ForexTradingVenture.com

Interest rates play a pivotal role in all financial markets. No matter what market you trade whether it is stocks, forex, futures, options, ETFs, commodities, bonds etc, you need to keep an eye on the interest rates. A yield curve is a representation on the graph that compares the entire spectrum on interest rates available to investors.

Now as said before there are two types of interest rates in the economy; short term and long term. The return offered on the Treasury Bills is the short term interest rate while the return offered on the Treasury Notes and Bonds are long term interest rates. When you look at a Yield Curve these interest rates are plotted on the vertical axis with the time to maturity of these financial instruments on the horizontal axis. There can be three different shapes of a Yield Curve. The Normal Curve, The Flat Curve and the Inverted Curve. Let’s discuss these three different shapes now. On the Normal Curve, the short term interest rates are lower than the longer term interest rates as investors need a premium to invest long term. A Normal Curve represents normal economic activity where investors get rewarded for investing long term in the form of a higher long term interest rate on these financial instruments in the shape of a premium over the short term interest rates.

When you find the Yield Curve to be Flat, it means that all the interest rates in the economy are equal. What this indicates is that economic activity is slowing down. Now, most of the time you will come accross the Normal Yield Curve. But sometimes, you will find the Yield Curve to be Flat.

However, when the economy starts to go into a recession, you will suddenly find an Inverted Yield Curve. On an Inverted Yield Curve, the longer term interest rates are lower than the short term interest rates.What this mean is that the economy is slowing down and investors are reluctant to invest long term thinking it to be risky. An Inverted Yield Curve is a leading indicator of an economy doing down into a recession. When there is a financial crisis like that happened in the early part of 2008, you will find the Yield Curve to be Inverted. Investors are shying away from investing in long term projects in the economy.

If you want to trade interest rates short term than Eurodollars are the best instruments that you can trade. Eurodollars are well suited for small traders because of the low margin requirements. Eurodollars also tend to be less volatile and have a highly liquid market due to the large number of market participants. However, like any other futures contracts, Eurodollars position needs to be carefully monitored. Ten Year T Notes and T Bonds can be highly volatile. You can also trade options on these interest rates futures.

Trading interest rate futures is no different than trading anyother futures contract. If you haven’t traded futures before, a good idea would be to first paper trade these contracts for at least two months so that you get a feel of how these futures contracts gets traded and how the market behaves! Now, when you trade these interest rate futures contracts, you need to keep an eye on the market constantly. Futures trading can be risky and in a matter of few minutes you might get wiped out in the market and get a margin call from your broker.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Know this shocking Dow Futures secret that can make you rich. Read the story of Richard Samuels, a post office mailman with a head injury and how he made a fortune with these Neutrino Forex Signals

Technorati Tags: business, currency trading, day trading, etfs, forex, Forex Trading System, money, mutual funds, real estate, retirement, stocks, trading, wealth building

Following a trend is great. But if the trend is moving quickly, you want to know that so that you can get ahead of it. If the rate of change of the trend is going up, rising prices are going to follow quickly.

Now first what is a momentum? You must have read about the momentum in high school physics.Momentum was the velocity multiplied by the mass of the object. Velocity was the rate of change. So when we talk of momentum in trading, we are talking of the rate of change of any security prices. Now. a simple way to calculate the momentum of any security price is to divide the closing price today by the closing price ten days back and then multiply it by 100!

This is your shockingly simple momentum indicator that you can use profitably in your trading. Now, if the price did not change, the momentum indicator will obviously will be 100. If the price went down, the momentum indicator will be less than 100 and if the price went up, the momentum indicator will be more than 100. Now, when the momentum indicator is greater than 100, the trend is expected to continue in the future.

This momentum indicator tells you what is most likely to happen in the future not what happened in the past. So it is a leading indicator. You must have heard about momentum investing or you can even call it momentum trading. In momentum investing , you buy a security at a high price and sell it even at a more higher price unlike ordinary investing where you buy low and sell high. The trick is to know that the price will continue to rise when you do momentum investing. How do you know that the security prices will continue to rise in the future? By looking at the business fundamentals like the sales or profits, if you find them to be rising and accelerating at the same time the security price is rising,there is momentum behind this move!

