Chapter 9
Back to the Future: Getting a Grip on Futures and Options
IN THIS CHAPTER
Figuring out futures contracts
Trading on margin
Identifying market movements
Deciphering options contracts
Some investors think that “futures and options” and “commodities” are basically the same, but they’re not. Commodities are a class of assets that includes energy, metals, agricultural products, and similar items. Futures and options are investment vehicles through which you can invest in commodities. Think of it this way: If commodities were a place, futures and options would be the vehicle you’d use to get there. In addition to commodities, futures and options allow you to invest in a variety of other asset classes, such as stocks, indexes, currencies, bonds, and even interest rates, often referred to as financial futures.
In Wall Street lingo, futures and options are known as derivatives because they derive their value from an underlying financial instrument such as a stock, bond, or commodity. ...
Get Commodities For Dummies, 3rd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
