My Forex Trading News Online

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Energy Futures (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

You might have heard some of your friends talk about trading crude oil futures. You must have been surprised because many people think that trading crude oil futures is only for the hedge funds or really wealthy people. Well, you can trade crude oil futures if you want to. But don't do it without getting a good training.

Ever heard of Light Sweet Crude? Light Sweet Crude is the high grade, low sulfur content crude oil that is more easily refined than the thicker oils. Now oil coming out of some of the Venezuelan and Saudi Arabian Oil wells contains high sulfur content and requires special refineries that only process the high grade sulfur crude oil.

At NYMEX, crude oil futures contracts based on Dubai Crude Oil, Brent North Sea Crude Oil, differential between the light sweet crude oil and the four domestic grades of crude oil as well as oil options are traded.

NYMEX offers you a host of futures as well as options contracts based on crude oil. At NYMEX, you can trade crude oil futures contracts based on Dubai Crude Oil, Brent North Sea Crude Oil, differential between the light sweet crude oil and the four domestic grades of crude oil and a few more. Oil options are also traded on NYMEX. Now Dubai Crude Oil Futures contract is very popular.

The NYMEX contract for the light sweet crude is the most liquid of all the crude oil contracts. A standard crude oil contract is based on 1,000 barrels of crude oil that will be delivered to Cushing Oklahoma if not settled in cash before the expiry of the contract. The E-mini crude oil contract trades on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) GLOBEX platform and is cleared at NYMEX. It is based on 500 barrels of crude oil. Now as a retail trader, you can trade the E-Mini crude oil contract. If you have been dabbling into futures trading than you must know that futures trading is risky and can easily wipe out the capital in your trading account in a matter of minutes. So what to do? One and easy option is to stay away from the crude oil futures trading. The more difficult option is to first learn futures trading do some paper trading and only then venture into this difficult proposition. Read the whole article, I will give you a very good solution at the end.

Open outcry or electronic, it doesn't make a difference to you. Most of the traders now day trade futures contracts from the comfort of their homes. Open outcry trading takes place between 10: 00 AM EST to 2:30 PM EST. After hour trading takes place on NYMEX ACCESSS system, an internet based trading platform starting at 3:15 PM EST Monday through Thursday and ending at 9:30 AM EST the following day. Sunday trading starts at 6:00 PM EST.

Now you must know this thing that real companies have huge trading desks with hundreds of traders all betting on the price of oil. Oil markets are about real people trying to figure out how much oil they would need in the next few months to years to run their businesses regardless of whether they are suppliers or users. Trading crude oil futures contracts require you to be in tune with the market sentiment. Trends in crude oil market don't develop suddenly and they don't reverse suddenly. This is something good for you as a crude oil futures trader. It's always good to visit the website of the exchange to know more. You can visit the website of NYMEX and read a more about the crude oil trading that takes place at that exchange. Trading oil markets requires constant vigil on your part in monitoring the global supply and demand of crude oil. You will need to know which country supplies how much and what the productions quotas are for the time being. This is pretty scary stuff.

As a crude oil futures trader you will need to know how to handle the seasonal cycle in the oil market as well as the weekly cycle. Now every week usually on Wednesday the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) releases their weekly supply data reports. If you want to trade crude oil futures than you should know Mark Soberman! What you need to do is click on the link on the left that says FREE EVIL GENIUS TRADING KIT. This trading kit is from Mark Soberman. Don't worry its 100% safe and legal. You only need to come out of your comfort zone. Download the free kit and find a unique method to trade the crude oil futures! When a trend in the crude oil market develops, it may last for a few months to a year. It all depends on the global supply and demand situation of the crude oil. If you can spot a trend in the crude oil market in its early stage and ride it till its reversal, you can make a good profit. Now, just keep this in mind that crude oil prices are highly susceptible to global geopolitical situation and react violently to any political global uncertainty. - 23314

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