Thread: Anyone here in commodities?

Just curious if there are any people in commodities here? Paper(futures/options) or physical? Agricultural, Metal, Energy? What do you guys trade? how long have you been doing it? How has the market been treating you? Feel free to share..

look up m6cabrio

Yep, I trade futures and commodities. Pretty much any market you can think of from Equity futures to Ag's, Metals, Energy, Softs, etc. I have been trading for 10 years now, 6 of which was independently and the last 4 years as a Portfolio Manager.

The market has been good to me over the past few years, so I can't complain. The great thing with futures is that it doesn't matter if the equity market is up or down, there are always opportunities in the commodity world.

I trade everything from 1-2 hour time frame to 1-2 week time frame. With advances in technology in the field, you can automated most of your strategies so you can trade multiple markets at once.

What are you trading Chidocks?

i'm actually an engineer learning all about the field...started out in IT then oil and now i am teaching myself energy trading (crude futures).. Been playing around with paper accounts so far, hoping to make the plunge with real money in the future... I should be taking my series 3 early next year so i'm excited..

my dad trades physical ag's (coffee, cocoa, chilli pepper, ginger) and does really well at it so its also a field i am looking into..

Originally Posted by M6Cabrio

Yep, I trade futures and commodities. Pretty much any market you can think of from Equity futures to Ag's, Metals, Energy, Softs, etc. I have been trading for 10 years now, 6 of which was independently and the last 4 years as a Portfolio Manager.

The market has been good to me over the past few years, so I can't complain. The great thing with futures is that it doesn't matter if the equity market is up or down, there are always opportunities in the commodity world.

I trade everything from 1-2 hour time frame to 1-2 week time frame. With advances in technology in the field, you can automated most of your strategies so you can trade multiple markets at once.

What are you trading Chidocks?

The only real way to learn is through experience I think. There is only so much someone else can teach you about trading really. Once you step into it with real live money....that is where the education begins There is a mini contract in crude (QM) symbol on most platforms. You can trade that with a little less risk if you want, and the market moves in tandem with the CL large contract.

Coffee and Cocoa futures can be crazy markets to trade. You can make some pretty good money in those markets, but you can also lose it very fast! However, the way the crude contract has been trading lately, the same could be said for it! One thing I would say is, once you go live, trade 1 contract per 20k as a general rule, or about 3 times the required overnight margin. Anything with more than about 5% risk per trade is too high. if you keep it under 2.5% you will most likely not blow your account. Good luck and keep your progress posted or keep notes. It helps with the self learning process

most have told me the best way to learn to trade is to actually do it.. no books can give you the experience or teach you how to trade.. do you find it difficult to monitor/trade different products at once? do you think 30 is too old to start trading? Does it make sense to specialize in one product or be a jack of all trades? What are some daily publications you read and what is a typical day for you like?

I definitely want to capitalize on the contacts i have in the physical ag field (i know a lot of large scale farmers, shippers and suppliers).. my goal is to trade physical crops and also be a player in the futures market too(energy and softs).. Is this a good business plan? Is there longevity in a plan like this (similar to cargill or trafigura) or do you think the market is tapped/saturated?

thanks

Originally Posted by M6Cabrio

The only real way to learn is through experience I think. There is only so much someone else can teach you about trading really. Once you step into it with real live money....that is where the education begins There is a mini contract in crude (QM) symbol on most platforms. You can trade that with a little less risk if you want, and the market moves in tandem with the CL large contract.

Coffee and Cocoa futures can be crazy markets to trade. You can make some pretty good money in those markets, but you can also lose it very fast! However, the way the crude contract has been trading lately, the same could be said for it! One thing I would say is, once you go live, trade 1 contract per 20k as a general rule, or about 3 times the required overnight margin. Anything with more than about 5% risk per trade is too high. if you keep it under 2.5% you will most likely not blow your account. Good luck and keep your progress posted or keep notes. It helps with the self learning process

...

Funny, I'm actually in the Engineering field (by trade) as well, yet learning about the markets as a hobby. I thought I was the only one that crazy since most engineers I know don't dare mess with the markets. I've been picking up knowledge about microcaps/pennystocks (I know I know, be careful..) and just how to read the markets in general. Glad to see I'm not alone.

I'm interested in any pointers/insight to learning the commodities market as well. Always good to see how markets merge/affect each other. I briefly looked at Forex, but it overwhelmed the "on the side trading" aspect of my interests. I'm at square zero with commodities though..

lol.. you are not crazy.. i like understanding how various factors affect the markets..I feel being being an engineer helps with analyzing and understanding how certain issues affect commodities and such..

Originally Posted by ak_boost

Funny, I'm actually in the Engineering field (by trade) as well, yet learning about the markets as a hobby. I thought I was the only one that crazy since most engineers I know don't dare mess with the markets. I've been picking up knowledge about microcaps/pennystocks (I know I know, be careful..) and just how to read the markets in general. Glad to see I'm not alone.

I'm interested in any pointers/insight to learning the commodities market as well. Always good to see how markets merge/affect each other. I briefly looked at Forex, but it overwhelmed the "on the side trading" aspect of my interests. I'm at square zero with commodities though..

Originally Posted by chidoks

lol.. you are not crazy.. i like understanding how various factors affect the markets..I feel being being an engineer helps with analyzing and understanding how certain issues affect commodities and such..

I agree that engineering helps to understand the physical characteristics that move the market. We are number/graph/chart people by trade, which helps. It's the other side, the psychological and "hype" side, is the side I have to think more about (at least for microcaps, since they are small enough to be swayed by that sort of thing).