So now we are left with the question of: If 5% of futures traders do make money than how are they doing it. Simple, they are utilizing back tested systems usually ran by computers (these days), for consistent execution of entering and exiting the market. Automated Trading systems have gotten very popular over the last 8 years with the bulk of the market no longer phoning in orders but placing them on a PC whether that be manual or automated. Now knowing this is half the battle. You still need to find a trading system that can withstand the test of time and not just work for a short period of time until the market conditions change. This is one of the largest flaws of most computer-generated systems; they aren’t people so they can’t use reason to change their pattern. They tend to operate based on some kind of trend trading contrary to the market direction. Then once the trend dries up the system operates in direct conflict with the markets pattern. I like using an automated system that is based on directional movement not fighting the flow of the market. When the system sees that the market is trending for a hard move in one direction or the other that’s the way it trades. The beauty of trading futures is that it has nothing to do with recessions, or whether the market moves up or down. You are able to profit from it moving in both directions (long: profiting going up) or (short: profiting going down)

A general misunderstanding about futures is that you’re not actually investing in anything. A futures strategy is basically just an equity machine that’s not committed to any long-term stay in the market. You don’t have to wait more than a day to get your capital out and your able to leverage a large volume commodity or currency to your advantage. For example: When you trade futures your using a small amount of money to control something that has much more value than you are using to control it. The money that’s in your trading account is margin or the equivalent of earnest money on a house. The earnest money doesn’t obligate you to buy the house but allows you to control if for a period of time. When you enter into the futures market you are hoping to take advantage of a price difference just like the way you would with equity in a home, then turning around and selling the rights to the contract for a profit. But what separates futures from a home or any other asset class is the fact that you can quickly take advantage of the loss in value of the commodity. The value change and turn around time will also occur much much faster in the commodity market unlike with real-estate and the Futures market is many times more liquid with plenty of buyers and sellers at any given moment.

This is the reason why good futures traders and Commodity trading advisers tend to make high returns because your not holding onto something that takes for ever to rise in value over time, you’re simply taking advantage of prices up or down multiple times per day or per month. A good trading strategy will lose once in a while there’s no way to combat that, but if it is a good strategy it should return you 2 or 3 times what it loses on average. When viewing the long term performance of a system don’t pay so much attention to how much it gains but how consistently it gains. I would rather have a system that earns small amounts steadily than one making insane profits only to keep you up at night because it yo yo’s back and forth so much. So you can see how you’re not really investing in anything just a way of quickly extracting money from the market and pulling out again.

I recommend that if you’re beginning in futures that you start by finding a good CTA (commodity trading adviser) and have him manage your futures account. There are several CTA’s with excellent track records out there. Most CTA’s will use an automated strategy that they watch continuously through out the day. If you have a good CTA he will pay close attention to market trends and adjust the strategy for loss as conditions change. He should also ask you about your risk tolerance and adjust your trading accordingly. The CTA has only power of attorney to trade your account he doesn’t have any access to your funds. A third party clearing firm that’s connected with the brokerage house the CTA is using handles your funds. Usually you can access your funds within one business day.

So……. Trading Futures Risky or Profitable? You be the judge. Many financial advisers will tell you that Futures are risky and believe me they have every reason to think this. But if you find a good system using the common sense I just explained above you will have the best high yield investment available that will most likely outperform ten fold what any mutual fund or other asset can do and with performance that isn’t related to how good the economy is doing.

Learn more about the best high yield investments. Stop by Eric Christensen’s site where you can find out all about high yield investment accounts and the difference it can make in your portfolio..

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Any type of trading is akin to casino gambling in some respects. And, as in gambling, luck plays a role but there are other factors as well. A successful trader, just like a successful gambler will usually utilize some type of system to better his or her odds.

Stock trading involves buying shares of equity in a listed company. As the company does well and grows its value increases and so should the value of its shares. This is how shareholders make money. They buy at a lower price than they later sell and the difference is their profit. If, however, share value goes down instead of up the investor will lose money (take a loss).

Trading commodities is different in that traders in this market are dealing with an actual physical substance. Some of the commodities traded, for example, include orange juice and coffee, corn, wheat and soybeans, precious metals, fuels and currencies. These items all have an up-to-the-minute spot price, which is the cost for buying a unit of the commodity at this exact moment. These prices fluctuate constantly (when the market is open and trading).

