> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mercora.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Derivatives > Keep a ledger of your futures fills, see your open position by contract month, and allocate each fill to the physical contract it hedges. **Derivatives** is your futures ledger. Each entry is a fill: a futures trade your broker executed, for a number of lots of one contract month at one price. A lot is the exchange's standard contract size, such as 10 tonnes. From the ledger you can see your net position and link each fill to the physical contract it hedges. > [!NOTE] > > Available when the **Derivatives** module is turned on for your workspace. It also needs the **Counterparties** module, because every fill is booked against a broker. Allocating a fill to a contract also needs **Contracts** or **Trades**. Ask your workspace admin. ## Before you start Two things need to be in place, usually by your admin: * **Your brokers** as counterparties with the **Broker** role. See [Counterparties](https://docs.mercora.io/records/counterparties.md). * **Futures instruments**: each commodity and exchange you trade, with its tonnes per lot and currency. The fill form only offers instruments that are set up. See [Futures instruments](https://docs.mercora.io/admin/workspace-settings.md#futures-instruments). ## The ledger Open **Derivatives** in the sidebar. Until you log a fill, the ledger is empty and says so. The strip at the top shows one tile per open contract month: the instrument, the net lots long or short, the tonnage, the average price and the number of fills. Months that have expired are left out, since a leftover net there means a close wasn't recorded rather than a real position. The table lists your fills: | Column | What it shows | | - | - | | **Date** | The trade date. | | **Broker** | Who executed it. | | **Month** | The futures contract month. | | **Lots** | Signed: positive for a buy, negative for a sell. | | **Price** | The fill price. | | **Physical link** | The physical contract it's allocated to. | | **Allocation** | How many of its lots are allocated. | Workspaces that use the Hedging workflow also see **Physical** and **Coverage**, and workspaces connected to an external system see its sync status. See [Hedging](https://docs.mercora.io/workflows/hedging.md) and [External systems](https://docs.mercora.io/integrations/external-systems.md). Use the search box (ref, broker or month), **Filter** (commodity, broker, direction, allocation status) and **Display** (group by market, broker or allocation status, order by trade date, price or lots, and choose columns). Your layout is remembered, and an admin can set the workspace default. Allocation statuses: | Status | Meaning | | - | - | | **Unallocated** | None of the fill's lots are allocated. | | **Part** | Some of its lots are allocated. | | **Allocated** | All of its lots are allocated. | | **Closed** | A closing trade, such as a buyback. | ## Log a fill **1. Open the form** Click **+ Manual entry**. **2. Enter the fill** Pick the **Commodity · Exchange**, the **Direction** (Buy or Sell), **Lots**, the **Contract symbol** (for example Z6), **Price**, **Trade date** and **Broker**. Optionally add the **Account** and **Sub-account** (together), **Exchange reference**, **Commission / lot**, and the **Purpose**: **Hedge** or **Speculative**. **3. Save** Click **Save**. Lots must be a whole number and the price must be positive. Fills can also arrive through the Hedging workflow, from hedge plans confirmed in the Inbox. See [Hedging](https://docs.mercora.io/workflows/hedging.md). ## A fill's page Click a fill to open it. You'll see: * **Trade**: broker, instrument, month and year, lots (long or short), price, trade date, total value and commission. * **Allocation**: the contracts this fill is allocated to (see below). * **Details**: account, exchange reference, whether it was entered by an operator or the system, the source (manual entry or WhatsApp hedge), and the purpose. * **Activity**: when it was created and edited, and every allocation added or removed. * Any custom fields your admin has added. You can edit or delete a fill that was entered by hand. Its commodity, exchange and contract symbol can't be changed after creation, since allocations may already depend on them. To delete a fill, remove its allocations first, so no hedge history against a contract is lost. Fills that arrived through the Hedging workflow can't be edited or deleted here. ## Allocate a fill to a contract Allocating a fill says which physical contract it hedges, so you can see how much of each contract's tonnage is covered. **1. Open the fill** Open the fill and go to **Allocation**. **2. Pick the contract** Under **Add allocation**, search by contract number. Purchase and sale contracts are both offered. A fill allocated to a sale contract is a fixation: it fixes that sale's price. **3. Enter the lots** Type how many lots to allocate and click **Add**. You can't allocate more lots than the fill has. The card shows the running total, for example "8 of 10 lots · 80 of 100 MT hedged", using the instrument's tonnes per lot. A fill can be split across several contracts. Remove an allocation with its remove button. On the contract's own page, the fills allocated to it are listed with their lots. See [Contracts](https://docs.mercora.io/records/contracts.md). ## Brokers Each broker's counterparty page has a **Futures** section with its fills, net lots by month, average prices and a chart of fill prices by contract month. On the counterparty list, a broker's row shows its number of fills and open lots. See [Counterparties](https://docs.mercora.io/records/counterparties.md). ## Next steps > **[Hedging](https://docs.mercora.io/workflows/hedging.md)** > > Hedge plans and broker requests in the Inbox. > **[Contracts](https://docs.mercora.io/records/contracts.md)** > > See the fills allocated to each physical contract. > **[Workspace settings](https://docs.mercora.io/admin/workspace-settings.md#futures-instruments)** > > Set up futures instruments. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.