Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Futures Trading Basics

by Tatya H.P.

Futures trading is another method of investment available for people to invest in. and just like any other form of investment, success requires that the investor get to know the market and the process of trading. Without the necessary knowledge in futures trading, it would be difficult for any investor to make money out of their investment capital effectively. They would even be risking their money from possible investment loss.

For starters, investors should know what futures trading is all about. The simplest definition to understand about futures trading is that it is a type of trade wherein a type of commodity is being traded on a market with transactions noting a particular type of commodity sold and bought at a specified price and deliverable from a specified time in the future.

What futures trading is all about can be summed up in a typical transaction between two parties. One party is a producer of a certain commodity while the other is the buyer. The producer offers the buyer a certain commodity deliverable in the future, let's say, six months from now. The buyer, who may be looking to ensure that he has ample supply of the said commodity in the future, would surely be interested. Both parties then make up a contract wherein a specified amount of the commodity may be deliverable for a particular time in the future is agreed upon. That, in a nutshell, is what futures trading is about.

For others, it might still be a little bit complicated to understand. But the essence of futures trading lies in the understanding between the commodity supplier and the buyer of the commodity. Sometimes during the course of time between the agreement and the time of delivery, the contract may change hands as the buyer may wish to trade the contract for other lucrative opportunities.

Futures trading started with grains such as wheat as the main commodity traded. Trading eventually comes to include other commodities such as lumber, crude oil, coffee and even orange juice. Precious metals such as silver, platinum and gold also have their own futures trading market.

Futures trading transactions usually happen in places called future exchanges. They may operate much like the stock exchange. Only this time, it is the commodities that are being traded instead of stocks. The futures exchange tries to standardize all of the futures contracts being traded in order to facilitate faster and more convenient liquidity upon the contract's expiry date.

The futures exchange trading floors are usually divided into certain pits or rings where traders stand facing each other. Each ring has their designated type of traded futures contract. The exchange can house different futures trading for a variety of commodities. It can be quite common to see a pit trading wheat alongside a pit trading in crude oil and soybean. The futures exchange trading floor usually only allow members to trade and speculate. Non-members have to go through brokers or partners who hold memberships in order to trade.
Just like any other type of investment, futures trading also has its own advantages and disadvantages. It takes a wise investor to first learn about the ins and outs of futures trading before venturing out into the opportunities that it may provide.

Futures Trading and Other Ways towards Financial Success

by Tatya H.P.

Why do have to fear poverty when you can create ways and means for yourself to emerge a winner despite the downwards path of the nation's economy? There are ways like futures trading to help you succeed financially. All you have to do is learn more about the tricks and apply what you have learned along the way.

Do You Want to Learn More about the Futures?

Yes, there are many things that you can try to fight the tough financial conditions that you are faced with. But not everybody is lucky enough to succeed in every venture that they try to cope with the situation. That is the reason why many people easily give up. When life seems to be giving you all the reasons to quit, people may find it hard to hang on.

If you think that you have tried it all, think again. What do you know about the futures markets? Maybe this holds the key to your financial growth. It is okay to feel intimidated at first especially if you still are naïve with regards to such schemes. But do not be naïve for too long. It is time to make a change and move on. Here are the basic steps for you to be able to step forward into the field of the futures.

1. Educate yourself about the matter.

You start by researching online about everything you need to know about this kind of trading. You must not be hindered by the technical details that you may stumble upon as you go along in educating yourself. You need to understand such details because once you enter the trade, there is no backing down until you succeed with the project. You can also read books about it to broaden your horizon. You can also ask other people who have tried it for tips and advices. You must also ask them about the common problems that they encounter as they delve deep into this type of trade.

2. Plan for your steps towards commodities trading.

First, you need to have goals. These will guide you as to what you want to achieve. You must not stop until you have reached such objectives. You must play with you mind and think about every strategy that you will undergo in order to attain your goals. Do not get easily distracted by your emotions. This is not the right time to be affected by fear as well as greed. The idea here is that you have to stay focused and determined.

3. Choose the right broker.

Find someone who has a good reputation.

They will place the orders on your behalf. So it is important that you trust whomever you choose. There are Internet brokers who are known to offer lower commissions. You can also find full-service brokers that can perform whatever services you want from them with regards to the trade.

4. You have to find your way through the trends that happen in the trades.

For this purpose, one tool on commodity trading will help you. This charting system is useful for beginners as well as those who are already pioneers in the field. This tool is known as the Japanese Candlesticks.

After following such tips, you are on your way towards a brighter road to your path to futures trading. Do not let anything distract you at this point. You are almost there so hang on it and make everything work out fine and for the best.

Commodity Futures Trading

by Tatya H.P.

Commodity futures trading is a type of investment where one can make money by speculating on the price of a certain commodity going up or down in the future. Commodities are usually the essential things that people make use of everyday. Most of the times, these commodities are the basic essentials needed by a modern society.

When talking about certain commodities being traded in the futures market, it must meet certain conditions to make it allowable for trading. One of the conditions is that the commodity should be standardized. In trading agricultural and industrial commodities, the traded commodity should be in its basic raw and unprocessed state. In this case, Wheat may be traded in the futures market but not flour.

Another condition that a certain commodity has to meet is that the perishable kind should have adequate shelf life. The reason for this is that these commodities are traded with their delivery scheduled deferred at a future time. Therefore, there may require a long shelf life so that the commodities may be delivered with its quality still good and intact. Another condition that a certain commodity should meet is that it should have a price that changes often, creating some uncertainty as well as opportunity to profit.