You can also buy commodities by utilizing a ‘futures contract’ for a specific item, whether it be gold or grain. With a futures contract, you’re agreeing to a future buying or selling price, to be transacted on or before a specific date. Most people trading the commodities markets are speculators who have no intention of actually taking delivery of, say for example, 5,000 bushels of corn or wheat. They are simply agreeing to buy at today’s price for a specific monthly contract in hopes that the price will increase and they’ll be able to sell back at a profit. Another option is to SELL now (if the price seems to be going DOWN) and by back later after the price drops.

Buying a futures contract puts you in LONG position. If the prices go up you will earn a profit when you sell the contract back. Selling a futures contract puts you in a SHORT position, hoping prices will drop. Then, when you later buy the contract back you will also profit. If prices go against your prediction your trade will close at a loss.

There are definite risks in commodities futures trading but it also holds significant upside potential too. Leverage enables individual traders to control large contracts with relatively small amounts of money but the chance of losing is always present. This market moves fast and is not for the weak of heart. Trade smartly!

Find more information about commodities futures trading today! When you learn how to trade futures, you will be able to take advantage of the numerous opportunities that present themselves to you easily!

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Oil prices can be very volatile, depending on the weather conditions when you are buying. Normally when winter weather hits and there is a drop in temperature, oil prices quickly react to the change. This is especially true when there has been a long summer than normal and gasoline consumption has been increasing. With this seasonal effect refineries can put oil production on hold so they meet the demands. When lower temperatures arrive and heating oil demand increases, so will the associated oil prices. Homeowners need to follow oil prices online to watch out for these seasonal changes.

About Investing in Crude Oil

There are a different set of people who need to watch the latest oil prices, this group are investors. Whilst crude oil investors have a real need to watch current oil prices, many investors who are involved in other related industries have a similar need. Our oil consumption has huge influence on large numbers of industry sectors. Petroleum is used in the manufacture of plastic, chemicals, and not forgetting the fuel that is consumed by large fleets of vehicles these companies run. Almost anything that depends on petrol is affected by severe changes in oil prices.

Planning Your Expenditure

Consumers who are planning vacations may need to follow the latest oil prices, or anyone who is strategically planning any other transportation costs. Businesses and consumers could easily save a lot of money if they watch oil prices closely and only make large scale transportation or travel arrangements during the seasonal times when oil prices are lower. You can accomplish this by watching for seasonal trends in oil prices and trying to plan travel according to the season which traditionally has lower oil prices.

Viewing Latest Oil Prices

Now with internet technology, the obvious place for a consumer to view oil prices is online. There are lots of online sources which display the latest price of crude oil. There are news sites dedicated to bringing breaking news and opinion on the changes in current oil prices. Simply searching for “crude oil price” will bring up a host of sites displaying live data and other forecasting tools. Make sure you help your own finances by staying up to date with oil prices and making some simple changes to your life routines.

If you need to view the latestcrude oil price. Our site Live Charts UK features the current oil prices on charts in real time, or historical formats.

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News breaks from Shanghai Monday that: On the Friday’s breaking news from Shanghai of long-awaited Chinese stock index futures, Chinese blue chip shares hit their highest numbers in over 8 weeks.

The Yuan is up to 6.8263 against the U.S. dollar, which is higher than it was at Friday’s close at 6.8273.

Shanghai Composite Index moved over 2 percent to close at 3,124.

The Shenzhen Composite Index went up to 1,201 1 percent increase.

Analysts say that 3,100 is the current psychological pivot for the market. Having higher trading volume reinforces the sentiment.

Ping An, Securities analyst Li Xianming of Shenzhen said, “With the introduction of the stock futures, investors refocused on blue chip shares, as their previous performance has lagged behind the market.”

Chinese auto makers, lenders, and brokerages were among the gainers.

Better-than-expected annual earnings last week were reported by China’s three largest banks.

Bank of China Ltd. at 4.36 Yuan rose 3.1% Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. at 5.02 Yuan rose 2.5% China Construction Bank Ltd. at 5.71 Yuan rose 2.3%

The two largest brokerages rose as well. Citic Securities Co. rose 3.5 percent to 28.36 Yuan, Haitong Securities Co. gained of 2.8 percent to 17.07 Yuan.

