What are Futures and Options..?
Let us keep our focus here. We are ONLY interested in the Commodities markets - not in Stocks or Forex trading (although we do look at currencies - as a sub-class of the commodities). The Commodity Markets we will be looking at include:
Grains and Oilseeds
Your typical agricultural proceeds, Wheat, Corn, Soybeans, Soybean Meal, Soybean Oil, etc. They are typically traded on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).
Currencies
British Pound, Euro, Jap Yen, Swizz Franc, the Mexican Peso - we can contract for fixed quantities of currency, traded on the Commodity Exchange (COMEX) in New York
Energies
Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Heating Oil, Gasoline - traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX)
Financials
Stuff like the US Treasury Bonds (5 year notes, 10 year notes, 30 year notes), the EuroDollar, etc. They are traded on the CBOT
Indices
This is a funny one, the Standard & Poor Index, Nasdaq, Dow Jones. Traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)
Meats
Lean Hoggs (bacon), Live Cattle, Feeder Cattle - traded on the CME
Metals
Gold, Silver, High Grade Copper - COMEX, commodities exchange in New York
Softs
Cotton, Coffee, Orange Juice, Lumber (wood) - the ICE, Intercontinental Exchange in New York
Click here for a complete list of the commodities we will be looking at. Note, there
are many more commodities, but we are going to restrict ourselves to the fourty odd ones in our list.
NOW... you want to get into OPTIONS !! But the path there leads through the Futures. You HAVE TO have a thorough understanding
of the Futures market if you want to stand any chance of understanding the Options market. Thus study the material on the Futures
first, and if you think you understand it ..- then study it again.. and then move onto the Options, which is where you want to be!
Futures
Start here...
Options
Then proceed to here...