| |
| |
|
|
Currency Trading Information |
|
Commodity Trading - Advantages and Disadvantages
What Is Commodity Trading? Commodity futures markets allow commercial producers and commercial consumers to offset the risk of adverse future price movements in the commodities that they are selling or buying. In order to work a futures contract must be standardised. They must have a standard size and grade, expire on a certain date and have a preset tick size. For example, corn futures trading at the Chicago Board of Trade are for 5000 bushels with a minimum tick size of 1/4cent/bushel ($12.50/contract). A farmer may have a field of corn and in order to hedge against the possibility of corn prices dropping before the harvest he might sell corn futures. He has locked in the current price, if corn prices fall he makes a profit from the futures contracts to offset the loss on the actual corn. On the other hand, a consumer such as Kellogg may buy corn futures in order to protect against a rise in the cost of corn. In order to facilitate a liquid market so that producers and consumers can freely buy and sell contracts , exchanges encourage speculators. The speculators objective is to make a profit from taking on the risk of price fluctuation that the commercial users do not want. The rewards for speculators can be very large precisely because there is a substantial risk of loss. Advantages of commodity trading Leverage. Commodity futures operate on margin, meaning that to take a position only a fraction of the total value needs to be available in cash in the trading account. Commission Costs. It is a lot cheaper to buy/sell one futures contract than to buy/sell the underlying instrument. For example, one full size S&P500 contract is currently worth in excess off $250,000 and could be bought/sold for as little as $20. The expense of buying/selling $250,000 could be $2,500+. Liquidity. The involvement of speculators means that futures contracts are reasonably liquid. However, how liquid depends on the actual contract being traded. Electronically traded contracts, such as the e-mini's tend to be the most liquid whereas the pit traded commodities like corn, orange juice etc are not so readily available to the retail trader and are more expensive to trade in terms of commission and spread. Ability to go short. Futures contracts can be sold as easily as they are bought enabling a speculator to profit from falling markets as well as rising ones. There is no 'uptick rule' for example like there is with stocks. No 'Time Decay'. Options suffer from time decay because the closer they come to expiry the less time there is for the option to come into the money. Commodity futures do not suffer from this as they are not anticipating a particular strike price at expiry. Disadvantages of commodity trading Leverage. Can be a double edged sword. Low margin requirements can encourage poor money management, leading to excessive risk taking. Not only are profits enhanced but so are losses! Speed of trading. Traditionally commodities are pit traded and in order to trade a speculator would need to contact a broker by telephone to place the order who then transmits that order to the pit to be executed. Once the trade is filled the pit trader informs the broker who then then informs his client. This can take some take and the risk of slippage occurring can be high. Online futures trading can help to reduce this time by providing the client with a direct link to an electronic exchange. You might find a truck of corn on your doorstep! Actually, most futures contracts are not deliverable and are cash settled at expiry. However some, like corn, are deliverable although you will get plenty of warning and opportunity to close out a position before the truck turns up. Tim Wreford operates Online Futures Trading, a website that provides information and resources for traders. Tim also provides an article detailing the development of a day trading system, the results of which are updated daily on the site.
MORE RESOURCES:
Currency trading has become accessible, but it's a bad bet for the average Joe - Dallas Morning News
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
A Short Introduction To FOREX FOREX is the world's largest and most liquid trading market. Many consider FOREX as the best home business you can ever venture in. Momentum Trading: A Practical Day Trading Strategy to Get Profits from Hot Stocks Momentum day trading can be extremely profitable when done correctly.. Day Trading Course or Day Trading Technique Seminar: Learn Day Trading Education Profitable day traders recognize that momentum trading is among the fastest & most effective ways to harvest BIG piles of cash in the stock market.The problem is that if you don't know what stocks to look for and how to approach them while limiting your risk, you won't even get close to making some profits. Financial Crises, Global Capital Flows and the International Financial Architecture The recent upheavals in the world financial markets were quelled by the immediate intervention of both international financial institutions such as the IMF and of domestic ones in the developed countries, such as the Federal Reserve in the USA. The danger seems to have passed, though recent tremors in South Korea, Brazil and Taiwan do not augur well. Forex Market Overview "FX" is an abbreviation of "forex" or "foreign exchange." Foreign exchange is the largest and most liquid market in the world trading approximately $2 trillion every day (that's over 30 times the daily volume of NASDAQ and NYSE combined). Welcome to the World of Currency Trading Indeed large multinational and individual banks and other major financial institutions have dominated FX trading (also known as Forex trading), but there is a paradigm change in the nature and type of investing. According to one estimate, in the new millennium, there are over 6 million online investment accounts, up from 1. 10 Steps To Professional Day Trading Everyone trades a little differently. The trading method outlined below is MY personal approach to trading. How To Choose Wisely A FOREX Broker Most traders use a FOREX broker to handle their transactions. What exactly are brokers? Strictly speaking, brokers are individuals or companies that buy and sell orders according the investor's decisions. A Look at Online Forex Brokers An online forex broker is a firm that facilitates retail trading using Internet technologies. Global Forex Trading (GFT), one of the popular online forex brokers. Business and the Forex The business world is a complex web of supply and demand. Money and goods, physical or otherwise, pass through the global market every single day. Where is the Market Going? If you ask me whether the market will have moved up or down by this time next year, well I may as well flip a coin, because I don't know.If you ask me whether the market will have moved up or down by this time next month, well again, I may as well flip a coin, because I still don't know. Internet and Computer Systems in the FOREX Business With every passing year the interest in electronic trading is bigger, more especially trading shares and currency through Internet. A new profession came forward - this of the currency dealer. Options Trading - Advantages and Disadvantages What is Options Trading?An option is simply granting someone the right to buy or sell something in the future. In the case of Dow index futures options, when someone buys a Dow call option they are buying the right to purchase that underlying Dow future at a specific price, known as the "strike price," at a future point in time, known as the "expiration date. Forex Broker Involvement Optional To trade on the forex market, the largest financial market on the planet, one must use a forex broker. Not unlike a stock broker, a forex broker can also makes suggestions about which moves to make when exchanging foreign currency. Day Trading Success- The Key Is Survival Most new traders tend to focus just about all their time and energy on finding nearly perfect "setups", but trade setups, even very good ones, are *not* the key to successful trading. It's the *way* you trade your setups that keeps your losses smaller than your gains. The Basics of Forex Foreign exchange market is also known as Forex or FX market. To date, it is the world's biggest "economic bazaar". Forex Brokers - Helping to Maximize Your Success A Forex broker is a broker dealing in foreign exchange, just like real estate broker who deals in real estate and properties. Simply, a Forex broker is an advisor who advises you about the forex market. Online Stock Trading: Freedom of Trade I remember the first time I started to trade online. It was just before the tech bubble of the late 1990's and the internet was still something new for most people. Hedging Foreign Exchange Risks The exchange rate of the Macedonian Denar against the major hard currencies of the world has remained stable in the last few years. Because of the IMF restrictions, the local Narodna (Central) Bank does not print money and there are no physical Denars in the economy and in the local banks. Writing A Trading Plan All professional traders have a trading plan. Trading futures is a zero sum game and those with a plan (and the discipline to apply it) will succeed over those that have no plan.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