The auto makers win as well. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group signed a deal Sunday to buy Ford Motor Co.’s Volvo Cars. SAIC Motor Co., The local partner of General Motors Co. Volkswagen AG (VGC), jumped 3.7 percent to 20.45 Yuan, Ford Motor Company partner, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. rose 1.2 percent at 6.97 Yuan.

With the announcement and China’s Blue Chips increasing on it looks like capitalist principals are taking deeper root. It is highly unlikely that the surge in the sectors of auto manufacture, lending, and brokerages is mere coincidence.

James Horne has been a financial analyst for over 10 years. He is CEO of Pure Reason LLC, the home of Shadowtraders. His voice has been heard by hundreds of students learning to trade the Futures Market with Shadowtraders online day trading strategies. Before you buy any trading software, make sure you attend Shadowtraders Monday Night Webinar, and hosted by Barbara Cohen

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Unfortunately in the market, options are still rather badly understood. It means that lots of folks finish up utilizing them improperly. An effective way for folks to acquire a complete understanding of options and how best to use them, is via a total options education.

Although, actually that may be not enough, potential traders should receive the appropriate training. You will find a massive variety of training companies and courses on the web, but most will train options in exactly the same way. This can be to basically show their students textbook options strategies and systems and then leave them to go live in the marketplace.

Sometimes it is OK, and fulfills simple requirements, but many students struggle from this position, since they do not genuinely fully grasp the way to find the opportunities where these techniques, or approaches can be utilised.

To effectively profit from options, traders need an options education organization that can initially help them learn how to locate and discover opportunities when options may be used, and then go onto to show them the correct techniques and approaches to achieve full benefits.

Ideally these organizations need to give traders with the opportunity to practice their knowledge and learn with profitable professional traders, in full market situations.

This sort of practical knowledge really can end up being priceless, although it is something that few will ever have access to. Although ultimately, if you are seriously interested in achieving success with options, they need to try and find an options training organization that can offer this sort of tuition.

To see an independent review of the best options trading companies that can teach people how to first find possibilities in the market and then teach Options Trading Systems, and The Way To Trade Options, just follow the hyperlink.

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If you want to trade commodities than trading commodity futures is the best way to profit from the boom in the commodity market. Richard Dennis had started with only $400 and ended up making more than $200 Million trading commodities. Now, let’s discuss the three largest futures exchanges in the world. There are many futures exchanges in the world but these three are the most popular and the most important.

The number one is the CME ( Chicago Mercantile Exchange). The futures contracts that get traded on CME include among others stock index futures, foreign currencies, interest rates, commodities, environmental futures and others. Futures trading is no doubt risky but if you learn it, it can be highly profitable. As said before, Ricard Dennis and his turtles used to trade the most liquid contracts in the market.

The commodities futures that get traded on CME include live cattle, milk, lean hogs, feeder cattle, butter, limber, pork bellies, Goldman Sachs Commodities Index and fertilizer.

CME provides you with the opportunity to trade futures contracts on these stock indexes as well as their mini versions the E-Minis. Now, one of the ways to trade stock market is to trade stock indexes like the various S&P 500 like the S&P 500 Midcap, Small Cap as well as the Russell 2000 and the NASDAQ 100.

Other important futures contracts that get traded on CME include single stock futures, futures on ETFs and futures on Japanese Nikkei 225 Index. CME group also has the GLOBEX Electronic Trading Platform that allows electronic trading of futures contract almost around the clock.

The second most important futures exchange is the CBOT ( Chicago Board of Trade).The futures contracts that are available on CBOT include agricultural futures like the soybeans, ethanol, rice, corn, wheat and others. Mini contracts on corn, soybeans and wheat are also available for trading on CBOT.

Interest rate related futures contracts that get traded on CBOT include Treasury Bonds, FED Funds, spreads, municipal bonds, German debt and swaps. Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures popularly known as Dow futures and its E-Mini version plus gold and silver futures and their mini versions also gets traded on CBOT.

The next major futures trading exchange is the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). This is infact the global hub for energy trading and offers futures contracts on light sweet crude, natural gas, unleaded gasoline, heating oil, electricity, propane and coal.