However, in momentum investing, you search for stocks that have rising prices that are expected to continue for sometime. So you buy high and sell even higher within a few weeks making a decent profit. You can use that profit to do more investing. As said before, instead of investing in a security or a stock you can do momentum investing. When you are doing ordinary investing, you are waiting for its price to appreciate to give you a capital gain. This price appreciation might take from a few months to even years tying down your capital in that investing.

So when you are doing momentum investing, you are looking for a security or a stock that has a potential to move big. How long this big move might take to materialize? Well, the expectation is for the big move to happen in a few weeks to a few months. Just like in ordinary physics, when a ball is set in motion, it will continue moving unless stopped. This is what the Newton’s First Law says. You can expect a security price to keep on rising as long as something drastic doesn’t happen to stop that rise. So what can be that something drastic? It can be a sudden breaking news about the misdoings of the management that have not been known to the public before. I am just giving you one example. There can be more. So before you do your momentum investing, it is always better to do some fundamental research on the company. Remember the Dot Com Bubble that burst and hurt many people a decade back. Lot of people were doing momentum investing without doing fundamental research on the stocks that they were investing in. So you need to do some fundamental research as well to ascertain that the rise in prices of a stock are sustainable over the long haul or not.

There are many way to do momentum investing. One is the price momentum that we have talked above. The other can be Earning Momentum. If you are a long haul investor who keeps an eye on the financial statements of different companies and you find that the quaterly earnings are going up steadily from one quater to another. What this means is that the stock price will also accelerate and follow suit.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report plus the shocking Profit Button Report that applies no matter what you trade- stocks, forex, futures or options FREE. Download this very simple 1 Minute Forex Trading System FREE that makes money anytime instantly.

Technorati Tags: business, currency trading, day trading, etfs, forex, Forex Trading System, money, mutual funds, real estate, retirement, stocks, trading, wealth building

A Doji Candlestick Pattern is formed when the opening and the closing prices are the same. So, there is no stick on the candlestick. There are some variations but essentially a Doji is almost all wicks with no body. A Doji looks more like a cross rather than a candlestick pattern.

So for a Doji to be truly formed on a trading day, throughtout the trading day heavy buying or selling may take place but at the end of the day, the price should be where it had been at the start. In other words, the opening and the closing prices should be the same for a Doji to be formed.

It is a signal that the battle between the bulls and the bears had been a draw during the trading day when a Doji is formed with the opening and the closing prices equal. Soon, either the bulls or the bears are going to previal. In other words, a trend reversal is about to take place.

So how is a Dragonfly Doji is formed? It is formed when the security price opens. It is traded down during the early part of the day. At some point in the trading day, the price action starts to recover and climb. It eventually closes at the high which happens to equal the open of the day. Something unique! Now, a Dragonfly Doji is a unique variation to the Doji Candlestick Pattern. It is formed when the opening, the closing and the high prices are all equal. Something quite rare and unique.

When a Dragonfly Doji is formed, bears initially decide to rule the market. But at some point the bulls step in and decide to buy again. When the bulls step in, they start pushing the price up. As the bulls dominate the trading day, the security price ends up right where it had started.

Dragonfly Doji is considered to be a bullish candlestick pattern. The low on this pattern can be taken as the support level because this was the level at which the bears entered the market and started buying.

When a Bearish Gravestone Doji Pattern is formed, it is a signal that a prolonged downtrend is about to start in the market. The second important variation to the Doji is the Bearish Gravestone Doji. This pattern is formed when the open and close of the day is equal to the low of the day. This is something opposite to the Dragonfly Doji where the open, the close and the high were equal.

