September 28th, 2018 - Issue #938
In This Issue
1. Trading 202: Day Trading Crude Oil Futures Techniques
2. Hot Market Report: Unleaded Gasoline Making Another Leg Higher
3. Economic Calendar
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1. Day Trading Commodities with Crude Oil Futures
Crude Oil Futures volatility offers a "different market personality" than stock index futures. Here is some of the things you need to know about day trading crude oil futures:
By: Ilan Levy-Mayer, Cannon Trading Commodities Broker & VPCrude Oil is one of MY favorite futures market for day trading. Before I dive in and share with you how the volatility in crude oil fits my risk tolerance for day trading and provide a couple of chart examples, we should review some of the specifications of Crude Oil Futures.
Crude Oil Futures have monthly expiration. So each month we trade a different contract month, so one needs to know when is the first notice day and last trading day for crude oil futures in order to always make sure we are trading the proper month with the most liquidity and avoid any chance of getting into delivery situation.
Next is the contract size. Crude Oil futures are based on 1000 barrels. To be honest from a day trading perspective all I care is that each tick or 1 cent fluctuation is $10 against me or in my favor per contract. That means that a move from 92.94 to 92.74 = $200.
Another factor is trading hours. At the time I am sharing my thoughts with you, April 8th 2013, crude oil futures trade on the CME Globex platform and trade from 5 PM CDT until the next day at 4 PM CDT. That is 23 of straight trading hours. I definitely don't recommend day trading this market 23 hours...but it is good to know the trading hours.
Volume in crude oil futures is pretty good to trade in my opinion. Averaging about 300,000 contracts per day.
One last pointer to touch on is the API (American Petroleum Institute) report that normally comes out Wednesday at 9:30 CDT (on short weeks, holidays etc. , this report will be pushed to Thursday at 10 AM CDT). I tell my clients that this report is way too volatile and I like to be out 5 minutes before and not resume trading 5 minutes until after the report comes out. This report by itself deserves a writing but on short, the report provides information on how our stock pile is doing ( = supply/demand) and the market will move based on the numbers versus what was expected. Again as a day trader, your main job is to know about this report, when it comes out and in my opinion stay out of the market during this time..Fill out the form below to read the full article.
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Day Trading Crude Oil
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2. Hot Market Report: Unleaded Gasoline Making Another Leg Higher
By Ilan Levy-Mayer, VPClick on image below to enlarge
Unleaded Gasoline is part of the enery sector along with "it's" brothers crude oil and heating oil and cousin, natural gas. All traded on the NYMEX/GLOBEX exchange.
Daily chart from this morning, (Sept. 28th 2018). Note we approaching major resistance at 212.68. A blue, slanted arrow from a few days ago, suggests we may have another leg up in a bulish trending market.
Elliot Wave counts marks possible next waves both if we contniue higher (-3-)or if the market experience profit taking (-4-)
This chart was prepared using CQG Q Trader software, which you can demo for 14 days with realtime data.
To access a free trial to the ALGOS shown in the chart along with other tools, visit and sign up for a free trial for 21 days with real-time data.
From the fundamental perspective, the situation with Iran along with Trump and OPEC butting heads helps volatility and makes this market a bit "jumpy". If you are a longer term trader, try to avoid the intraday noise. While driving season is over and we are now entering the "heating season", which is more applicable for heating oil, the overall energy sector is currently strong.
Unleaded Gasoline Specs
Hours ( Central Time): 5:00 PM previous day to 4:00 PM next day.
Margins: ( as of the date of this newsletter) $3100 initial, $2800 Maint.
Contract Size: 42,000 galons
Point Value: full point = $420 ( Example: 218.80 to 219.80 ). Min fluctuation is 0.01 = $4.2 ( Example: 218.80 to 218.81) Settlement: Deliverable, FND is last business day preceding the contract month
Months: Monthly, every month
Weekly Options: YES
Some of the basic fundamentals to keep in mind when you are considering a trade in the Unleaded Gasoline as well as other energies:
1. Primary driver of Unleaded prices is the price of Crude Oil
2. Dates and times of important reports. Namely, Tuesday afternoon report (API) and the DOE report on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 Am EST
3. Weather and Seasonality
4. Number of Refineries operating and any major outages of refineries
5. US and Global supply and demand picture
Our brokers here at Cannon will be happy to chat about the Unleaded market, other energies, other futures, options, futures spreads and much more! Feel free to contact us at any time.
