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Learn How to Trade Commodities (Collection)

Learn How to Trade Commodities (Collection)

by Carley Garner, George Kleinman
Publisher: PH Professional Business
Release Date: April 2013
ISBN: 9780133444087
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Book Description

A brand new collection of high-profit commodity trading techniques and insights

All the knowledge you need to start earning consistent profits in commodities trading!

You can make huge profits by trading commodities – if you know how. You must know how these markets work, how they’re different, where the risks are hidden, and how to avoid the mistakes too many beginners make. You need realistic, up-to-the-minute strategies, skills, and knowledge from experts who trade commodities every single day. This unique 2 book package delivers all that. In A Trader’s First Book on Commodities: An Introduction to the World’s Fastest Growing Market, Second Edition, Carley Garner offers specific and current guidance on accessing commodity markets cost-effectively, and systematically improving your odds of successful, profitable trades. Garner covers new trading platforms, contracts, fees, and strategies, and offers a clear-eyed look at today’s realities, including the scandalous failures of MF Global and PFG Best. Drawing on extensive experience teaching traders, Garner shows how to calculate profit, loss, and risk in commodities; and choose the best brokerage firm, service level, data sources, and more. She demystifies the industry’s colorful language, helps you clearly understand every trade you make, walks you through the entire process, and illuminates everything from logistics to psychology. Next, in Trading Commodities and Financial Futures, A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering the Markets, Fourth Edition, George Kleinman introduces powerful new trend-based techniques for identifying trades that fit right into your “sweet spot” for profits. You’ll learn how these markets have changed—and how to successfully use discipline to avoid today’s “shark-infested waters.” Building on 30+ years of success, Kleinman offers updated coverage of electronic trading, new contracts, and advanced techniques, including his exclusive Pivot Indicator approach. You’ll learn how to develop the deep discipline that characterizes all winning commodities and futures traders, as you gain critical knowledge about each leading market, including agricultural commodities, energy, metals, soft commodities, and financials. Kleinman helps you master today’s most valuable technical analysis tools for trading commodities, and even reveals 25 indispensable trading secrets of the pros.