A Doji pattern is very easy to spot on the candlestick chart as there is no body just the wick. Open close and either low or high all three are equal and the candle looks more like a cross. When you spot the Doji, get ready for a trend change in the price action.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Master these Candlestick Patterns with this 82 page PDF FREE Candlestick Guide! Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report plus the shocking Profit Button Report that applies no matter what you trade-stocks, forex, futures or options FREE!

Technorati Tags: day trading, forex, Forex Trading System, home business, investing, money, mutual funds, real estate, retirement, Stock Market, stocks, trading, wealth building

Trend trading is one of the most profitable trading strategies. You must have heard the oft repeated quote that Trend is your friend. But trend can only be your friend if you know how it is going to behave in the future. If you don’t know that the trend is going to reverse soon, you are going to end up with a heavy loss. Candlestick charting is one of the ways to predict the future of a trend whether it is going to reverse itself in the near future or continue for sometime. Bullish Necklines is a candlestick pattern that can help you know whether the trend is continuing or not. It is a trend confirmation pattern. There are types of Necklines Patterns; one is the In Neck and the other is the Out Neck Pattern.

On the first day, there will be a long bullish candle indicating that heavy buying took place during the day. On the second day or what you call the signal day, there will be a bearish candle that can be long or short with a closing price almost close to the first day. Necklines pattern is a two stick pattern. What this means is that it takes two days on the daily chart for this pattern to form.

Now,there can be two types of Neckline Patterns depending on the closing prices on the signal and the setup days. If the closing price on the signal day is almost near the closing price on the setup day, it is an On Neck Pattern. In case, if the closing price on the first day is little lower than the closing price on the signal day, it is a In Neck Pattern.

You might be thinking that this is not much of a difference. Well, this is true but nevertheless, you should be aware of this slight difference between the In Neck and the On Neck Patterns. Both these patterns are telling the same thing that the uptrend is going to continue in the near future. So even if you are not able to differentiate between the In Neck and the On Neck, don’t worry much. You must at least be able to identify that a Neckline Pattern has been formed.

In case of the bearish meeting line candlestick pattern, you see a strong up day on the setup day with a long bullish candle. On the signal day, you find a gap opening which entices the sellers to step in the market. The selling continues throughout the day. As a result a long bearish candle is formed with the close of the day very near its low plus the close of the day very near to the close of the setup day. Now this a trend reversal pattern.

Another trend reversal pattern is the Bearish Piercing Ling Pattern. This candlestick pattern is formed when on the first or the setup day, a bullish long candle is formed meaning that the bulls have been in control of the market throughout the day. The second day or what you call the signal day, there will be a bearish candle formed. This bearish candle should have an opening higher than the first day’s high. This means that on the second day or what you call the signal day, the sellers started selling pushing the price action down past the opening price to the midpoint of the first day candle.

This is a trend reversal pattern that usually occurs in the last stages of an uptrend. The price is still rising but it has lost its momentum. Now as a trader, when you combine these candlestick patterns with technical indicators, you get a powerful tool in your arsenal.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report FREE! Master these Candlestick Patterns with this 82 page PDF FREE Candlestick Guide!

Technorati Tags: business, day trading, etfs, finance, financial planning, forex, Forex Trading System, Futures, investing, mutual funds, real estate, retirement, Stock Market, stocks, trading

Economics is the most important subject in the lives of individual, companies and countries. A ton of economic reports get released daily for the consumption of the markets. Some of these economic reports have the potential of moving the markets in a big way. For some forex, futures and options traders, trading these economic reports is a way of life. Each market has got its own favorite reports. But some reports have the potential of moving almost all the markets.

Now when these economic reports are released, market compares the expected with the unexpected. The more these reports have the element of the unexpected, the more the markets become nervous. So, if you are a news trader or an economic report trader, you need to watch CNBC and Bloomberg constantly to know what the market is expecting. The most market moving reports are the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, The Consumer and the Producer Price Index, The Gross Domestic Product (GDP). the monthly Employment Reports or what you call the NFP Report, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). Now as said before if these reports have no surprise for the markets, nothing will happen. But in case if there is a surprise, markets can turn upside down in matter of minutes!

