Another term for an exchange membership is a seat. A prospective member may buy a full seat, allowing him or her to trade any of the offered futures contracts. To encourage volume on newer or less liquid contracts, most exchanges usually also offer a partial seat. Permitting its owner to trade only a designated number of contracts. Usually, to get onto an exchange to trade, an investor needs to buy or lease a seat from a current owner. The value of an exchange seat can very substantially.