Tuesday 7 June 2011

Knowing About Futures Trading

By Leonel Harris


Commodities trading is another investment option available for people who may want to invest their cash. It can involve trading in commodities having a delivery date on a specific time in times to come. There are specific advantages and downsides connected with futures trading. It's very important the new financier know how this kind of trading works before even trying to chance a specific amount of capital.

Future trading involves trading futures contracts. A future contract is an agreement between a producer and a buyer on a future delivery of a certain amount of produce at a certain price. The futures contract evolved when farmers of grains began setting up agreements with interested buyers for future harvests.

A farmer may offer in the market about 8000 bushels of wheat that may be delivered on a certain month of next year. There would be interested purchasers who may wish to maintain their wheat supply for next year and would wish to buy such futures contracts to be sure. On a deal on the price for the future produce, the farmer and the purchaser have gone into making a futures contract.

The futures contract is well matched for both the farmer and the purchaser. The farmer would know I advance quite how much he would be paid for the harvest next year while the purchaser would know the expenses of future supply of wheat now. What the farmer and the purchaser will do is make an official contract that would occasionally involve a specific quantity of money as a guarantee of the contract.

The futures contract the 2 parties agreed to wouldn't just be stored in someplace safe. The contract may even change hands in the course of time before the date of delivery. Dependent on the circumstances, farmers and purchasers may even trade these contracts to other interested parties. There are times the customer of the futures contract can have a change of mind and wouldn't need to take the future delivery of the produce. He would then find some other purchaser who would be interested and offer the futures contract at a certain cost. There also are times the farmer would decide to not deliver on the stated contract and would then pass on the duty to supply to another interested farmer. The transfer and trade of these contracts came to be known as commodities trading.

Many have discovered that trading the contracts became a good way to earn money. Shortly , there were folks who started to purchase and offload the futures contract without meaning to take the delivery for themselves. All they wanted was to benefit from the price changes the futures contracts go thru. These folk are called backers who attempt to profit by purchasing the futures contracts low and selling them high.

This is how commodities trading generally occur in the market. By knowing and knowing how it operates, folks may then decide if such a market really presents a great chance for investment. Commodities trading has its own weaknesses and strengths. It is up to the knowledgeable financier and trader to make the most sensible use out of them to make money.




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