As a trader, your world is highly dependent on the economic calendar. Economic calendar is the listing of dates when these important reports are released each month. Each month, these reports are released by different government agencies and the private sector. These reports are a major influence on how the financial markets move in general plus a source of the repetitiveness in the markets.

Not all reports are created equal. Some economic reports have more influence on the market than others. The most important reports that tend to move the markets a lot are the employment report, the Producer Price Index (PPI), the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Federal Open Market Committee Meeting Minutes.

Now, Non Farm Payroll Report or what you call the NFP Report is the most market moving report in the recent times. This report is released by the US DOL (Department of Labor) and it gives the state of employment in the economy during the last month period. It is released on the first Friday of each month exactly at 8:30 AM EST. There are NFP Report Traders who easily make 150-200 pips at this time within minutes.

Now as said before, the market reaction is dependent on how muc surprise there is in the report. If there is no element of unexpected in the report, the market may react mildly. But if there is a big surprise in the report that the market did not anticipate, markets can be volatile for hours or even days before the importance of the surprise is digested by the market. These types of reports can also start a news trend in the market that might last for quite sometime!

The NFP Report becomes very important when the economy is shifting gears like the present when the US economy is coming out of recession. Market tends to develop an expectation about the employment figures and if the NFP report does not confirm with that expectation, it can make the market jittery for sometime before the importance of the release is digested by the market. Trader use the NFP report as one of the several important clues to predict the future of the interest rates.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Download this 70+ page Forex-4 Pack Forex Swing Trading Training Kit FREE. Get this 1 Minute Forex Trading System that makes money instantly FREE.

Technorati Tags: business, day trading, finance, forex, Forex Trading System, home business, investing, money, real estate, retirement, small business, Stock Market, stocks, trading, wealth building

Short selling is one of the favorite day trading strategies employed by many day traders. Many companies hate short sellers as they believe that short sellers were responsible in the fall of their stock prices. Nothing can be far from the truth. Short selling is just like anyother market mechanism that provides liquidity and better price discovery. Short selling can never destroy a company if its’ fundamentals are strong. Many stock brokers now let you short stocks with just the click of a mouse. When you sell stocks from your online brokerage account, the message asks you whether you are selling your own shares or short selling. You just need to click once on short selling and the rest is taken care of by the broker. These shares are a loan to you by the broker that you will have to return at a later date!

In some cases,a stock gets so much shorted that there are no more shares of that stock left for you or your broker to borrow anymore. Now, you cannot always short a stock instantly. Most of the investors work on rumors. In that case, you simple will have to cross your fingers and see how the other short sellers do on that stock while you search for another stock to short!

Day traders are not looking for long term fundamentals in order to go short. A day trader might go short on a stock that had go up for three consecutive days, figuring that they will go down on the fourth day. Day traders are only looking for stock that might go down in price for mundane reasons.

You have to be careful about the uptick rule as stock exchanges have rules in place to help maintain an upward bias in the stock market. What this means is that you can only short a stock when the last trade was a move up. In other words, you can’t short a stock that is moving down.

How much risky short selling can be? Well, in theory there is no stopping a stock price to reach the sky. So if you are wrong in your short selling decision, your loss can be catastrophic. But don’t worry, short sellers also use stop loss so if the price starts to move up, your position will get closed automatically by the stop loss order.

Know something known as Short Squeeze. Once that happens, almost all short sellers get desperate to dump their stocks and exit but when they try to buy back the stock, they get more hurt as the prices go even higher and higher on rising demand for the stock in the market. Now, don’t get caught in the market with short selling when good news spreads about the stock that you had shorted driving its price up.