From world-renowned commodities trading expertsGeorge Kleinman and Carley Garner

Table of Contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Table of Contents
  4. Trading Commodities and Financial Futures: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering the Markets
    1. Copyright Page
    2. Praise for Trading Commodities and Financial Futures, Third Edition
    3. Dedication Page
    4. Important Risk Disclosures
    5. Acknowledgments
    6. About the Author
    7. Introduction
    8. 1. The Four Essentials
      1. Do you have what it takes?
      2. Patience
      3. Knowledge
      4. Guts
      5. Health and rest
    9. 2. How to Become a Successful Trader
    10. 3. A Diabolical Story
    11. 4. The Futures Primer
      1. Futures markets and the futures contract
      2. It is as easy to sell “short” as to buy “long”
      3. Margin and leverage
      4. Delivery months
      5. Brokers and commissions
      6. The players
      7. Basis risk
      8. The short hedge
      9. The long hedge
      10. The basis
      11. Speculators versus hedgers
      12. How is the price determined?
      13. Order placement
      14. Another true story
    12. 5. The Options Course
      1. An options primer
      2. An option for what?
      3. Advantages and disadvantages of options
      4. Types of options
      5. Strike prices
      6. Styles of options
      7. How are option prices quoted?
      8. Buy ’em and sell ’em
      9. Advantages and disadvantages of selling options
      10. How options work
      11. How are option prices determined?
      12. How changes in the price of the underlying commodity change an option’s premium
      13. Exercising profitable options
      14. Should you ever exercise an option?
      15. If selling options puts the odds in my favor, why not do it?
      16. Options as a hedging tool
      17. Stock index options
      18. Advanced option strategies
      19. Straddles and strangles
      20. Ratios
      21. Eight winning option trading rules
    13. 6. The Intermediate Trading Course (Or Just Enough Knowledge to Be Dangerous!)
      1. Fundamental analysis
      2. Technical analysis
      3. Which is best: fundamental or technical analysis?
      4. The 4 futures groupings
      5. Financial futures
      6. Energies
      7. Agriculturals
      8. Metals
      9. Continuing your commodity trading education
      10. Contrary opinion theory
      11. Spreads
    14. 7. Algorithms Eliminating People
      1. Open outcry is dead
      2. Rogue algos
      3. Exploding volatility
      4. Speeds accelerating
      5. Melding the old with the new
      6. Panics, manias, and bubbles
      7. Explosive commodity demand
    15. 8. The Advanced Trading Course
      1. Fundamentals versus technicals
      2. Does technical analysis really work?
      3. The trend is your friend
      4. Basic chart analysis
      5. The trendline
      6. Trend channels
      7. Support and resistance
      8. Breakouts from consolidation
      9. Additional classic chart patterns
      10. Volume
      11. Open interest
      12. RSI
      13. Stochastics
      14. Elliot wave analysis
      15. Point and figure charts
      16. Japanese candlestick charts
      17. Spreads—a valuable forecasting tool
      18. Head and shoulders
      19. GK’s significant news indicator
      20. Breaking par
    16. 9. The Moving Averages Primer
      1. Bottom pickers versus trend followers
      2. A moving picture
      3. The simple moving average
      4. How many days should you use in your moving average?
      5. Alternatives to the SMA
      6. Exponential and weighted moving averages
      7. Natural numbers
    17. 10. GK’s Pivot Indicator
      1. Generating the buy signal
      2. Generating the sell signal
      3. The pivot indicator method in practice
      4. Diversification
    18. 11. And Finally
      1. Determining your motive
      2. Overcoming the six hurdles to trading success
      3. Developing the winning touch
      4. If you don’t feel right, you won’t trade right
      5. Jesse’s secret
      6. Comments or questions?
    19. Appendix. 25 Trading Secrets of the Pros
      1. Secret 1: The trend is your friend!
      2. Secret 2: When a market is cheap or a market is expensive, there probably is a good reason
      3. Secret 3: The best trades are the hardest to do
      4. Secret 4: Have a plan before you trade and then work it
      5. Secret 5: Be aggressive
      6. Secret 6: No regrets
      7. Secret 7: Money management is the key
      8. Secret 8: Success comes easier when you specialize
      9. Secret 9: Patience pays
      10. Secret 10: Guts are as important as patience and more important than money
      11. Secret 11: The “tape” (quotes) will trick you
      12. Secret 12: Be skeptical
      13. Secret 13: Be time cognizant
      14. Secret 14: Watch the reaction to “the news”
      15. Secret 15: Never trade when you’re sick, worried, or tired
      16. Secret 16: Overtrading: your greatest enemy
      17. Secret 17: Keep a cool head during blow-offs
      18. Secret 18: Never let a good profit turn into a loss
      19. Secret 19: When in doubt, get out
      20. Secret 20: Spread your risks by diversification
      21. Secret 21: Pyramid the correct way
      22. Secret 22: Watch for breakouts from consolidation
      23. Secret 23: Go with the relative strength
      24. Secret 24: Limit moves are important indicators of support and resistance
