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I believe all futures contracts are cash settled, including precious metals and stocks.

They are not.

https://www.danielstrading.com/futures-trading-education/201...

Typically they almsot always were delivered rather than cash settled. Cash settlement is more common for futures on indexes.

See here: http://www.cmegroup.com/market-data/reports/cash-settled-fut...

From your own link (the first one):

>It is estimated that only 2% of all futures contracts are actually delivered.

Also from the first link:

Popular Physical Delivery futures contracts include (but are not limited to) CME Currencies (Euro, JPY, & GPB), CBOT Treasuries (2 yr, 5yr, 10 yr, & 30 yr), NYMEX Energies (Crude Oil, Natural Gas, RBOB Gasoline, & Heating Oil), CME Live Cattle, CBOT Grains (Corn, Wheat, Soybeans, Soybean Meal, Soybean Oil, Rice, and Oats), COMEX Metals (Gold, Silver, & Copper), and ICE Softs (Sugar, Cotton, Cocoa, Coffee and OJ).

There are plenty of physical delivery futures still in existence.

that is because futures are rarely held to expiry - They get rolled into the next contract. so even tho physically settled, physical settlement is rare.

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