The Commodity Blog

Get Ready, Breakout Traders: AUD/USD Is Consolidating | Daily Markets

It is currently forming an ascending triangle/rising wedge pattern, as the chart above illustrates. The hourly and weekly chart also show consolidation, suggesting the market may be read…   Read more…

TradingMarkets 7 ETFs You Need to Know for Wednesday

Among the commodities moving higher on Tuesday were grains such as corn, wheat, and soybeans. ETF traders and investors can get exposure to the agricultural commodity markets thro…   Read more…

Commodity Trading - Make Money Fast In 5 Simple Steps | 108 Things …

Commodity Trading - Your method. Look at any chart of any commodity, you will see trends and it these trends you want to lock into and trade for profit. The best way to do …   Read more…

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Charting A Course Toward Success-a Strategy For Commodity Trading

Many possible adventurous and rewarding futures await the individual with a dream, passion and desire to achieve. Commodity trading can be one such future. As the man once said ‘a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’.

To initiate charting a course toward success truly means deliberately utilizing a strategy that moves in that direction, even if it’s only one step at a time. Taking some courses on investing and futures and getting educated about what is possible in trading you’ll be able to more specifically chart a course toward success in the investment field.

Human nature and personality dictate most actions are decided by motivation; actions in which the individual anticipates a future state of pleasure or satisfaction. In order for this state of expectation to be experienced by the individual; a dream must exist. The dream is merely a rehearsal for enjoying the final product of desirable actions over time.

Reach out and talk with a broker or contract the services of an advisor whom has proven their investment systems by achieving success with them. If you are to enjoy the financial security and the emotional satisfaction resulting from your efforts the power to initiate your motivation must be invoked and it will be directly linked with the particular aspects of your dream.

When you talk with a mentor that has achieved the results you want to achieve your dream of success will become more vivid specific and real. Observing the success of others in the same field you are pursuing will develop your confidence exponentially and demonstrate that it is possible for you as well.

Charting a course of future success will require stamina and endurance because along the way there are going to be set backs and moments where concentrated effort will be necessary. This is where your dynamic passion becomes a major source of personal power.

The deep seated roots of your unwavering desire to succeed are the foundation of your passion. The fire of commitment and determination to bring your dream into reality will be a driving force to pull you through those taxing times and energize you to maintain a correct course toward your future success.

Collaborate with a mentor, one that can teach you the fundamentals like reading charts or developing successful investment strategies; this will fan the fire of your passion and elevate your levels of determination and endurance.

When a dream for a better future and the passion to bring it in to reality are combined in the caldron of experience a dynamic synergy is produced. Where previously there were only single factors working on their own power to produce results, now outcomes are being produced as a result of the interaction of many elements working in concert with each other.

The combined power of a dream, passion and desire are like the fire, pressure and time combining to create the metamorphosis of a single piece of carbon into a wonderfully brilliant diamond gem which is the object of envy and admiration by all.

By: Bill Whitmire

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Bill Whitmire is a freelance writer located in Portland, Maine You can reach the author at: billwhitmire@live.com

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Fap Turbo Is The Best Selling Forex Software Trading System | Fast …

Fap Turbo Is The Best Selling Forex Software Trading System. Fap Turbo Review. FAP Turbo Is The Best Selling Forex Software Trading System That Has Ever Been Release…   Read more…

Best Online Forex Trading » Blog Archive » Trading Forex Using FAP …

… Forex Using FAP Tubro | Fast Money With The Forex Market … Tags: author, auto forex trading, fap-turbo, fap-turbo-review, forex, forex-mar…   Read more…

Fap Turbo Review | Fast Money With The Forex Market FAP Turbo

FAP turbo is a powerful combination of 2 strategies, which are short term scalping strategy and long term advanced Fap strategy. The software is easy to set up. All you need to do…   Read more…

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Commodity Trading Analysis

Analysis of the commodity trading markets is considered most important for the success of the trading business. Commodities are ranked or listed as per their availability, productions and requirements. The study provides investment advice, analysis and decision support to the commodity futures trader by way of real-time streaming charts, combined with minute details of the analysis. Information on food commodities is collected based on the quantities of local production, per capita consumption, changes in stock, exports, imports, seeds, industrial uses and depreciation. The quantities of commodities are usually received in tons per year. Data on local production are based on the production values, and import and export data of commodities are received from customs records, production boards and large distributors.

