Risk levels are determined by two factors: how risky the asset is, and how much cash you have collateralizing the position. Options in general are a way to tra

Risk levels are determined by two factors: how risky the asset is, and how much cash you have collateralizing the position. Options in general are a way to transfer specific tranches of risk. There's lower and higher risk strategies - eg, if you do a "covered call" you're buying a stock and selling off the upside risk for cash today, and basically wind up with a less risky strategy than owning the underlying outright. Futures are a specific market - forward contracts to purchase (long) or deliver (short) a specific product in a specific manner at a specified date, marked-to-market daily. The mark-to-market is important: if you're long a soybeans future and the price of it goes down, they debit your account the cash value of the price decrease and credit your counterparty's. This is why there are margin requirements: they're designed so that when a nightly debit happens, you will almost always have enough cash. The spread is referring to the futures market. If you have offsetting positions, then many events that earn you money on one contract will lose you money on the other (and vice versa). Eg, if you are long two 2-year treasury future and short a 10-year treasury future, and interest rates for both rise 0.01%, then as of the last market close your 2-year futures lose $71.54 and the 10-year future gains $70.98. The market rules recognize that the spread is less risky than the outright, and thus requires less margin to guarantee your trades.