One of the biggest mistakes new commodity traders make is
having unrealistic expectations before they place their first trade. The
commodity markets are highly leveraged investments, which increase profits for
disciplined traders and rapidly drain the accounts of reckless traders.
Commodities can have leverage near 20 to 1, which means a
trader will only have to put...
Live cattle futures had limit-down moves on Monday and
Tuesday, losing about 7 percent of its value in that rapid decline. The news
that rocked the market was a severely damaging fire at a Tyson Fresh Meats
plant in Kansas. The plant represents about 5-6 percent of the cattle
processing capacity in this country. Needless to say, cattle traders headed for
the...
Time decay of futures options is a major factor option
traders must consider before they buy a futures option contract. Time decay of options means that options
theoretically lose money every day, since they have a limited life.
All futures option contracts have an expiration date.
Basically, an option contract is a bet that a market...
It is absolutely essential to have a trading plan in writing
before you begin trading commodities. Do not take this statement lightly. A
sound trading plan is one of the most critical pieces to your success in
trading commodities. Without a trading plan, you will be prone to inconsistent
and erratic trading with a lack of confidence that might drain your...
Agriculture commodity prices have dropped substantially this
year. The agriculture commodities consist mainly of the grains, livestock and
softs (food). Some commodities like
corn, lean hogs and cocoa had their moments in the sun this year. Now, most of the agriculture commodities are
firmly entrenched in downtrends.
The good news is that I suspect many of these...
