Updated Articles and Resources

By Chuck Kowalski, About.com Guide

Mobile Trading Platforms for Commodities Created: Sunday, March 31, 2013 Updated: Sunday, March 31, 2013
Trading has evolved from placing orders through the telephone, to cell phones, to computers and now mobile devices are becoming commonplace.
Are Farmers Good Commodity Traders? Created: Wednesday, March 27, 2013 Updated: Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Farmers certainly know agriculture, but does that make them good commodity traders? I thought about this questions many years ago when I started out as a commodity broker. I figured they are expe...
Trading Crude Oil Futures Created: Monday, March 25, 2013 Updated: Monday, March 25, 2013
Crude oil is one of the better commodities to trade. It is a very active market and it is well known with investors around the world. There is usually no shortage of news to cause the price of oi...
New Market Regulations to Protect Commodity Investors Created: Sunday, March 24, 2013 Updated: Sunday, March 24, 2013
Investor confidence in the commodity futures markets has taken a serious blow after the fallout of MF Global and PFG Best. In most industries, individuals usually aren’t hurt too much if a c...
Knowing When To Take Profits in Commodities Created: Monday, February 25, 2013 Updated: Monday, February 25, 2013
Many commodity traders often fall into the trap of not knowing when to take profits on their commodity trades. Sometimes they take profits too quickly and other times they hold out for a big move ...
Working as a Commodity Broker or Opening a Brokerage Firm Created: Sunday, February 24, 2013 Updated: Sunday, February 24, 2013
Most commodity brokers and traders who have reached some type of success often think about opening their own brokerage firm at some point in their career. The pay is usually much better, but there ...
Trading Futures with Options Created: Thursday, February 21, 2013 Updated: Thursday, February 21, 2013
With the combination of futures and options, a trader is able to come up with just about any type of strategy for trading a market. Utilizing options with futures usually makes a trade more conser...
Investing in Commodities Created: Monday, February 18, 2013 Updated: Monday, February 18, 2013
Most people have heard of commodities, but they have no idea of how to invest in them. The mere thought of trading commodities scares them away in an instant. Commodities carry some type of stigm...
Commodity Trading Versus Commodity Investing Created: Thursday, January 31, 2013 Updated: Thursday, January 31, 2013
Most people think of commodities as a speculative investment where it takes a lot of skilled trading in order to make money from this investment. In reality, an investment should be viewed as a m...
Benefits and Pitfalls of Buying Long Term Commodity Options Created: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 Updated: Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Buying long term commodity options sure makes sense to many traders who have fallen victim to options expiring time after time. Buying more time has many advantages, but this also comes with a ste...
Do Commodity Seasonal Trades Really Work? Created: Monday, January 28, 2013 Updated: Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Commodity seasonal trades have been around for a long time, but the original intentions of these trades has become very misunderstood since the late 1990s. Professional traders used seasonal tenden...
Commodity Investment for IRA Created: Saturday, January 26, 2013 Updated: Saturday, January 26, 2013
Commodities are considered one of the riskier investments, but they can be an excellent investment in an IRA if structured properly. The misconception by the general public and many investors is t...
Commodity Production in Brazil Created: Sunday, January 20, 2013 Updated: Sunday, January 20, 2013
Brazil has become a major player in the commodity markets in the last couple decades. Many people don’t realize the influence they have on commodity prices. This is primarily because many c...
Commodities Review for 2012 Created: Monday, December 31, 2012 Updated: Monday, December 31, 2012
Commodities were highly influenced by weather, political and financial issues around the world. This has been a trying year for commodities, but the year isn’t providing a breather as the Fi...
Trading Commodity Spreads Created: Sunday, December 30, 2012 Updated: Sunday, December 30, 2012
Many professional commodity traders focus on trading spreads. A spread involves the simultaneous buying of one commodity and the selling of the same or similar commodity. Using spreads often cuts...
Diversify Commodities in a Trading System Created: Friday, December 28, 2012 Updated: Friday, December 28, 2012