Analysis charts provide a visual and intuitive means of analyzing a market that is aimed at the trader, rather than the analyst. Profitable trading strategies are suggested and provided by way of text overlaid on the charts, in real time, and instantly accessible by a commodities future trader. Using Fibonacci wave analysis, the charts identify prime areas of support and resistance that enable the trader to anticipate the direction in which the market is likely to trade, and how far the market can be expected to last, as well as providing effective entry and stop-loss levels.

Lot of software is available designed and developed exclusively to help traders in many ways such as databases containing collective information of each commodity from different places across consecutive years, forecast charts based on various factors, profits based on these analysis, combining inter-market analysis and predicted moving averages to generate consistently accurate trend forecasts that give the trader confidence to take trades at the right time and avoid missing out on great trading opportunities. Analysis helps in setting up customer accounts and provides investment advice that is required to be appropriately qualified in relation to their particular functions and types.

By: Christopher Cartre

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Get Starting with Oil Commodity Trading today by visiting The Trading Options Experts.

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Commodity Trading: Understanding The Basics Of This Money Making Alternative

One of the best decisions that you can make when expanding your investment portfolio is to put thought into commodity trading. Commodity trading is capable of providing asset allocation that is truly ideal, and is also capable of giving you a bit of an extra hedge against inflation because you are buying into something that has a great amount of global demand. Commodity trading is not one of the investment vehicles that people consider right away, so there is a decent amount of nervousness and apprehension associated with when to invest, where to invest and how to invest. While commodity trading is known for providing rather volatile price fluctuations, the high returns are well worth the effort and the investment in most cases.

Commodity trading allows for an investment portfolio to be overall improved in terms of return without having a negative impact on risk. Are you wondering who will best benefit from investing in Commodities? If you are looking to take advantage of movements of price or are willing to make an effort to diversify your portfolio then you can and should invest in the commodities market. It is important however that small investors and retail investors be careful when initially entering into this market, because a lack of knowledge and understanding of the volatile swings that the market experiences can result in a significant loss of wealth.

In order for an investor to be successful in the commodities market, savvy investors need to have a thorough understanding of the demand cycles that the market goes through. These savvy investors must also have a decent view on the different types of factors that may have an effect.

One of the ideal avenues for you to pursue is to invest in specific, select commodities that can be analyzed individually, instead of simply speculating about products that you have no real background information on. While it can be enjoyable to speculate on products that are new and exciting to you, sometimes this can be a bad decision as you will be making guesses without any real information about them. You should be investigating and buying into commodities as a way to expand and diversify your portfolio. Commodities are an excellent way to turn your portfolio into something more exciting, and then money should be your second concern.

Commodity trading has been around for longer than anyone can really remember. Most modern commodities markets appeared around the 18th century, during the same period where farming was becoming modernized. While the mechanisms have been updated over time, the basics to commodity trading have never changed. Commodities are defined as most types of products, or every kind of movable property aside from money, actionable claims and securities.

Commodity trading is essentially just trading in the futures of commodities. Trading commodity derivatives would allow you to take a buy or sell position based on the performance in the future of commodities like silver, metals, gold, crude or agricultural commodities as well. Many exchanges deal in grains, pulses, oils, oilseeds, spices, metals and crude. Commodity trading on futures is actually not much different than regular futures trading, so you can take long positions or short positions based on how you believe the future of the commodity will change.

By: Craig Thornburrow

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Craig Thornburrow is an acknowledged expert in his field. You can get more free advice on commodity investment education and commodity broker at www.commoditytradingpro.com

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Commodity Trading Blunders Iii, Part 1 - My Early Days As A Novice Trader

Have you ever been a hobby newbie and been awed by the top people you first meet? Then after a while you realized they really aren’t as smart as you first thought. Later you surpass them and finally realize they hindered your learning rather than helped it. Watch for this pattern in any endeavor you enter. With a little luck and investigation, you just might run into a great mentor right from the start!

I remember a time back in 1981 when I was still trading commodity futures with Max at Merrill. There were no options on futures then. At that point I had stopped day-trading and just did my own longer-term overnight positions. I called all the shots. Max even cut my futures commissions down to $60 plus fees. At the time I was using the Gann charts, cycles and OBV. (on balance volume) Everything was hand charted and calculated. It’s interesting how this gives you a better feel verses computer generated charts.

Anyway, the British Pound futures contract was near five-year highs around 246.00 or so. It was forming a double top on the weekly chart. I kept my own version of monthly and weekly futures cycles on the chart. It was a simple method. I just used a pair of dividers and estimated the length of the dominant ones from the past. I marked their high and low points and then projected the next high and low into the future. I followed about four major cycles for British Pound futures.

