Chicago, Illinois (NAPSI) - Recent headlines have described a series of dramatic movements in the financial markets. While many of those movements impact stock prices, as well as what we pay for groceries, gas or loan rates, not everyone really understands how it all works.

Now there is a new online resource available to help explain what those markets mean to everyday life. With easy-to-understand content that everyone from high school students to financial professors will find useful, Futures Fundamentals (www.futuresfundamentals.com) makes understanding markets simple.

The site takes investing concepts like futures, hedging and speculating and shows how they play an essential role in the world around us.

For example, if you purchased your home with the intent of selling it when the market value exceeded the original price, you likely didn’t think you were speculating. Yet that’s exactly what you were doing. You probably think of having car insurance as common sense, but you’re hedging against risk, just like thousands of companies need to do every day.

Futures Fundamentals provides a unique educational experience by linking topics in the news to simple explanations, a glossary of terms, and quizzes to sharpen your knowledge. CME Group—one of the world’s leading derivatives exchanges—created Futures Fundamentals with the goal of making financial education an engaging experience for anyone, regardless of how well versed they are in the world of finance.

“One of the things we’ve seen over the past few years is a real hunger for information about how people and businesses manage risk, and how that risk impacts people’s everyday lives,” said Anita Liskey, CME Group Managing Director, Corporate Marketing & Communications. “Our goal for this site is to be a go-to resource on futures and derivatives, whether you’re a novice on Main Street or an expert on Wall Street.”

Visit Futures Fundamentals today to start learning how the marketplace impacts the world around you.