If you have already shorted that stock, you might get a call from your broker to return that stock immediately. In such a case, you will have to immediately return the stock even if it doesn’t make any sense to you!As said before, companies, investors and many brokers hate short sellers. They think that short sellers had intentionally driven down the stock prices. So sometimes, they will spread rumors of good news to create a momentary short squeeze. Sometimes, a campaign will be started by the owners of a particular stock instructing their brokers not to loan out their stocks to short sellers.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Read this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading FREE Report plus the shocking Profit Button Report that applies no matter what you trade-stocks, forex, futures or options! Turn $200 into $100K in just 3 months with this Penny Stock Trading FREE Report!

Technorati Tags: business, currency trading, day trading, etfs, finance, forex, Forex Trading System, investing, mutual funds, options, real estate, retirement, stocks, trading, wealth building

Candlestick charting is a highly powerful tool in the trading arsenal of any trader. In the last two decades, candlestick charting has become highly popular. There are many candlestick patterns that give profitable trading signals. Some are simple while other are complex. Hammer, the Hanging Man and the Spinning Top are three simple candlestick patterns that can be easily spotted. All three are different!

The first question. How do you identify whether this is a Hanging Man or a Hammer? Hammer and the Hanging Man both have a very small candle body accompanied by a long wick either on the bottom. If this type of pattern appears at the top of an uptrend with the long wick at the bottom, it is a Hanging Man. And if it appears at the bottom of an downtrend it is a Hammer.

Now, in most of the cases, you will also find a small wick on the top of the candle body. Now suppose, you find the Hammer or the Hanging Man. What you need is to look for the confirmation the next day!

Now suppose, you think that you have spotted the Hanging Man in an uptrend. Wait for the confirmation the next day with the opening price. If the opening price on the next day is less than the previous day’s close, you have a true Hanging Man. If not, then that was not a true Hanging Man.

Similarly suppose, you think that you have correctly spotted the Hammer in a downtrend. A Hammer should have a very small candle body with a long wick at the bottom. You should confirm this with the opening price on the next day. If the opening price is higher than the closing price the previous day, you have a true Hammer. If the opening price is not higher than the closing price the last day, it is not a true Hammer!

The best chart for these candlestick patterns is the daily chart. Once, you get the confirmation, trade these patterns. They can be highly profitable. But in case, you don’t get the confirmation the next day with the price action, simply ignore the pattern as not true. Whenever, you trade candlestick patterns, first spot them correctly than wait for the confirmation on the following day.

A Spinning Top is another candlestick pattern that reveals a tight battle between the bulls and the bears. Whenever, the battle between the bulls and the bears ends in a draw on a trading day, the following day, one side has to give in. When this happens an explosive move in one direction is highly likely.

How to identify a SPINNING TOP? A Spinning Top has a very small candle body in the middle with two equal wicks on the top and the bottom. This pattern appears very frequently in the daily charts and can be highly profitable if spotted correctly.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Master Candlestick Charting with this 82 page PDF FREE Candlestick Guide! Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report FREE.

Technorati Tags: business, currency trading, day trading, etfs, finance, forex, Forex Trading System, investing, mutual funds, options, real estate, retirement, stocks, trading, wealth building

Have you ever given a gold ring to your friend as a token of your true love? Gold has been the most precious metal from the dawn of civilization. It is still considered to be the ultimate currency and the ultimate store of value in times of political uncertainity. For the last ten years, the gold market is in a secular uptrend with the spot prices having recently breached the historical barrier of $1,200 per troy ounce. After that there was a retracement and the prices did come down to around $1,100 per ounce but this uptrend is expected to continue for sometime.

Forex trading is the hottest market right now after the recent stock market crash. Many small investors lost their lifetime saving in the stock market crash of 2008. Investors have turned towards forex in droves. Forex trading is considered to be a recession proof business as there is neither a bull market nor a bear market in currencies. Currency prices are always quoted relative to one anther and currencies are traded in pairs. What this means is that if one currency goes up the other goes down. It is being said that many millionaires will be made in the currency markets.