Futures contract on precious metals like gold, silver, platinum and palladium also get traded on NYMEX. Futures contracts on metals like copper and aluminum also are available on NYMEX.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Know this shocking Dow Futures secret that can make you rich. Get your FREE COPIES of the HVMM Ultimate Day Trading System and the Universal Risk & Money Management Tool just now.

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The most important difference is that Index Options are cash settled on expiry while the ETF Options are settled with the underlying instruments that is shares of that ETF. Since with an ETF Options, you can also own the underlying security, you can use various combination strategies.

Stocks have dividends that are paid out periodically to the stock holders. Dividends are an important part of the return that a stock gives over a certain period of time. Now when you are trading index options or ETF options both of them get affected by the dividend payments on the underlying stocks. You need to take this fact into account when calculating the values of puts and calls with an Options Calculator otherwise your investment returns may not be what you have been anticipating.

If you have traded stock options before, trading ETF Options should not be difficult for you. As said before, since ETF Options get settled with ETF shares, you can use the different options trading strategies on them unlike the Index Options that get settled in cash. This makes ETF Options a much superior instrument as compared to Index Options.

Now when trading ETF Options, you can use the famous Protective Put Strategy by combining long ETF with a long put. This way you can hedge against the downside risk with a small increased cost to the ETF. A Protective Put will limit the downside risk to the put strike price.

Similarly, you can use a Covered Call on ETF. A Covered Call is formed by taking combining long ETF with a short call on that ETF. The short call will give you some income in the shape of a premium and reduce the cost of the position. This will also slightly reduce the risk of the position. But on the other hand, a covered call will limit the upside profit potential. Your max profit now will only be limited to the call strike price.

Now, you can also use a Collared Position as well by combining a long ETF with a long put and a short call. This combination limits the downside risk to the put strike price with a slight increase in the cost of the ETF. This net increase in cost by taking a long put is offset with the premium brought in by the short call. On the other hand, the limited but high risk is turned into limited risk only.

What you need to do is first paper trade these strategies and master them. This way you will learn how to deal with unexpected risk. Options trading is risky in the sense that it has both time volatility as well as price volatility. Now, many traders trade options without getting good options trading education.

ETF options are always American Style meaning you can exercise them any time before the expiry. You can even use LEAP Options on ETFs. LEAP Options are long term options having expiry ranging from nine months to 21/2 years. Now just like stocks, not all ETF have options available for trading.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Read this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading FREE Report. Get this 40 page shocking FRWC Brutal Truth FREE Report that exposed everything about trading robots!

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Futures market is a highly regulated market with the CFTC responsible for its regulation. Buyers and sellers don’t come in direct contact with each other. In between is the Central Clearing House that enforces the contract reducing the risk of party default! Futures contract as the name implies is a binding contract between two parties for the delivery of a commodity or an asset or even a financial instrument at some future date between the buyer and seller of that contract.

Futures market is the backbone of the whole sale and retail commodity market ranging from oil, wheat, corn, heating oil, meat, cattle, soybeans and other foodstuff. So you can well imagine the importance of the futures market. Futures market serves the purpose of hedging and speculation.

These contracts get regulated through a central clearing hours so the risk of one party backing out of the contract is minimal. This limits the time and risk exposure experienced by hedgers and speculators. Now, futures contracts are by design time bound and expire at a fixed date.

In the last decades, electronic trading has become highly popular among the traders. This includes futures as well. So, now you can easily trade these contracts by opening an account with a FCM brokerage and deposit an amount to start trading these contracts on margin. The minimum amount with most of the brokers is something like $5,000 but it can less too! Brokers allow leverage upto 10:1 when you trade on margin. Compare this to the leverage of 2:1 allowed by stock brokers.

In US, open outcry trading still takes place during the official hours at the different futures exchanges. However, most of these futures contracts also get traded electronically. GLOBEX allows electronic trading of most of these futures contracts 23 hours each day. Electronic trading provides a more level playing field, more price transparency and lower transaction costs.

The popular contracts that get traded on GLOBEX are the E-minis like the S&P 500, NASDAQ 100 and Dow. You can also trade E-mini gold futures as well as crude oil futures on GLOBEX. CME, NYMEX and CBOT are the three most important Futures Exchanges. GLOBEX allows you to trade most of the contracts that get traded on these exchanges.

