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Kottke Commodities – Little U.S. Business in Wake of Flood Rally
Between late June and end-July, U.S. agricultural prices traced an extraordinarily wide and rapid boom-and-bust, wild even for futures markets. The managers felt well-positioned in corn bullspreads, which did little despite the sharp changes in expectations for supply tightness; apparently it all occurred so fast that the commercial grain business was too frozen to assess and re-position. As December corn rose 90c per bushel in reaction to widespread flooding east of the Mississippi River, and then, après deluge, abruptly fell back 75c, the December-March spread narrowed only a scant 2c and then reversed by as much. The result was a crummy month for us.
12 Questions to Ask Before Selecting a Commodity Trading Advisor
Here is a list that I’ve developed for Individual investors to know the answers to or ask before investing their risk capital with a Commodity Trading Advisor or Professional Money Manager. This checklist is ever evolving as new information comes to light or the dynamics change in the market place. Our hope in providing this […]
IASG May 2015 Performance Results
We have reached the end of June 2015 and compiled nearly 100% of the manager data for May 2014. With five months of performance on record, the IASG CTA Index has turned negative YTD (Past Performance not indicative of future results). We anticipate this trend will hold for the remainder of the month as investors focus now […]
What are Carrying Charges and how do they influence hedging decisions?
In order to fully get the “error” in selling grain at harvest and then buying calls to replace that grain, so as to still participate in possible higher prices you need to understand how carrying charges work in the grain markets. The definition of “carrying charges” is: an expense or effective cost arising from unproductive […]
Advantages & Disadvantages of Call Options for Hedgers & Speculators
Buying (Long) a Call Option: A basic option strategy to be familiar with and learn the advantages and disadvantages of is buying a Call Option (Long Call). Buying a call option is the opposite of buying a put option in that buying a call gives you the right, but not the obligation, to buy the […]
Understanding Risk-to-Reward Ratios in Trading: A Key Factor for Success
When you trade the markets, you don’t know the exact probability of winning or losing on a given trade. You won’t know how much you will profit or lose. A CTA does extensive historical testing on their concepts and trading strategies to understand what to expect. They will also pull huge data samples of market […]
Protecting Yourself in a Locked Limit Market: Utilizing Synthetic Futures Positions
A futures or commodity market is a “locked limit” when trading is suspended due to prices moving the exchange-stipulated daily limit. This can happen for one day (it can even lock-limit and then trade-off), or if given a news event monumental, the market may stay “locked” for as many days as needed for market participants […]
Bulls Being Lured in With Dropping Rig Counts
CNBC is running out of credible, bullish analysts on the oil complex. The calls for $65+ WTI seem relatively sparse. Is anybody in their right mind still thinking crude oil is going higher? Of course. We all know Keynes’ saying, “The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.” But seriously, how much […]
Measuring the Edge of Entry Signals in Trading
When a CTA or Money Manager is testing or back-testing their entry signals, one of the most important aspects they look at is if the technique’s they are using have a distinct “edge” for the time frame they are trading (short-term, swing, long-term, etc.). Positive price movement is when the market goes in the direction […]
The 4 Biggest Errors in Trading a CTA Could Make
Success in trading is measured in terms of the growth of the account balance. A CTA is not expected to play God and call every twist and turn in the market correctly at all times. As a matter of fact, some professional and proven CTA’s systems are only correct 25-30% of the time and they […]
Nat Gas: Summer Weather and Hurricane Season Begins
Written by: Bryen Deutsch The time has come for natural gas traders to refocus on US weather outlooks. June 1st marks the official start of hurricane season. While we did see an early season storm on the Atlantic seaboard a few weeks ago, the bulk of cyclone activity occurs during the next 6 months. The […]
Six Keys To Trading A Commodity Trading Advisor Knows That You May Not…
Most professional CTA’s look and think about trading in a much different way than an average trader or investor would, and the reason for this is not hard to understand. If a CTA is successful what it means to me is that they have dedicated their lives to the craft. Every trader wants to be […]
Are You Interested in Becoming a Commodity Trading Advisor?
Services for CTAs Grow Your Business With Us You’re busy honing and perfecting your trades and strategies; you don’t have a lot of time for client acquisition or back office management. IASG can help. List your programs FREE on IASG.com and you’ll be introducing yourself to thousands of potential new customers and partnering with an […]