Actuals

An actual is the opposite of a derivative. That is, an actual refers to the actual thing underlying a derivative contract, usually a future.

An airline buys future contracts for guarantees of jet A fuel so they can continue to run their St. Louis-to-Miami shuttle, regardless of what bombs have gone off this week in the Middle East. The actual is the actual vats and pools of oil stored somewhere in a physical place, and used as a kind of guarantee, or collateral, or certainty-making entity, so that both sides have comfort that, when the actual is needed, it isn't...up in smoke.