One day in January I noticed that all four cycles were close to lining up at a high price area - a cluster. This was a rare timing event. The OBV (on-balance-volume) was running away on the downside suggesting big distribution. These things don’t always work, but when they line up, I consider it a high probability futures trade worth taking. If you’re wrong, you get stopped out and move on. I called Max and sold one BP futures contract short.

For a day, nothing happened. I decided to stop in and see Max for a friendly visit. When I got there, I could hear the familiar raspy sound of his little news commodity ticker machine spewing out information on a tight paper roll. Probably, no one would ever read it. Those of you who traded commodity futures 25 years ago probably know the sound I’m talking about. I just smiled, remembering how that was my universe of commodity trading ideas only a year ago.

Max started talking excitedly about cattle futures. He said, ‘we’re making nothing but money in cattle, lately.’ It’s funny how I remember that after all these years. I asked him to show me the method he’d been using to give trading signals. He used to say, ‘I’ve got a buy signal today in beans,’ or whatever. He showed me a small black book with a list of commodities. Each commodity future contract had a row of black or red numbers next to it. He said the numbers were the 10-day moving average he got each day from the Merrill commodity research office in New York.

He said that after all these years as a commodity broker (since 1962) it’s come down to this - a simple 10-day moving average. When the daily closing price crossed above the average, it was a buy signal and blue pencil. When price crossed below, it was a sell signal and red pencil. My mouth dropped. And all this time I thought he had a complex futures system that gave, sophisticated ‘buy and sell signals,’ And now I learn the man behind the curtain was using a simple 10-day closing moving average?

After that day, I never took another of Max’s futures trades. I did them all myself. Whenever he said he had a ‘buy signal,’ I would reply, ‘You mean price just crossed the 10-day moving average?’ I would then snicker. By the way, Max is the one who gave me the original Trident commodity trading book to read. So he obviously was exposed to more complex stuff. He just decided to simply his life, I guess. Max was a likable guy. I learned a lot from him about dealing with people. I’m glad he was my first real broker rather than the Boston Commodity Broker from Hell. That would have been a disaster.

Back to the story. Here I was in his office and short one British Pound futures contract. It was a good-sized contract and if wrong, I could get whacked badly. I think limit-down at the time was $3,000. I asked him how it was doing and he said it was up strong, like a couple of full points. This meant I was down about $1200. I had more nerve in those days and was sure I was right. Like a gunslinger I said, ‘Great! Sell me another one at the market!’

For the first time I saw how Max operated. He hurriedly wrote out a futures ticket, stamped it and then trotted all the way over to the other side of the office to the order clerk. The clerk grabbed it and typed the info into some kind of a keyboard terminal. In all, it took a good two minutes to send off. In those days, I guess that was the state-of-the-art for commodity retail customers. Max returned just as the British Pound market was about to close. We barely made it in. I went home wondering why the heck I added to a losing position. The next day was a shocker…

Part Two of Two - Next!

There is substantial risk of loss trading futures and options and may not be suitable for all types of investors. Only risk capital should be used.

By: Thomas Cathey

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Thomas Cathey - 27-year trading veteran, money manager and CEO of Thomas Capital Management, LLC. Get FREE, the complete 44+ lesson, "Thomas Commodity Trading Course" by visiting: www.thomascapitalmanagement.com/commodity/welcome.htm It’s a brand new "street-wise" trading e-course. Get an edge trading futures, day trading e-mini’s and selling options. Main site: www.ThomasCapitalManagement.com

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Commodity Trading - The Next Profit Center?

With the rapid sinking of the US dollar relative to other foreign currencies, investors who can read trends and are students of history are looking for ways to make their capital grow. Housing and esoteric debt products have burst the way the stock market bubble burst in 2000, and the normal business cycle may have turned into a cycle of repeating bubbles, with strong inflationary trends.

As always, the process of investing is one of making carefully researched bets on things - selling assets when they’ve appreciated in value and buying those you think will rise in time. With the declining dollar, and risks of a recession, coupled with the Fed cutting the prime rate to banks as part of a staged bail out of the mortgage crisis mess, the trend lines make commodity trading appealing.

Commodity trading is simply buying commodities (such as gold, or silver or platinum) as a tangible asset. When inflationary pressures are strong (and interest rates are low), these can give a better return on investments. For example, in 2003, oil futures were trading at $25 per barrel; now they’re trading at roughly $95 to $100 per barrel.

