Commodity Futures Trading - How To Reduce Risk And Aim For Success
Thinking about going into online trading of commodity futures? If so then I am sure you are aware there is a lot of risk involved. Let's have a look at the risk and how we can reduce it to a minimum.
The key thing to keep in mind is to risk only that money you can afford to lose. Online commodity futures trading is not about rushing to make the biggest gains possible and then retire.
Keep your wits about you and do not get carried away with your successes. Do not either have the mentality of making up your losses as soon as possible. If you do then you end up gambling and this is not what commodity trading should be about.
A common issue with trading in commodities however is that many traders carry with the commodity too much leverage. So for example, take a 100 oz. gold contract with a value of $1000 an ounce and thus a total value of $100,000. The margin or if you prefer - good faith deposit - to have 100 oz. of gold could be around 10% of the total contract value, which is $10,000.
Now this is where the problems begin to arise. A commodity trader who is being bullish on gold may think its a good time to buy into 10 gold contracts at a cost of $100,000 to their trading account. So if the price of gold were to move to $1100 an oz. then all is well and the money in the traders account doubles.
If things do go well then great, life is good and all is well, but chances are that if you continue to trade in this way - which is to some extent a gamble - you will lose out in the mid to long term.
With online trading there is a large advantage over what was previously available because of the speed of update to market fluctions. Login to your trading account at any time of day you like and you are updated to the second, or at least to the minute, regardless of the country your investments are made in.
So the basics to be aware of if you are just setting out with your commodity future trading then take it easy - do not rush to make lots of money as you will most probably end up being over exposed and therefore open to some hefty account losses. Its best to learn with experience, but while you are learning do think about tomorrow and keep enough funds available for times when things take a downturn. - 23162
The key thing to keep in mind is to risk only that money you can afford to lose. Online commodity futures trading is not about rushing to make the biggest gains possible and then retire.
Keep your wits about you and do not get carried away with your successes. Do not either have the mentality of making up your losses as soon as possible. If you do then you end up gambling and this is not what commodity trading should be about.
A common issue with trading in commodities however is that many traders carry with the commodity too much leverage. So for example, take a 100 oz. gold contract with a value of $1000 an ounce and thus a total value of $100,000. The margin or if you prefer - good faith deposit - to have 100 oz. of gold could be around 10% of the total contract value, which is $10,000.
Now this is where the problems begin to arise. A commodity trader who is being bullish on gold may think its a good time to buy into 10 gold contracts at a cost of $100,000 to their trading account. So if the price of gold were to move to $1100 an oz. then all is well and the money in the traders account doubles.
If things do go well then great, life is good and all is well, but chances are that if you continue to trade in this way - which is to some extent a gamble - you will lose out in the mid to long term.
With online trading there is a large advantage over what was previously available because of the speed of update to market fluctions. Login to your trading account at any time of day you like and you are updated to the second, or at least to the minute, regardless of the country your investments are made in.
So the basics to be aware of if you are just setting out with your commodity future trading then take it easy - do not rush to make lots of money as you will most probably end up being over exposed and therefore open to some hefty account losses. Its best to learn with experience, but while you are learning do think about tomorrow and keep enough funds available for times when things take a downturn. - 23162
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Want to learn more about commodity future trading? We specialize in natural gas futures.
posted by X - Men @ 4:20 AM
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