New Forex Trading Strategy

Saturday, September 12, 2009

How Learning to Trade Commodities Could Help You Become a Better Commodity Trader

By William Davies

Embarking on learning to trade commodities gives the eager future trader a new perspective of what is really possible in commodity trading. It may be a focus on one area such as cotton or orange juice or alternatively taking the broad spectrum of the commodity markets, whichever it is, you will increase your understanding hugely. Just think about the big crude oil trades that happen daily on the New York Mercantile Exchange and how energy security worries and supply shortages affect prices. Have you thought why platinum or nickel prices might fall, and why might cocoa prices shoot up very quickly?

These are exciting markets to study, so finding a top quality commodities training provider is so important. How do you go about learning to trade commodities? What are the key areas you need to master with confidence so that you feel comfortable entering the global commodity markets? Firstly, if you are learning to trade commodities find where to do the commodity trading courses that may be on offer. Either start your commodity education at home using study materials with an online training package or attend a top quality trading school where students cover all aspects of commodities and futures.

What do you gain from going to a commodity training centre? You will benefit from physical contact with the tutors and there may be one to one coaching opportunities. What is likely is that lecturers will have real world knowledge of trading as they may be former or still active commodity traders, and this can be a valuable skill which you could benefit from. There is also the advantage of being able to share ideas with colleagues in your classroom and network afterwards.

While on location you benefit from watching "live" trades executed by your tutors, who can give you feedback about the price action. It is arguably better to understand a technique when you observe it happening in real time, rather than in theory. Here you get a sharp edge to your learning curve in commodity trading, and the coaches can offer you help as you tailor your personal commodities trading plan. The expansion of global trading centres means that you are likely to find a training centre close to your home, such as in Dubai, Singapore, London, Toronto, as well in US cities like Philadelphia, New York, Milwaukee, Dallas and Chicago.

So in contrast what can be said for commodity trading courses delivered online? It may be that you are not close enough to a training centre or other responsibilities mean you cannot find the time. An online package which covers the essential technical and fundamental analysis components of commodity trading can fit into your busy schedule.

These online commodity trading courses will have offer e mail contact with your tutors, as well as video tutorials, using charts, blogs and forums. You will also most likely have access to special software packages allowing you to practice trades and use different trading techniques, as well as CDs and DVDs covering the key learning points.

So you are about to start learning to trade commodities. What will be covered? Broadly speaking, courses focus on fundamental analysis, that is supply and demand for commodities and how these are affected by inflation and in the case of crops, weather patterns. Traders also use technical analysis to compliment the former approach. This includes looking at commodity charts for price action, using techniques like Fibonacci numbers, Japanese candlesticks, moving averages, volume and support and resistance lines.

The course is likely to show you what a commodity futures contract is and how easy it is to trade electronically, how you place your futures order and set your commodity futures margin, as well as understand how hedging in commodity trading works. The whole area of risk management and preservation of capital is also an important aspect of learning, as is the psychology of trading and having a commodity trading plan. All these basic areas will be covered when you start learning to trade commodities. - 23305

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