The trader who takes a short position in futures, i.e., he/she will sell the underlying commodity of a futures contract, expecting to profit from price decreases. For example, assume that when the contract matures in April, the price of wheat turns out to be 500 cents per bushel. The short-position trader who entered into the contact at the futures price of 506 cents would make a profit of 6 cents per bushel. The price at maturity is 6 cents lower than the futures price agreed on in the contract. As each contract implies delivery of 5,000 bushels, the profit to the short position would equal $300 (=5,000 ´ $0.06) per contract.

Profit to short = Original futures price — Spot price at maturity

Where the spot price is the actual market price of the commodity at maturity (i.e., the time of delivery).