When you trade a currency pair, you go long on one currency and short on the other. In other words, you simply buy one and sell the other. Many people don’t know this that you can trade gold on forex too. Many forex broker platforms that you use to trade forex, allow trading of gold and silver against the US Dollar (USD) from the same platform. Both these precious metals have high demand in the industrial sector and as the global economy recovers from the recession, the prices of gold and silver are expected to skyrockets as industrial production picks up and consumers start buying again.

In case of spot gold trading on forex, you trade one ounce of gold in the spot market againt US Dollar (USD). So just like when you trade a currency pair, when you trade gold on forex, you are taking either a long or a short position in gold against USD. There are many currency pairs that you can trade like the GBPUSD, EURUSD, UADUSD, NZDUSD, JPYUSD. Spot trading gold on forex is almost similar with gold replacing one currency in the pair and the other currency is always USD.

Now, suppoe the price quote in the spot market is 1100 XAUUSD. What this means is that one troy ounce of gold in the spot market right now is equal to $1,100 USD. So, in spot gold trading on forex, you are trading one troy ounce of gold against USD. Interestingly the symbol for this is also XAUUSD with XAU representing one ounce of gold.

Now, spot gold trading on forex is a fast moving market. Due to the fast moving nature of the spot gold market, the spread keeps on changing throughout the day! Just like any currency pairs, stock or for that matter any security, the price quote in the spot gold market has got a bid-ask spread. Suppose the price quote in the spot market is 1110/1115. This means is that you can buy one ounce of gold at a rate of $1,115 and sell one ounce at the rate of $1,110 to your broker.

Spot gold market is a fast moving market and the price quotes keep on changing. So, suppose just after 60 minutes, you find the quote to be 1120/1126. You see a profit and decide to get out selling at $11,200 making a profit of $30. Now if you had used leverage, you would have needed a much lower initial investment to make a profit of $30 in just 60 minutes. Now a standard lot in currency trading is equal to $100,000. But in case of gold on forex, a standard lot is equal to 10 troy ounces of gold. So, if you find the price quote to be 1112/1117 and you are interested in going long. In that case you will have to buy 1 lot of gold that is equal to $11,170.

If you are a trend trader or a position trader, you can hedge your position in currency pairs that have correlation with gold prices by taking opposite positions in the spot gold on forex market.Gold and USD have an inverse correlation relationship. What this means is that the gold prices and USD move in opposite direction in the long term. This inverse relationship may not hold in the short term.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Get this Forex Swing Trading Forex-4 Pack Training Kit FREE! Download this 1 Minute Forex Trading System FREE.

Technorati Tags: day trading, entrepreneurs, forex, forex trading, Forex Trading System, investing, money, mutual funds, real estate, retirement, small business, Stock Market, stocks, trading, wealth building

There are many candlestick patterns. Some are simple. Others are complex. One stick patterns are simple. Engulfing Candlestick Pattern is a two stick pattern can can signal the reversal of a trend. Spotting a trend reversal before time is what can give you the edge as a trader.

Most of the time, it will happen that you find the pattern forming on the first day. But on the second day, your hopes get dashed when the pattern fizzles out and there is no trading signal for you! Now two stick candlestick patterns are more complex. It takes two trading days for the two sticks to form on the daily charts. On the first day if you find a two stick pattern forming, you will have to wait for the end of the second trading day for confirmation.

However, it doesn’t mean that these two stick candlestick patterns do not form at all. They do! But don’t frequently. So if are able to spot a two stick pattern correctly, you can make a highly profitable trade. There are trend continuation patterns and trend reversal patterns. An Engulfing Candlestick Pattern is a very important trading signal about the reversal of a trend.

A Bullish Engulfing Candlestick Pattern has a candle on the second day that completely covers the first day bullish candle. The open on the second day candle is lower than the open on the first day.

Remember, a bullish engulfing candlestick pattern has to appear in a downtrend to be meaningful. But when this appears, it means that bulls will soon take control of the market and overcome the bears. What this means is that bears are still in control of the market. When the bulls get into action, so much buying takes place that opena and high of the previous day both are surpassed.

