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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Are You A Futures Trader? (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Apart from professional traders and speculators, futures trading is done by most of the people like you and me who are interested in making money in the markets. Like stocks, Buy low and sell high, is the basic premise in futures trading as well.

What is different in futures trading from stock trading? The fact that you can trade futures with leverage on either long or the short positions introduces an additional element of risk not present in the stock market.

Another major difference that you need to know between futures trading and stock trading is that there is no uptick rule in futures trading. This means that you can easily enter into a position to capture a downward move in prices with no restriction unlike that in the stock market where you cannot short every stock. Thus, it is as easy to sell short as it is to buy long.

Even when you are not particularly good at it, how do you manage to survive at futures trading? The answer is simple. You should have the money first to open a margin account. Then you should have the ability to develop a trading plan that enables you to keep making money in the market long enough to capitalize your next big move. How do you become good at futures trading? By learning technical analysis!

In nutshell, it means that you wont be able to trade futures if you dont have enough money. And you wont last long in the market if you dont have a good trading plan. The chances are your money will quickly disappear.

You must know this thing that only 5% of the futures traders succeed and 95% of the people trading futures lose money consistently. You need to have at least $25,000 in your account in order to start trading futures. However, $5,000 is the minimum with which you can start trading futures.

Make sure that you understand the risks involved and that you go into trading futures contracts with realistic expectations when you start trading futures. If you are not sure how to handle the risk involved in futures trading, you can take advantage of the managed futures accounts.

In short, you need money, patience, knowledge and technology to be able to trade futures contracts. Trading futures contracts is truly a hybrid that uses both fundamental and technical analysis.

You need to know the futures contract specifications and seasonal tendencies of the markets. The fundamental side of futures trading involves getting to know the industry in which you are making trades. You should also know the important report that you need to keep an eye on.

You should determine your trading style. Are you are scalper? Are you a day trader? Are you a swing trader or are you a position trader? You will need to develop your own trading style whether it is momentum trading, scalping, day trading or swing trading. Your personality will determine your trading style. Now, the technical side of futures trading tells you what the market will do in response to the fundamentals.

Once you know your trading goals, establish a trading plan for getting there. Dont try to conquer every type of analysis at once. Instead, focus on mastering one item at a time"maybe concentrating only on chart patterns such as bull and bear flags, for instance. - 23212

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