Some trading systems work well just trading one commodity, but most systems do much better trading a large number of diversified commodities. A diversified group of commodities tends to offer smoo...
Commodities Online Trading - Web or Desktop Platform? Created: Thursday, December 27, 2012 Updated: Thursday, December 27, 2012
There are many versions of online trading available for commodity traders and this can cause confusion or indecision. The good news is that many platforms and options are available for the benefit...
Managing Risk When Trading Futures Options Created: Sunday, December 16, 2012 Updated: Sunday, December 16, 2012
Whether you are buying options or selling options, controlling your risk in either situation is critical to long-term profitability. Selling options certainly entails more open ended risk, but the...
Commodities in Brazil Created: Thursday, November 29, 2012 Updated: Thursday, November 29, 2012
Brazil has become a major player in commodities during the last couple decades. The country is a major producer of coffee, soybeans, corn, sugar, and orange juice. The rapid increase in agricultu...
Specializing in Trading One Commodity Created: Monday, November 26, 2012 Updated: Monday, November 26, 2012
Some commodity traders make a good living from focusing on trading a single commodity. There are about 30 commodities that are fairly actively traded, but it is difficult to keep up with all the c...
Trading Coffee Futures Created: Friday, November 23, 2012 Updated: Friday, November 23, 2012
Coffee is one of the more interesting commodities to trade. It is also usually one of the more volatile. Coffee is a member of the softs complex and most of these commodities are prone to wild sw...
Taking the Time to Manage Commodity Investment Created: Thursday, November 15, 2012 Updated: Thursday, November 15, 2012
How much time each day does it takes to manage a commodities portfolio? I get asked this question often, especially from people who work full time jobs. The common notion is that you have to sit ...
ExpressFutures.com - Online Futures Broker Review Created: Thursday, January 17, 2008 Updated: Monday, November 05, 2012
A review of ExpressFutures.com. This company is an online futures broker. We examine their commission rates, trading platforms, research and the overall quality of this futures broker to report t...
Understanding a Futures Contract Created: Tuesday, October 09, 2007 Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012
The main features of futures contracts to learn are ticker symbols, futures contracts, contract sizes, delivery months and price quotes.
Soybean Planting and Harvest Seasons Created: Thursday, October 02, 2008 Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Soybean crops are planted and harvested at different times around the world. Included are the growing seasons for soybeans in the United States, Brazil, China and Argentina.
Trading Energy Futures Created: Wednesday, October 31, 2012 Updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012
The energy commodities are some of the most active and popular commodities to trade. Crude oil is the most popular contract, but unleaded gas, heating oil and natural gas are also very popular. T...
Call Option Created: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Updated: Sunday, October 28, 2012
Definition of a Call Option for trading in the futures and commodity markets.
Interactive Brokers Review and Profile Created: Monday, June 25, 2007 Updated: Sunday, October 28, 2012
A review of Interactive Brokers where the focus is on the online futures broker part of their business. We are looking for low commission rates, trading platform, research and overall quality of t...
TradeStation Securities Created: Sunday, June 24, 2007 Updated: Sunday, October 28, 2012
Review of TradeStation Securities, which is an online futures broker that executes trades on futures, stocks and options.
Palladium Futures Profile Created: Sunday, April 29, 2012 Updated: Sunday, October 28, 2012
Palladium is a rare precious metals. Investors can trade palladium futures on the NYMEX. We have included the contract specs for trading and investing in palladium and some notes on trading plati...
Platinum Futures Profile Created: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 Updated: Sunday, October 28, 2012
Platinum is one of the rarest and most expensive precious metals. Investors can trade platinum futures on the NYMEX. We have included the contract specs for trading platinum and some notes on tra...
Cocoa Futures Profile Created: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Updated: Sunday, October 28, 2012
Profile of Cocoa futures including contract specs, cocoa crops, cocoa supply and demand fundamentals, and trading tips for cocoa futures.

Commodities