compounded over time to maturity.

This calculator walks through each component. Enter the spot price, the risk-free rate, annual storage cost, convenience yield, and time to maturity -- the defaults describe a $100 commodity with 5 percent rates, 2 percent storage, and 1 percent convenience yield over half a year. It reports the net cost of carry, the theoretical futures price, and the basis -- the futures-spot spread -- both raw and annualized. When futures exceed spot, the market sits in contango; when they trade below, backwardation.

Traders live for deviations from this fair value. If actual futures trade rich to the theoretical price, cash-and-carry arbitrage -- buy spot, store, sell futures -- locks a near-riskless profit, and the trade itself pushes prices back in line. Use the tool to price fairness before trading energy, metals, or agricultural futures, and to understand which force -- rates, storage, or convenience -- dominates the curve you are looking at.

With the pre-filled defaults — Current Spot Price $100, Risk-Free Rate 5%, Annual Storage Cost 2%, Convenience Yield 1%, Time to Maturity (Years) 0.5yr — the Commodities Futures Calculator returns Net Cost of Carry 0.0600%, Theoretical Futures Price $103.05, Theoretical Basis $3.05, Annualized Basis $6.09. Change any input and those results update instantly, so you can see exactly how each number you enter moves the answer.