In finance, a market condition where the futures price of a commodity is higher than the current spot price, or where distant contract months cost more than nearby ones.
Origin uncertain, possibly from Spanish contra- (against, counter) + English 'ago' or from Italian 'contante' (ready money). First used in 19th-century London commodity markets, the etymology remains somewhat mysterious.
Contango and 'backwardation' are weird finance words that confuse everyone, but they're actually describing something simple: whether the future costs more or less than right now—markets use them to predict where prices are heading.
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