When you buy commodities, you are generally buying a piece of paper saying you own something and have the right to re-sell it, rather than taking physical delivery of goods. This can cause commodities markets to be quite volatile and subject to events in the world - for example, oil went up when the US invaded Iraq; it went up again when terrorists were caught in the Saudi oil terminals…and right now, while oil is priced very high, there’s also lax capacity at the refineries in the US, which is a strong indicator that oil’s current position is a speculative surge.

Other commodities to look into for trading are precious metals; when inflation hits (and we’re in the process, with the Fed cutting rates, of starting an inflationary spike), precious metals tend to be one of the major categories of investment that’s gains outstrip the rate of inflation. However, like oil, there is a severe risk of a speculative bubble, as happened in the early 1980s with the Bass brothers and the silver market.

Lastly, the environmental crises being touted in the media and the demand for "green" biofuels are causing a huge surge in the price of corn, where the subsidies for planting corn for making ethanol for E85 gasoline outstrip the price of growing corn for crops by a factor of four. While this is going to cause rises in prices for food (a major drive of inflation), it also means that commodity trading in corn, soybeans and other agricultural crops is a viable investment.

The general advice in commodities trading is that when your asset reaches the price point you want to sell at, sell at least half to realize your gains, and sell off the other lots over the next two weeks in chunks of 5 to 10%. Like a high stakes poker game, commodity trading rewards those who know when to leave the table rather than be held to the siren lure of the ever growing pot.

By: Craig Thornburrow

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Craig Thornburrow is an acknowledged expert in his field. You can get more free advice on Commodity Trading and Trading Coffee at www.commoditytradingpro.com

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Commodity Trading - Are You Trading On A One-way Street? - Part 2 - The Trading Rule Of Pros

You can often tell the trading sophistication of someone by their market bias. If they are always looking at the long side, in other words, always wanting to buy, they are probably new to the game. There’s many stock traders who don’t know what "selling short" means. Read on to see why you need to sell short to prosper, especially when trading commodity futures and for writing options.

It’s true that most of the public love to buy and be bullish. It’s in our nature. We remember the last major up-move and think it will soon happen again. The best trading attitude is to be neither bullish nor bearish on the overall general commodity market. Let each commodity stand on its own individual merits! You should be flexible enough to be bullish on gold and bearish on silver at the same time. Or be bullish on wheat and bearish on soybeans if that’s the forecast. Or be bullish on heating oil and bearish on natural gas.

Yes, most of the time these particular commodity markets move together, but the true test of a flexible, clear-headed trader is to be able to split up closely related futures markets. Look to have SOME short positions in your account mix. The idea is when you go long three great-looking markets, try hard to find at least one market to short. Look for the weakest commodity to short on a rally.

Remember to always sell on rallies and buy on dips. The futures market usually gives you many chances to get on board when a move is in its early stages. Once the move progresses, the corrections are usually brief and shallow and difficult to enter without high risk.

Going short is the mark of a commodity professional. Futures markets generally fall twice as fast as they rally. I believe this is because it takes time for the crowd to get confident and trust a rally enough to buy. But fear can be almost instantaneous, generating crashes. The one difference between commodities and stock buying panics is the shortage factor. Many times a commodity market experiencing a perceived shortage will form a fast spike top. This is more rare in stocks where shortages usually do not occur. A short covering buying panic can occur in both markets, however.

Don’t let fear keep you from shorting an over-priced commodity. The idea that a commodity price can go to infinity is the common excuse not to short. But holding on through more than a 2-3% adverse price move is not a good idea anyway, never mind holding through an adverse upside spike. You should have taken your small loss way before infinity! The bottom line is, "be as willing to go short as go long."

Good Trading!

There is substantial risk of loss trading futures and options and may not be suitable for all types of investors. Only risk capital should be used.

By: Thomas Cathey

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Thomas Cathey - 27-year trading veteran, money manager and CEO of Thomas Capital Management, LLC. Get FREE, the complete 44+ lesson, "Thomas Commodity Trading Course" by visiting: www.thomascapitalmanagement.com/commodity/welcome.htm It’s a brand new "street-wise" trading e-course. Get an edge trading futures, day trading e-mini’s and selling options. Main site: www.ThomasCapitalManagement.com

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Best Commodity Futures For Beginner Traders

Now there are a range of futures contracts available on different commodities for trading ranging from agricultural commodities to financial commodities. All these products are not suitable for all traders, especially beginners. Novice traders, especially those do not have no previous experience of trading any financial instruments should concentrate on only one or two commodities which most suit their style of trading and risk tolerance.

