Inventory Increase Sees Oil Prices Soar

By Lee Mel

New data on the level of crude supplies was released by the Energy Information Administration today and helped oil prices cruise to their highest level of 2010, before a quick pullback later in the trading session.

The Oil price contract for April delivery reached $83.03 in early trading on Wednesday as traders showed delight in the new data. A 1.4 million barrel increase was reported in crude last week for a 343 million barrel total inventory level.

According to the Platts survey of analysts, the expectation had been for 2.1 million barrels. The much lower than anticipated level of inventory triggered an immediate upward reaction in trade as investors saw the lower than expected number as a sign of increased demand.

Many analysts quickly pointed out that despite the smaller than expected inventory, on the whole, crude levels are still extremely high for the current oil price point. Speculators apparently agreed as after the immediate run up to $82, oil prices pulled back in the later morning of New York trade to draw near Tuesday's settle price near $81.50.

OPEC, an amalgamation of the world's largest oil producing and exporting nations, says a stable global economy for the remainder of the year should see an increase in demand of over 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

OPEC would prefer that oil prices remain at current levels, or go even higher. However, real data continues to suggest modest demand in oil-based products in the US. Business and consumers are still hesitant to begin traveling and transporting at pre-recession levels. Without significant gains in US oil demand, it is hard to imagine OPEC's forecast would hold true.

Several lanalysts are continuing to call the current oil price levels(which are 17 per cent greater over the last month) too high based on supply and demand. Inventory data continues to remain near historical highs and OPEC has decided not to intervene greatly by significantly cutting production to drive oil prices higher.

Still a major catalyst for the current firmness in oil prices appears to be its correlation with US stocks and the general sentiment of economic recovery in progress. Investors appear confident that at some point, the improved economy will shine through and generate more oil consumption by business and consumers. - 31869

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Visit LiveCharts.Co.Uk for live Oil prices and live spot Gold price.

A New Investment Strategy: Time

By Nelson Pellew

Getting the better of the markets is never a straightforward proposition. Investments can be a problematic prospect, especially for the average investor whose only aim in to grow his or her nest egg. Indeed, in some regards these investors are the backbone of the industry. That being said, they can also be some of its most dramatic victims. One mismanaged trade can be the ruin of any fortune -- and often is.

For this reason alone, many go-it-alone investors prefer to add a new dimension to their investment strategy: time. To the uninitiated, this means they prefer to trade in futures. This means investors can utilize traditional commodities or E-mini index funds to leverage the projected value of commodities at some point in the future -- hence the name.

Given the fact that futures trading is not bound by the open and close of Wall Street, an investor can enjoy the privilege of round-the-clock trading via any global exchange. To be sure, the futures trader does not look to New York as much as he or she looks to the Second City, Chicago. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is the mecca future traders turn to seek their fortunes.

It should be noted that although futures allow for greater investment flexibility, they require ready access to significant amounts of liquid capital. That is, they require access to cash -- and lots of it. This is so because should your E-minis drop below the CME margin call, you will be required to ante-up, as it were. You can't take your place at the roulette wheel unless you can afford to buy the placards, you see.

What futures promise -- and often deliver to the savvy strategist -- is the potential for dramatic gains. With a handful of E-minis, some commodities traders can reap a veritable financial whirlwind. Of course, this is subject to training and it would be in the best interests of the would-be futures traders to enroll in a futures trading course before embarking on too rigorous a trading regiment. - 31869

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Heed the better part of your good sense and enroll in a reputable futures trading course prior to frittering away your hard-earned capital.

Futures: Soft Markets and Lots of Leveraging Power

By Nelson Pellew

Stocks are temporary loans, for all intents and purposes. You acquire a certain amount, based upon your wherewithal, and then you take possession of a certain amount of certificates entitling you to the value of your investment. When the market value of these stocks increases, you can sell your stocks for the market value, entitling you to the difference. Hence, when yours stocks "go up" you make a profit. But, when your stocks lose value, you quite clearly lose value as well.

Hard stocks, however, lead to hard losses. You may prefer the softer margins of the futures market. To begin this volatile career as a futurist, you need only pony up to the margins set by each commodity on the market. So, for instance, you like that the margin (think of margins as ante in a poker game) for wheat - or let's say sugar. The initial investment margin for a commodity, therefore, may be $5,000 or so.

Once you have invested the initial margin amount you may begin to wheel and deal using smaller increments known as e-minis. Now, it may help you to think of this margin in term of your own home. Imagine putting down 20% of your home's value in order to steer its potential open market value. Heady stuff, indeed. But be wary and stay focused or you will suffer the fate of many a day trader in the 1990s.

