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How to Trade Commodities Like a Real Professional

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By Gary E Kerkow

The major leagues of trading

When you trade commodities, or futures if you will, you are in the major leagues of trading. It can be fast moving, with incredible leverage. Fortunes are made sometimes in short order, but always remember, it is a double-edged sword. About 90% of all commodity traders ultimately lose, and many of them lose in a quick manner. It is the same 10% or so that consistently win, year after year. In this article, I will share with you, some of what it takes to successfully trade commodities. If you can make it into the winner’s circle, you could become wealthy in the process.

Develop sound trading principles

To be successful in the world of trading, you simply must implement proper trading principles. You need to be able to make money in an up-trending, down-trending, or a non-trending market. This is achieved by utilizing proper technical analysis. As an example, always work an advancing market from the long side. Once the market starts moving in your favor, you can add to your position.

Posted January 23rd, 2012.

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How Commodities Spread Trading Works For You

 How Commodities Spread Trading Works For You

People who are into spread betting often have a favourite arena where they place their bets. If you are new to spread betting you may want to look around for an arena that you would like to trade in before you really take the plunge. This is not something that you should get into rashly and is in fact one activity that deserves a lot of research if you hope to be successful at it.

One area that a lot of people who are into spread betting really like to get into is the commodities market. You may wonder why this is their favourite arena and this is because it is a highly volatile market that is always changing thus making it a favourite for a lot of people. You may also be wondering what the volatile nature of the commodities will bring you and it just so happens that when you have volatile trading, that means that there are good profits to be made and yet, you must be made aware that if there is money to be had in this market, there is also money to be lost. But that is all part and parcel of this spread betting game.

Posted January 23rd, 2012.

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Research Made More Efficient With Futures and Commodity Charts Online

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By: Ryan Harris

Technical analysis involves the use of historical stock prices charts and certain technical indicators like moving averages, trend lines, and oscillators. These help predict the future course of index and commodity futures prices. Given the high volatility of commodity stocks, several profitable moves can be potentially identified within the trading day itself.

A huge advantage of the technical analysis of commodity charts is that the trend of underlying commodity stocks can be easily determined. By studying a daily chart of the underlying commodity, one can easily conclude whether the price trend is up, down, or sideways.

Another advantage of technical analysis lies in the fact that these charts have distinct patterns like heads, shoulders, triangles, rounding tops, and bottoms, which can present profitable trading opportunities when recognized. Charting can be accomplished quickly, and is relatively inexpensive. Finally, commodity charts provide a wealth of information ranging from momentum and volatility, as well as support and resistance.

Barchart.com offers unique stock screeners where current prices can be screened on the basis of unique, technical parameters. More than 1000 contracts traded on major exchanges such as the CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX, CME, and more. These are comprehensively analyzed and set ups are identified based on the bullish or bearish trend exhibited at a given time. The most promising technical leads are compiled and made available to Barchart.com users on a daily basis.

Posted January 13th, 2012.

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The 4 Best Tools for Your Futures Trading Screen




By Tim Racette

Keep it simple, Stupid!

That adage ‘KISS’ says it all. When developing trading rules it’s important to keep our trading screens as simple as possible.

In my trading I use the phrase “Less in More” coined famously by architect Mies Van Der Rohe. My trading screen remains simple and easy to interpret the market data. The key to having a simple trading screen is to remove all the clutter and indicators that do not directly relate to your trading plan. In this article I will discuss 4 tool that I use on my trading screen.

My Trading Screen Details

1. NYSE Tick

If I had to chose one tool to trade with it would be the NYSE Tick. This is my #1 trading indicator and tells us the relationship of stocks up ticking versus down ticking at their last traded price.

2. Market Internals

I use the market internals to give me a sense of the strength or weakness of the markets. While I don’t use them to execute trades exclusively, that can help determine whether or not it is likely to be a trend day or if the markets are likely to stay in a range.

Posted January 13th, 2012.

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How Commodities Can Improve Your Portfolio Through Diversification and Inflation Protection

Make%20your%20prediction EN 468x60 How Commodities Can Improve Your Portfolio Through Diversification and Inflation Protection


By Daniel Wiggins

Adding commodities to an investment portfolio can help diversify your portfolio while providing the additional benefit of inflationary protection.

Every investor knows how beneficial it can be to have a well-diversified portfolio. When a portfolio is well diversified, some securities will rise under certain conditions, while other securities fall under the same conditions. The idea of diversification is to find non-correlated securities that will rise and fall in value at different times. An investor does not want “all their eggs in one basket” (highly correlated securities) because there is the potential to lose everything all at once.

Proper diversification can help protect against various risks in the market place. These risks are called diversifiable, or unsystematic risk. When one company in your portfolio suffers from a firm-specific event such as a lawsuit, labor strike, or regulatory action that negatively effects their competitive advantage, that event will not dramatically affect a well-diversified portfolio.

However, there are some risks that cannot be diversified away. These are call non-diversifiable, or systematic risks. Systematic risks are those that affect the entire marketplace. These can include natural disasters, wars, political events, and others. Often times these events can be difficult to predict, and can have troubling affects on even a well-diversified portfolio.