      25. Secret 25: Never average a loss
    20. Index
    21. Financial Times Press
  5. A Trader’s First Book on Commodities: An Introduction to the World’s Fastest Growing Market, Second Edition
    1. Copyright Page
    2. Praise for A Trader’s First Book on Commodities, First Edition
    3. Dedication Page
    4. Acknowledgments
    5. About the Author
    6. Introduction: The Boom and Bust Cycles of Commodities...and Now Brokerage Firms
      1. What Has Changed?
      2. The Speculator’s Role in Volatility
      3. Commodity Volatility Leads to Fortunes Made and Lost
      4. Commodity Brokers Boom and Bust Too
      5. How to Protect Yourself from Another MF Global or PFGBEST
      6. What Regulators Are Doing to Protect Clients
      7. Conclusion
    7. Chapter 1. A Crash Course in Commodities
      1. How It All Began
      2. The CME Group
      3. Evolution of the Forward Contract into a Futures Contract
      4. Cash Market Versus Futures Market
      5. Contract Expiration
      6. The Mechanics of Futures Contracts
      7. Futures Spreads
      8. A Brief Introduction to Commodity Options
    8. Chapter 2. Hedging Versus Speculating
      1. Commodity Hedgers
      2. Commodity Speculators
    9. Chapter 3. The Organized Chaos of Open Outcry and the Advent of Electronic Trading
      1. The Pit
      2. Electronically Traded Markets
      3. Side by Side
    10. Chapter 4. Account Access, Trading Platforms, and Quote Vendors
      1. Commodity Quotes Can Be Costly, But They Don’t Have to Be
      2. Open Outcry Quote Reporting and Access
      3. Electronic Quote Transmission
      4. Subscribing to Quotes
      5. Charting
      6. Free Trading Platforms and Market Access
      7. Paid Trading Platforms
      8. Auto Approval Versus Manual Approval
      9. Multiple Order-Entry Methods
      10. Popular Premium Trading Platforms
      11. Order Desk (“The Desk”)
      12. Is It Worth Paying Platform Fees or Subscribing to Quotes?
    11. Chapter 5. Choosing a Brokerage Firm
      1. Introducing Brokers, Futures Commission Merchants, and Broker/Dealers
      2. Fill Quality
      3. Behind the Scenes of Transaction Costs
      4. Discount Brokerage or Full-Service Specialization
      5. What You Should Know About Commission Structure: Blanket or Variable Rates?
      6. Market Access
      7. Beyond Your Broker
      8. Conclusion
    12. Chapter 6. Finding a Broker That Fits and Choosing a Service Level
      1. Understand Your Broker’s Business
      2. Get to Know Your Futures Broker
      3. Full-Service Broker or Self-Directed Online?
      4. Why Using a Broker May Be a Good Idea
      5. Conclusion
    13. Chapter 7. Order Types and How to Use Them
      1. Order Types
      2. Placing a Trade with Your Broker
      3. Placing a Trade Online
    14. Chapter 8. Making Cents of Commodity Quotes
      1. Quoting Grain Futures
      2. Not All Grains Are Created Equal
      3. The Meats
      4. Foods and Fiber
      5. Precious Metals Futures
      6. Gold, Platinum, and Palladium Futures
      7. The Other Metal Futures
      8. The Energies
    15. Chapter 9. Figuring in Financial Futures—Stock Indices, Interest Rates, and Currencies
      1. The Boring But Necessary Basics
      2. Stock Index Futures
      3. Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures
      4. NASDAQ 100 Futures
      5. S&P 500 Futures
      6. Russell 2000 Futures
      7. Interest Rate Futures
      8. Treasury Bond and Note Futures
      9. Eurodollar Futures
      10. Currency Futures
      11. Conclusion
    16. Chapter 10. Coping with Margin Calls
      1. What Is Margin?
      2. Day Trading Margin Versus Overnight Margin
      3. What Are Margin Calls?
      4. How to Handle a Margin Call
      5. The Margin Call Countdown
      6. Accepting Margin Calls
    17. Chapter 11. The Only Magic in Trading—Emotional Stability
      1. Three Emotions in Trading: Fear, Greed, Frustration
      2. Vengeful Trading Is Counterproductive
      3. Capital Preservation, a.k.a. Risk Management
    18. Chapter 12. Trading Is a Business—Have a Plan
      1. The Trading Game Plan
      2. A Trading System Alone Isn’t a “Business Plan”
      3. Constructing a Business Plan in Trading
      4. Price Speculation (Ideally, Prediction)
      5. Choosing a Trading Vehicle
      6. Risk Management
    19. Chapter 13. Why You Should Speculate in Futures
      1. Speculating in Futures Versus Speculating in Equities
      2. Risk Capital Only
      3. Conclusion
    20. Chapter 14. Futures Slang and Terminology
      1. Bull Versus Bear
      2. Spread
      3. Contract Month Slang
      4. Red Months
      5. Fill
      6. Blow Out
      7. Blow Up
      8. Keypunch Error
      9. Busted Trade or Moved Trade
      10. Fat Finger Error
      11. Net Liq
      12. Equity
      13. Customer Segregated Funds Account
      14. Beans
      15. Commodity Currency
      16. Dead Cat Bounce
      17. Bottom Fishing
      18. Chasing the Market
      19. Limit Moves
      20. The Tape
      21. Trading Solution and Front-End Platform
      22. Proprietary Trading
      23. Running Stops
      24. Short Squeeze
      25. Babysitting
      26. Scalp
      27. Slippage
      28. Working Order
      29. Unable
      30. Handle
      31. Overbought/Oversold
      32. Debit/Account Debit
      33. Round-Turns
      34. Trading Environment
    21. Index
    22. FT Press