Now, thanks in part to the Online Trading Academy, let's indulge in a borrowed example. Let us presume that a given e-mini trading price is valued at $980. The market value is computed by taking the dollar value per e-mini point ($50) and multiplying it by the last trading price. Thus, $980 multiplied by $50 equals $49,000. Now, say the initial margin value, as set by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, is $5,625. This means for $5,625 you can determine a futures contract worth $49,000. This represents a 9:1 leverage ratio.

This tremendous leveraging power, however, comes at the cost of liquid capital. Replenishing undervalued or depleted e-minis means having instant access to cash. Your Roth IRA or trust fund will do you no good. If the market moves against your futures, you will be responsible for meeting your margins should they fall below market value. Failure to do so will handicap your ability to trade as quickly and lucratively as you might like. - 31869

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Read more at article source: Futures: Soft Markets and Lots of Leveraging Power

Future Trading And Commodities Tips

By Greg Luros

When you want to start an own business and be certain of whether its legit, then you must consider looking the commodities supplied by the future trading commission. The future trading commission provides you with all secure facilities from keeping a check at the business plan you've got to the time you start your business. There are lots of things you have got to look when you pick a choice to start a business on your own. It's correct that these commodities future trading are not absolutely without any risk.

you must bear in mind to have detailed info of what's going down and what can occur so that your money invested is safe. With the help of these future trading commissions you can get help to understand the danger factors concerned in your business. These establishments are well experienced and you can always depend on the info they supply. Well let's talk about the possible risk factors that can influence your commodity future trading and what these establishments would suggest. Few folk new in this sort of trading don't comprehend the significance of agreements they sign. Often what we see is these folk do not consider the debt which they have recently set while the contract was made.

Occasionally this occurs when the trade is closed before hand. These institutes have given some proposals to stop the above situation. According to them if you habitually keep a watch on the exchanges which have been done between the parties then you can stop such situation. Masses of companies also outsource their roles to other parties. And once to get the above information then you won't be in a position to back off from the original agreement. Few things which are out of your control are the variations in these markets. And if the later happens then it's obvious that your business get actually badly influenced. And to avoid such drastic losses the establishment provides you with enough help. They'll then ask you to use those stop loss orders so that your risk levels are less.

It's going to be of benefit for the business man to use these ideas for a better trade result.

The most clearly done thing by the new traders will be waiting until the the stock costs rise.

If you wait for the stocks to go high again you'll finish up saving nothing. Like you have risk in your credit card here too there are the same risk factors concerned. Some times what occurs is either one party decided to manipulate the IRs when they start realizing that the stocks in the market will be changing. Due to this, it's extremely crucial to have a track about the transactions manufactured by the other traders. The smartest thing will be to make a contract in such a fashion the other parties once agreed on the primary agreement will not have the opportunity to change it. Therefore it becomes vital to follow these commissions for trading business as you'll save your money or investments in your trade.

In this trading where you aren't certain if it is going to achieve success all time but what you may be sure of is that you may be on safe side by taking help from these corporations. - 31869

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Looking to find more information on commodity future trading, then visit http://www.commodityfuturetrading.org

Futures Trading Like The Turtles Can Make You Rich!

By Ahmad Hassam

Financial markets are huge. Daily billions of dollars change hands in these markets when different financial instruments change hands. You can trade stocks. You can trade bonds. Ever heard of the futures market and futures trading? Well, futures are a security just like stocks and bonds. Stocks give you the ownership in part of a company while bonds are issued by governments and companies to borrow money from the investors. Futures are somewhat different than stocks and bonds!

A futures contract is a legally binding contract between two parties with a set of conditions for the delivery of the underlying asset such as a commodity or a financial instrument at some specific date in the near future.

Futures market is a very important financial market that sets the prices in the retail and wholesale markets of commodities like wheat, corn,heating oil, oil, gasoline, gold, silver, cattle, soybeans, meat, hogs, coffee and many other foodstuff. Futures market was primarily developed for helping farmers hedge their risk while growing agricultural commodities. Agricultural commodities are a very important part of the futures market. Over the decades, futures contracts become popular on a host of other commodities and contracts.

Futures contracts are by design meant to limit the amount of time and risk exposure experienced by hedgers and speculators. What this means is that all futures contracts are time bound and at some point in the future they expire.