On the other hand, in case of the bearish engulfing pattern on the first day, the bulls are in control of the market. However, on the second day or the signal day, the bears have had enough. Sellers or short sellers think that the price has gone too high and it is the time to take profit and exit. They start selling in large numbers.

Soon, the price of the security is pushed down lower than the open of the first day. The second day candle is bearish and completely covers the first day candle. When the bearish engulfing pattern appears, it is an indication that the uptrend has reversed and a downtrend has started now.

Now, the most important thing for any trader is where to place the stop loss. In case of a bullish engulfing candlestick pattern, place ths top loss on the low of the first day to be on the safe side. And in case of a bearish engulfing pattern, place the stop loss near the open of the second or signal day. This way even if the pattern is not confirmed with the subsequent price action, you are on the safe side. Happy trading!

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Get your FREE COPIES of the HVMM Ultimate Day Trading System and the Universal Risk & Money Management Tool just now! Read the story of Richard Samuels, a post office mailman with a head injury and how he made a fortune with these Neutrino Forex Signals .

Technorati Tags: entrepreneurs, etfs, finance, forex, Forex Trading System, investing, mutual funds, real estate, retirement, small business, Stock Market, stocks, trading, wealth building

There are many types of financial instruments that traders and investors trade. Futures is one of them just like stocks and bonds. A stock gives you ownership of one part of a company. If you own 10,000 stocks of a company, you own 10,000 parts of that company. On the other hand a bond is an IOU that governments and companies issue to finance their operations.

Futures contract as the name implies is a binding contract between two parties for the delivery of a commodity or an asset or even a financial instrument at some future date between the buyer and seller of that contract. Futures market is a highly regulated market with the CFTC responsible for its regulation. Buyers and sellers don’t come in direct contact with each other. In between is the Central Clearing House that enforces the contract reducing the risk of party default!

Futures market is the backbone of the whole sale and retail commodity market ranging from oil, wheat, corn, heating oil, meat, cattle, soybeans and other foodstuff. So you can well imagine the importance of the futures market. Futures market serves the purpose of hedging and speculation.

These contracts get regulated through a central clearing hours so the risk of one party backing out of the contract is minimal. This limits the time and risk exposure experienced by hedgers and speculators. Now, futures contracts are by design time bound and expire at a fixed date.

Most brokerage firms require individuals to deposit a fixed amount of at least $5,000 in their brokerage account before they can start trading futures. Now, almost all over the world, futures trading have shifted from open outcry to electronic trading.

Electronic trading has lowered commissions and other transaction costs for trading these contracts plus price discovery is better and there is a more level playing field for all the players in the market. In old times, futures contracts got traded on Futures Exchanges in open outcry pits. It still takes place on the floor of these exchanges but with the advent of electronic trading most of the trading is now shifting to electronic platforms. GLOBEX is the most important platform for trading different futures contracts.

The most popular futures contract that get traded on GLOBEX are S&P 500 stock index futures, NASDAQ 100 futures, Eurodollars, CME E-mini futures, foreign exchange rates, gold futures and crude oil futures. You can also trade options on GLOBEX.

GLOBEX trading overnight tends to be thin and more volatile than during the official trading hours that are from 8:30 AM EST to 4:15 PM EST. If you trade financial news on Bloomberg or CNBC before the stock market opens officially, you will find quotes on S&P 500 futures and other taken from GLOBEX.

These GLOBEX quotes are real time and if you have taken a position with sell stop or a buy order, early next morning, you might find your position executed with a new position or out of the position altogether. Futures can be highly profitable if you know how to do it!

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Get your FREE COPIES of the HVMM Ultimate Day Trading System that can trade stocks, forex and futures and the Universal Risk and Money Management Tool! Read this shocking 40 page FRWC Brutal Truth FREE Report on trading robots that exposes almost everything!

Technorati Tags: commodities, currency trading, day trading, etfs, financial planning, forex, Forex Trading System, Futures, investing, mutual funds, real estate, retirement, Stock Market, stocks, trading