The history behind futures trading in commodities evolved from the farmer's need to earn more from every harvest. Before commodity futures trading started, the farmers were always at the mercy of the dealer when it comes to pricing and selling their harvests. Dealers usually set the prices and the farmers cannot to anything but accept the terms. In a way the farmers were being exploited by some dealers and so another form of selling their harvest.

In the search for having a more fair system of doing business, farmers began offering future harvest to interested buyers. The farmers started giving their own terms for the future harvests to dealers. The transaction consists of commodities offered as a certain price and to be delivered as a specified date. Contracts were then drawn up between the farmer and the interested buyer that specified the certain amount of commodity to be delivered at a particular time in the future. From this system, what is now known as futures trading has begun.

It was sometime in 1878 that a central dealing facility for such commodities contracts was established in Chicago. In this facility, farmers and dealers began initially in spot dealing of their grains that was immediately delivered upon a reached settlement in price. It eventually evolved into futures trading when farmers started committing future harvests to interested dealers willing to buy to ensure that their grains supply are maintained in the future.

In the beginning, futures trading initially consists only of a few farm commodities such as grains. But later on, a huge number of other commodities joined in. Now there are futures trading markets that deal in precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum. There is also a futures trading market for livestock and cattle as well as for energy products such as crude oil and natural gas. It has gone on to include futures trading in coffee, orange juice ad industrials such as lumber, cotton and even on interest rate bearing instruments such as currencies and stocks.

Basic Ideas about Futures Trading

by Tatya H.P.

What do you know about futures trading? These days when economy is tough and life seems to be testing you how are you going to survive such, there are people who are lucky enough to know how to outlast such crisis. If you haven't been into any kinds of trades your whole life, it is never too late to start learning.

The futures are known to be one, if not the most popular day trading markets these days. These are available with a wide range of fundamental elements that are effective with regards to the price movement and in terms of liquidity. There are also some futures markets that can be traded throughout the day.

What Do the Futures Hold?

Do not confuse this kind of trading with the likes of stock trading wherein you invest on the stock market. With futures, you don't actually own anything. The idea here is that you speculate what the future may hold with regards to the prices of commodities that you will be trading. In other words, you speculate about what the prices of such goods will be in the future. To start with the process, you must invest a sufficient capital that you will deposit on a brokerage firm. This way, the latter will be assured that you are capable of paying for your losses in the event that your trade loses money.

A good example of this venture is a farmer who opted to sell the futures for his crop, for example, wheat. He will do so if he thinks that its price will drop before harvest time. In this regard, someone who is also interested in wheat, like a bread manufacturer, will decide on buying the futures if he thinks that the wheat's price is going to elevate before its harvest. Whatever happens to the price of such commodity, the farmer and the bread manufacturer are both assured of a guaranteed price.

Now someone will invest in the trade. This person is interested about the changes that might happen as time passes. And he wants to benefit through the process of buying and selling for a profit. In this regard, you can conclude that this kind of trade can be likened to an insurance plan dedicated to people who are involved with trading as well as investing.

There is Money in the Trades

Just like in any kind of gamble, if you are going to be involved in trading and investing in the futures, you need to strategize. You have to study your moves and make sure that you calculate each step that you take as you go along in the venture. You cannot simply rely on good luck when there is already money involved. You have to keep up with whatever is happening in the trade that you are in. This way, you will be able to plan how are you going to move and what else can you do in order to gain and avoid losing in the process.

There are famous commodities trader who can testify that the statement is true. But it will definitely not going to happen overnight. The first thing that you have to accept is the potential of futures trading. After such, you can move on with your schemes and with further analyzing the situation that you have gotten yourself and your money into.

Advantages Of Futures Trading

by Tatya H.P.

Futures trading offers a good opportunity for other people to invest in. trading in futures contracts offers people the unique opportunity to invest in something other than stocks. Although sometimes they also operate in the same manner, futures trading presents a different method of earning revenues for the amount invested on it.

There are certain advantages that futures trading offers to interested investors. One of them is that such instruments are considered highly leveraged investments. In order for an investor to own a futures contract, he only needs to invest a small fraction of the value of the contract. Most investors only invest about ten percent of the contract's value in exchange for trading them. This way, investors may be able to trade larger amounts of commodities than if he ever bought the commodities outright.

If he predicted the movement of the prices of the commodities traded correctly, the investor has a great chance of profiting ten-fold for an initial investment of ten percent of the actual futures contract's value. That is how leverage works to the advantage of the investor in futures trading.

Another advantage of futures trading is that it is basically a paper investment. Although futures trading involves certain commodities, the investor doesn't have to worry about how to take care of the produce himself. Trading is done with the futures contract changing hands instead of the commodity itself. This makes it quite convenient since the investor doesn't have to worry about where to store and keep the commodities being traded for the meantime.

Another advantage of futures trading is that futures trading is that the futures contracts being traded are considered very liquid. This means that there are huge amounts of contracts being traded in the market on a daily basis. Orders can be placed quickly and they can be bought or sold in a similar fashion. There are always quite a number of available buyers and sellers for the futures contracts, whatever commodity it might be.

One good thing about the futures trading market is that it enjoys fairer trading as compared with stock and share trading. Trading in the futures exchange can be very vocal as trading is done in the midst of shouting of "Buy!" or "Sell!". Another thing is that it is more difficult to get insider information in futures trading that seems to be a big problem in the price manipulation in stock trading.

Commissions on futures markets tend to be smaller as compared to other trading markets. The commissions are usually paid after the position has ended. Depending on the level of service, the commissions for brokers can be as low as five dollars to as high as two hundred per transaction.

For an investor, it may be quicker to make money on futures trading. Aside from the leverage provided by futures, the markets tend to move more quickly as compared to cash markets. But this can also work against the investor since the quick pace of the market can also lead to quick losses for the investor for incorrect predictions on their positions.