Posted December 23rd, 2011.

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Futures Trading Software To Make More Profit


 Futures Trading Software To Make More Profit

By : Gecko Software
Trading stocks, futures and Forex could be a pretty lucrative venture. In fact, each of those markets is worth trillions of dollars daily and many people have built their wealth by making the correct investments and trading judgments. If you are interested in trading, it can be imperative that you just invest in the proper tools which will guide you from the method as a newbie. The best method to start out your venture into trading is to start with futures and Forex since they require lower start up costs in contrast to stocks. Therefore, you could have to invest in futures trading software and Forex trading software. It would be a lot simpler if you have got tools for automated trading.

The reason why experts advocate beginners purchase futures trading software is that every professional traders and investors spend thousands of dollars in expensive software since they know that such acquisitions are worth the cost. Such tools aid all visual investors by providing insightful information that came from analysis and data that are updated in real time. Though it is unwise of you to get a thousand-dollar value futures trading software to start, a starter automated, trading tool pack is sufficient in providing you with the required data to know the procedure of futures, Forex, and stock trading.

Posted December 1st, 2011.

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Know How Futures Trading Margins Work

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Author: Saima Triphor

Are you planning to get into the futures trading market? If so, there are some important aspects you have to consider. Firstly, it is very important to know how futures trading margins work. Knowing how margins and commissions of the trading work will help you to trade easily and obtain best results from your business. When you are trading on margins, you will have the ability for controlling certain size position without even putting down the value of your position in cash. With the help of margin trading, the trader will be able to magnify both potential gains and potential loses. There are many advantages of trading on margins when compared to other options available in the market.

When you are getting into margin trading, you will have general access to the much lower margins. This is also one of the main reasons, why a lot of stock traders are getting into this trading type. Generally, the maximum leverage obtainable in the market is from four to one. In such cases, you may have to put up a minimum of twenty five percent of the position to remain in the trade. This will magnify your gain or loss up to four times. The ability to magnify the potential is also one of the main reasons for the increasing popularity of trading with futures margins. You will also have to bare an added responsibility when getting into this type of trading. However, as the loss potential is also magnified, it is very important to trade with proper care and precautions.

Posted October 15th, 2011.

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How To Select A Commodity Broker

 How To Select A Commodity Broker
Author: George Ashkar

Commodity futures trading can produce enormous profits for you however it is also a very tricky business and only individuals with money that they can really afford to or risk losing should consider embarking in this type of market.

Commodity trading futures without a doubt is an attractive as well as high profit venture that those only with a high risk tolerance find it pleasing. Purchasing a future entails entering into an agreement to sell or purchase a commodity or product for a definite price or value at a time specified in the future.

When considering commodity trading futures, it is very important that you study and read extensively before you make any investment. After careful study, you must investigate carefully the commodity brokerage houses. Note that commodities are not traded directly on exchanges by individuals rather trading is done through firms and individuals who are rightfully registered with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.

Cautiously read the disclosure information through that is made available by the brokerages you are looking at. Ask yourself these questions:

Do you want to electronically place orders or through a live broker?

Posted October 6th, 2011.

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Day Trading Commodity Markets

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Author: George Ashkar

Traders who trade for a living are generally swing traders or day traders. If you are planning to day trade in commodities, then you need to get hold of a reliable trading system that gives good results consistently. Despite having such a system, there are a few things you may want to know about day trading in the commodity markets.

Day Trading Defined

Those who trade and complete all their trades within the period of a day’s trading session are known as day traders. Day traders have to square off all their trades by the end of the 24-hour period. That is their time limit. If they hold their positions for any longer, they can then be called position traders, and not day traders. They are the most common form of traders to be found in commodity markets.

Day traders like to churn their capital on a day to day basis to maximize its return. They prefer not to lock in capital for extended periods of time. More often than not, they have very limited capital to leverage, and cannot afford to block it all. Speed is the name of the game where day trading in commodity futures is concerned.

Posted September 16th, 2011.

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Put Your Money TO Good Use BY Trading IN Commodities

24opt450lunapic 132202036463970 6 Put Your Money TO Good Use BY Trading IN Commodities

Before you jump into the world of commodities trading you must know the answer to “What is Commodity trading?” Most people fail to look beyond the lucrative nature of this trading practise and get into it without adequate information. Research is by far one of the most important steps when it comes to any form of trading.

The first and foremost step before you begin trading is finding a broker that will help you on your journey and continue to boost your portfolio and derive profits. While there are various brokers available, it is crucial to find the one that is most renowned in the field of trading and has credibility to its name. Forums will give you reviews and testimonials about the various brokers and help you make a much more informed decision.

What attracts people the most about commodities trading is its relatively low commission rates. Unlike the stock market, the commodities market is not overly vast or complicated. Where there are thousands of stocks, there are a few commodities and hence it becomes easier for people to make a choice regarding the commodity that best suits them.

Posted September 15th, 2011.

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