Any commodity future contract that a beginner trader trade must satisfy at least two requirements; first the market must be liquid with high trading volume and activity, second the market should be trendy so that the novice trader can practice his/her trading strategies effectively.

Traders willing to risk their money in futures market should thoroughly aware of the products that they are going to trade. They should also be sure about different fundamental and technical market analysis tools, and various risk minimizing tactics. They should have done demo (practice/paper) trading to get familiar with the market. If all these requirements are fulfilled you can select from the below list of commodities futures which are liquid and trendy.

Futures on Currencies: All currency futures on G7 currencies are liquid, but futures on currencies like Swiss Franc (CHF), Japanese Yen (JPY) and British Pound (GBP) are liquid and very trendy.
Futures on Energy Commodities: All three most popular energy futures, crude oil, natural gas and heating oil are good instruments for trading. But many of these futures are large sized ones and are not suitable for small-budget traders. International issues and economic changes are major profit deciding factor.
Futures on Food commodities: Coffee, Sugar and Orange are good for trading. But food commodities usually have less trading volume and liquidity compared to others.
Futures on Agricultural commodities: Cotton, Corn, Oats and Soybeans are good. Seasonal climate changes and local issues of production area are major profit deciding factors.
Futures on Metal commodities: There are a range of products available, of that gold, silver and copper are better suited for novice traders.
Futures on Financial instruments: T-bonds are suitable for short-term traders and Eurodollars are suitable for long-term traders.

Remember, the liquidity, trendiness and profitability of all trading instruments change with time. More over there are many other things to be considered before making any trading decision, which involve risk tolerance, attaining diversity, position sizing, short-term or long-term profit goals, trading software, fees involved, brokerage firm and the market you are trading.

Mini futures contracts are available on most (all) above instruments, which offer greater flexibility and lesser account requirements, and are thus most suitable for beginner traders.

By: NobleTrading

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NobleTrading online futures trading brokerage service comes with discount commission schedules and real-time market access, and advanced trading platforms. NobleTrading online day trading service is available for trading stocks, futures and options.

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Commodity Trading - A Beginner’s Guide

Fed up with the weekly rise in petrol prices? Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, why not join ‘em. Instead of moaning about the Arabs, Chelsea tractors and Jeremy Clarkson why not thank them and learn how to make money out of the oil price?

In this ‘Dummies guide to trading oil’ I’ll be having a look at the major ‘need to knows’ of the oil market, the mechanics of trading commodities and what you need to watch out for.

This Price Is On Viagra

On July 11th Crude Oil hit a new record high of just over $147 a barrel - an awe-inspiring rise of 110% from last July. Over the same period the Dow fell by around 22%. This Tuesday (15th July) witnessed the biggest 1-day fall in oil for 18 years.

Folks, this is a great traders’ market.

How To Trade Oil Without Getting Dirty

There are two contracts available, Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate:
Brent Crude is the UK contract on oil sourced from the North Sea. And, hey! The UK might be crap at rugby, football, and cricket, but two thirds of the world’s internationally traded oil, from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, is priced relative to UK Brent Crude. In the big boys market Brent Crude is traded in London as something called Futures contracts, which are priced in US Dollars.

West Texas Intermediate is the US equivalent to Brent Crude. Also known as US Light Sweet Crude (or any derivation of these words), this one is again traded as a Futures contract but in New York this time.
Now, all you traders with enough balls and attention span to run your positions over a period of days and weeks, pay attention here. Oil spread bets are monthly contracts. This means that:
a) You don’t pay any rollover charges; the bet will run until the contract ends.
b) You do need to put a note on your Kylie Minogue calendar that the spread bet runs out (expires) on a definite date.
c) Now, get this. The spread bet runs out (contract expires) in the middle of the month before the month it says on the tin.

So, for example, the Brent Crude October contract on paddypowertrader runs out (expires) on 13th September and the November contract finishes on the 12th October. How dumb is that? It smacks of interference from a country that already writes the date back to front.

What To Watch When Trading Oil

Good news if you have the attention span of a goldfish; trading oil means watching lots of telly. Wu hoo!

However you won’t get rich watching the Playboy channel, while repeats of Dallas on UK Gold might be good for motivation but not much else. Trading oil is very news-orientated so keep CNBC on 24/7.