Now, GLOBEX trading continues during the night after the official close of CME, CBOT and NYMEX at 4:15 PM EST. However, overnight trading can be thin and highly volatile as compared to the official hours. You can find GLOBEX quotes on CNBC and Bloomberg!

These quotes are real time. Futures trading can be highly profitable but risky as well. Before you dabble in them, you should paper trade these contracts for at least a month just to get a feel of how to do it. There are many contracts that you can trade and the possibilities of making money in futures trading are immense. Imagine the prices of crude oil going up again just like what happened in the summer of 2008!

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University.Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report Plus the Profit Button Report that applies no matter what you trade FREE! Know this shocking Dow Futures Secret that can make you rich!

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Hard stocks, however, lead to hard losses. You may prefer the softer margins of the futures market. To begin this volatile career as a futurist, you need only pony up to the margins set by each commodity on the market. So, for instance, you like that the margin (think of margins as ante in a poker game) for wheat — or let’s say sugar. The initial investment margin for a commodity, therefore, may be $5,000 or so.

Once you have invested the initial margin amount you may begin to wheel and deal using smaller increments known as e-minis. Now, it may help you to think of this margin in term of your own home. Imagine putting down 20% of your home’s value in order to steer its potential open market value. Heady stuff, indeed. But be wary and stay focused or you will suffer the fate of many a day trader in the 1990s.

Courtesy of the Online Trading Academy, let’s indulge in a brief, but informative example. Let us presume that a given e-mini trading price is valued at $980. The market value is computed by taking the dollar value per e-mini point ($50) and multiplying it by the last trading price. Thus, $980 multiplied by $50 equals $49,000. Now, say the initial margin value is $5,625. This means for $5,625 you can determine a futures contract worth $49,000. This represents a 9:1 leverage ratio.

Obviously, the leveraging power of futures is significant. But, it should be noted that futures trading requires ready access to liquid capital. Your IRA or trust fund will do you no good. If the market moves against your futures, you will be responsible for meeting your margins should they fall below market value. Failure to do so will handicap your ability to trade as quickly and lucratively as you might like.

The futures market is a market ripe with e-mini trading potential. To understand the leveraging power of the futures market, one must have the marked skills to make it a profitable endeavor. Best of luck.

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For this you can do back testing. Back testing is a method that uses historical data to test how well your indicators work in a particular market. You can use back testing software that enables you to look at the past market data and test how well the indicators and your trading system have worked in the past market.

Backtesting results are no guarantee that the trading system will perform well under live market conditions. Things that worked in the past might not work now. Similarly something that didn’t work in the past, may work now! You never know!There are many problems with historical data. There is no slippage in backtesting. Slippage is one of the most important problem that a trader faces while trading live. The other problem that the backtest ignores is the widening of spreads under volatile market conditions.

In other words, no two trades work out in exact the same way twice. SO you have to be careful when looking at the back testing results and take it with a pinch of salt. However, there are still some advantages of back testing a trading system.

Some markets are highly seasonal. For example, if you are a commodity trader and tend to trade agricultural commodities like the grain, seed or the livestock, these have a fixed planting and harvesting cycles.

For example, some markets especially the commodities market is highly seasonal and cyclical in nature. We can take the example of agricultural commodities like wheat, grains,corn, cotton, coffee and stuff like that. In case of the stock market, there is much talk of the January Effect. Well, it is there no doubt about it. Some years, it is highly pronounced and others it is not that pronounced. Similarly stock prices tend to rise at the end of each month and the first few days of the new months. The reason for this is that many institutional investors tend to put the new funds to work at the end of the month and the beginning of the new month! Now in other markets, you might not find any seasonal trends. For example, there is very little seasonality in curreny market or the bond market.

US Dollar Index trendlines might last for months to years. In other markets too backtesting can help you figure out important trends that lasts for last times. Backtesting can help you figure out how long a trend might last in a particular market.

There is no substitute for live trading results! To tell you the truth, backtesting can only give you a rough guess about the performance of the trading system under live trading conditions.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Download these Forex Scalping Cheatsheets FREE! Read this shocking FREE 40 page PDF FRWC Brutal Truth Report that exposes everything about trading robots!

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