In the last decades, electronic trading has become highly popular among the traders. This includes futures as well. So, now you can easily trade these contracts by opening an account with a FCM brokerage and deposit an amount to start trading these contracts on margin. The minimum amount with most of the brokers is something like $5,000 but it can less too! Brokers allow leverage upto 10:1 when you trade on margin. Compare this to the leverage of 2:1 allowed by stock brokers.

In US, open outcry trading still takes place during the official hours at the different futures exchanges. However, most of these futures contracts also get traded electronically. GLOBEX allows electronic trading of most of these futures contracts 23 hours each day. Electronic trading provides a more level playing field, more price transparency and lower transaction costs.

CME, NYMEX and CBOT are the three most important Futures Exchanges. GLOBEX allows you to trade most of the contracts that get traded on these exchanges. The popular contracts that get traded on GLOBEX are the E-minis like the S&P 500, NASDAQ 100 and Dow. You can also trade E-mini gold futures as well as crude oil futures 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 quotes are real time. There are many contracts that you can trade and the possibilities of making money in futures trading are immense. Imagine the prices of crude oil going up again just like what happened in the summer of 2008! Futures trading can be highly profitable but risky as well. Before you dabble in them, you should paper trade these contracts for at least a month just to get a feel of how to do it. - 31869

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Know this shocking Dow Futures Secret that can make you rich! Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report Plus the Profit Button Report that applies no matter what you trade FREE!

The Future of Futures

By Nelson Pellew

When one acquires a certain amount of stocks, based upon the market price, one is entitled to an equivalent amount of certificates entitling one to the aforementioned investment. When the market value of these stocks increases, you can sell your stocks for the market value, entitling you to the difference. Hence, when yours stocks "go up" you make a profit. But, when your stocks lose value, you quite clearly lose value as well.

Now, rather than deal with hard market of stocks, you could opt for the softer market of futures. To begin your career as a futurist, you need only pony up to the margins set by each commodity on the market. So, for instance, you like that the margin (think of margins as ante in a poker game) for wheat -- or let's say sugar. The margin for a commodity may be $5,000 or so.

Once you have invested the initial margin amount you may begin to wheel and deal using smaller increments known as e-minis. Now, it may help you to think of this margin in term of your own home. Imagine putting down 20% of your home's value in order to steer its potential open market value. Heady stuff, indeed. But be wary and stay focused or you will suffer the fate of many a day trader in the 1990s.

Courtesy of the Online Trading Academy, let's indulge in a brief, but informative example. Let us presume that a given e-mini trading price is valued at $980. The market value is computed by taking the dollar value per e-mini point ($50) and multiplying it by the last trading price. Thus, $980 multiplied by $50 equals $49,000. Now, say the initial margin value is $5,625. This means for $5,625 you can determine a futures contract worth $49,000. This represents a 9:1 leverage ratio.

The leveraging power of futures and e-minis is significant, but futures trading will require easy access to a great amount of liquid capital. Your IRA or trust fund will do you no good. If the market moves against your futures, you will be responsible for meeting your margins should they fall below market value. Failure to do so will handicap your ability to trade as quickly and lucratively as you might like. - 31869

About the Author:

The futures market is a market ripe with e-mini trading potential. To experience the leveraging power of the futures market, one must have the viable skills to make it a lucrative endeavor. Best of luck.

What Are Trend Following Indicators?

By Gery Lermann

Looking into trend following indicators which is a way that people will use to invest in the stock market. This strategy will be used to compare how stocks have done in the past, the trend of ways they have moved on the stock market.

Using this method will be a way that people will know how and when to invest in the right stocks. Which will offer the best chance at profits, and how well they have done in the past will be figured into that strategy.

When traders do this type of method they will not be forecasting the stocks and what is going to happen. Instead they are simply following a trend that has been shown in the past. Looking to the current prices of the stock, equity levels and what the market's current volatility. Those are the main components that will be used by the trader when using this method.

Not a method that will be used on new stock that hasn't yet established any trend, but on those old standbys that have been around for a while. Price is always a top consideration when using trend following indicators. When a trader is using this method they will try and use indicators to figure ups and downs in the market.

It will need to be decided how much will be traded during the trend and how long it lasts. When the market is at a higher volatility level size of trading will be reduced in order to cut losses. With trend following indicators, time and price will always be of highest importance.

Using trend following indicators will allow you to answer the questions that follow. How to enter the market and at what time, the amount of shares you going to trade at each time. Money you will spend on each trade, cutting losses when it's not profitable, and how to handle a profitable trade. - 31869

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Find more on best trend following system and trend following systems.