Commodity Futures Trading - How To Reduce Risk And Aim For Success
If you are reasonably new to commodity future trading then do keep in mind that there a number of things that can go terribly wrong - there is a large risk factor here. With this in mind its wise to risk only the capital you can afford to lose and nothing more. Do not borrow as I have done myself. Too much risk to take - believe me!
One good thing about trading commodities is that there will always be an intrinsic value in the product. So for example the value of a quantity of nymex gas or of crude oil is never going to be nil.
Commodity trading though is still risky. Ideally you should reduce your risk and exposure and therefore the main thing is to only limit your investment to the amount of money you could afford to lose.
Many commodity traders, particularly those that are fairly new to the business, try to utilize too much leverage. As an example of this lets take 100 ounces of gold as a contract with a value of $1000 an ounce. Total value is $100,000. The margin (deposit) will probably be around 10% of the value of the contract, thus $10,000.
The problems now arise at times in that a trader who is bullish on gold my believe its a great time to invest in gold. He or she takes 10 gold contracts at a total of $100,000. If the price were to move up to $1100 an ounce then there is a nice profit to be had. If the price were to reduce by $100 an ounce however, and devalue to $900 an ounce, then the trader has to face up to a large loss unless they can meet the margin call by their broker by placing further funds in their trading account.
But if the price of gold were to reduce by that $100 an oz. and provide the trader with a value of $900 an oz. then the trader would be wiped out unless they were in a position to meet a margin call from their broker and place further funds into their account.
With this sort of exposure in the market we could end up with serious losses. Its all very well to see things very positively and continue to believe in profit after profit. But at the same time we need to be realistic and know that there will be times when we hit a few losses. As such we need to have the funds available to deal with the losses.
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. - 23223
One good thing about trading commodities is that there will always be an intrinsic value in the product. So for example the value of a quantity of nymex gas or of crude oil is never going to be nil.
Commodity trading though is still risky. Ideally you should reduce your risk and exposure and therefore the main thing is to only limit your investment to the amount of money you could afford to lose.
Many commodity traders, particularly those that are fairly new to the business, try to utilize too much leverage. As an example of this lets take 100 ounces of gold as a contract with a value of $1000 an ounce. Total value is $100,000. The margin (deposit) will probably be around 10% of the value of the contract, thus $10,000.
The problems now arise at times in that a trader who is bullish on gold my believe its a great time to invest in gold. He or she takes 10 gold contracts at a total of $100,000. If the price were to move up to $1100 an ounce then there is a nice profit to be had. If the price were to reduce by $100 an ounce however, and devalue to $900 an ounce, then the trader has to face up to a large loss unless they can meet the margin call by their broker by placing further funds in their trading account.
But if the price of gold were to reduce by that $100 an oz. and provide the trader with a value of $900 an oz. then the trader would be wiped out unless they were in a position to meet a margin call from their broker and place further funds into their account.
With this sort of exposure in the market we could end up with serious losses. Its all very well to see things very positively and continue to believe in profit after profit. But at the same time we need to be realistic and know that there will be times when we hit a few losses. As such we need to have the funds available to deal with the losses.
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. - 23223
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