The most specific economic data to focus on are the US weekly oil and gas inventory figures, issued by the Energy Information

Administration and released every week on Wednesday afternoons. If you trade oil you can’t afford to miss these.

Being aware of the US Driving Season (apparently the land of the gas-guzzler has a particular season for driving, starting on Memorial Day at the end of May and finishing on Labour Day at the start of September) will definitely work in your favour, and also pay attention to cold winters when we all turn the heating up.

Something that’s more important again is the US Hurricane Season, which officially runs from 1st June to 30th November, but don’t expect the forces of nature to pay too much attention to the dates. An average season has 11 named storms with six growing into hurricanes, but only two reach major hurricane status. So don’t go buying oil every time your weathercock spins round.

So why is the hurricane season so significant to the oil market in particular? Hurricanes tend to hit the Gulf of Mexico, which is filled to the rafters with oilrigs (over 20 rigs went missing due to Hurricane Katrina in 2005).

Next take a look at the world’s big oil producers. You won’t find oil gushing out of countries like Belgium, Holland or Sweden, where even mentioning their name is soporific. No, putting aside the comparatively stable USA and Saudi Arabia, God blessed the world’s more excitable countries with the power and wealth of massive oil supplies. A short roll call includes Iraq, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Venezuela and Russia, where a few well-chosen words from a president can send you sprinting to the ‘trade’ button.

So What’s Driving The Oil Price?

Ask any politician and he’ll spit out the word, ‘Speculators’. Out in the real world there are a number of factors, though most hone in on the common perception that demand is greater than supply. This list is far from exhaustive, but will give you a feel for what matters:

The easy-to-get oil has already been drilled. The next easiest to get oil is the wrong type; it’s ’sour’ (rather than ’sweet’) and more expensive to refine. There may be vast oil reserves in places like Canada’s tar sands, but these will be hugely expensive to get at.

Geo-political tensions in oil-producing countries. One day it’s militants in Nigeria, another day its Israel and Iran at each other’s throats. Tomorrow it’ll be someone else. These tensions are hugely significant because whenever someone throws their toys out the pram it threatens to disrupt the supply of oil.

The Dollar. Oil is priced in Dollars, so if the Dollar falls the oil price rises to maintain a constant value in other currencies. This move has been compounded by investors piling money into oil as a hedge against the weaker Dollar.

Inventories. The oil price is massively sensitive to the build up, or run down, of oil supplies. The most keenly watched figures are the stats from the US Energy Information Administration, released each Wednesday.

How To Trade Oil

You can either trade oil through the equity market or through the oil spread bet. Let’s have a look at equities first.

Now here’s something to make you choke on your sandwich; the oil majors are having a really crap time!

But why? Well, it may not seem like it to you and me, but part of the problem is that petrol prices haven’t kept up with the rise in crude prices; the jargon is that the refining margins have fallen, and that’s quite a significant chunk of their business. The other problem is that these guys spend a lot of time sticking rods in the ground to see if anything spurts up and that costs a lot of money.

There are exceptions; smaller companies like Tullow Oil and Dana Petroleum have had a cracking time. Each new discovery has notched up a couple of quid on the share price. And they’ve got the added attraction that one of the majors might decide it’s cheaper to bid for them than to look for new reserves itself.

Until recently few people outside of Ireland had heard of Tullow. Nowadays, after several successful oil discoveries, it’s a FTSE 100 company.

There are alternative ways of playing the oil price. The rise and fall of shares in airline companies has been related to the oil price. However, there are other factors too (BA suffered the Terminal 5 debacle) so it’s not a perfect strategy.

The purest solution, if you want to follow the rise and fall of oil, is to trade the commodity itself. And spread betting is arguably the most convenient way of doing that.

Conclusion

So now you should be armed with the ideas on how to trade oil, who and what are important and a rough idea of the sort of things that drive the oil price.

Just a word of warning for newbies. Hidden inside this mountainous price rise are some nasty crevices. The volatility that makes this market so great can still eat you up and spit out the bony bits. Do your trading capital a big, big favour and use a demo account for a while whilst you learn the tricks of the market. Then edge in gently with small bet sizes. There’s no rush, there’ll always be a market to trade in when you’re ready.

By: FT

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Mr FT is a self-employed spread better. After 18 years in fund management he was given the choice of moving to London or .. not. ‘Not’ won out. FT mostly trades the forex markets and although he plays FTSE on occasions his bread and butter market is $. Read more from FT on commodities trading and spread betting on the Paddy Power blog at PaddyPowerTrader.com

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