3. Economic Calendar
Source: Moore Research Center, Inc.
| Date | Reports | Expiration & Notice Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 09/28 Fri |
7:30 AM CDT - PCE Prices(Aug)
7:30 AM CDT - PCE Prices-Core(Aug) 7:30 AM CDT - Personal Income & Spending(Aug) 8:45 AM CDT - Chicago PMI(Sep) 9:00 AM CDT - Michigan Sentiment-Final(Sep) 11:00 AM CDT - Grain Stocks 11:00 AM CDT - Small Grains Summary |
FN: Oct Copper(CMX)
Oct Gold & Silver(CMX) Oct Platinum & Palladium(NYM) Oct Soymeal & Soyoil(CBT) LT: Sep 2,5 Year Notes(CBT) Sep Fed Funds(CME) Oct RBOB & ULSD(NYM) Oct Sugar-11(ICE) Sep Fed Funds Options(CME) Oct Lumber Options(CME) |
| 10/01 Mon |
9:00 AM CDT - Construction Spending(Aug)
9:00 AM CDT - ISM Index(Sep) 2:00 PM CDT - Cotton System 2:00 PM CDT - Fats & Oils 2:00 PM CDT - Grain Crushings |
FN: Oct Sugar-11(ICE)
|
| 10/02 Tue |
1:00 PM CDT - Auto & Truck Sales(Sep)
3:30 PM CDT - API Energy Stocks |
FN: Oct RBOB & ULSD(NYM)
LT: Sep Butter(CME) Sep Milk(CME) Sep Butter Options(CME) Sep Milk Options(CME) |
| 10/03 Wed |
6:00 AM CDT - MBA Mortgage Purchase Index
7:15 AM CDT - ADP Employment Change(Sep) 9:00 AM CDT - ISM Services(Sep) 9:30 AM CDT - EIA Petroleum Status Report 2:00 PM CDT - Dairy Products Sales |
|
| 10/04 Thu |
7:30 AM CDT - USDA Weekly Export Sales
7:30 AM CDT - Initial Claims-Weekly 9:00 AM CDT - Factory Orders(Aug) 9:30 AM CDT - EIA Natural Gas Report 3:30 PM CDT - Money Supply |
|
| 10/05 Fri |
7:30 AM CDT - Ave Workweek & Hourly Earnings(Sep)
7:30 AM CDT - Nonfarm Payrolls(Sep) 7:30 AM CDT - Trade Balance(Aug) 7:30 AM CDT - Unemployment Rate(Sep) 2:00 PM CDT - Consumer Credit(Aug) |
LT: Oct Canadian Dollar Options(CME)
Oct Currencies Options(CME) Oct Mx Peso Options(CME) Oct Us Dollar Index Options(ICE) Oct Live Cattle Options(CME) Nov Cocoa Options(ICE) |
| 10/08 Mon |
COLUMBUS DAY
|
FN: Oct Live Cattle(CME)
LT: Nov Sugar-16(ICE) |
| 10/09 Tue |
|
FN: Nov Sugar-16(ICE)
LT: Oct Cotton(NYM) |
| 10/10 Wed |
6:00 AM CDT - MBA Mortgage Index
7:30 AM CDT - Core PPI & PPI(Sep) 9:00 AM CDT - Wholesale Inventories(Aug) 3:30 PM CDT - API Energy Stocks |
|
| 10/11 Thu |
7:30 AM CDT - Initial Claims-Weekly
7:30 AM CDT - Core CPI & CPI(Sep) 9:00 AM CDT - JOLTS-Job Openings(Aug) 9:30 AM CDT - EIA Natural Gas Report 10:00 AM CDT - EIA Petroleum Status Report 11:00 AM CDT - WASDE Report & Crop Production 2:00 PM CDT - Dairy Products Sales 3:30 PM CDT - Money Supply |
|
| FN=First Notice, OE=Option Expiration, LT=Last Trade | ||
* Please note that the information contained in this letter is intended for clients, prospective clients, and audiences who have a basic understanding, familiarity, and interest in the futures markets.
** The material contained in this letter is of opinion only and does not guarantee any profits. These are risky markets and only risk capital should be used. Past performances are not necessarily indicative of future results.
*** This is not a solicitation of any order to buy or sell, but a current market view provided by Cannon Trading Inc. Any statement of facts herein contained are derived from sources believed to be reliable, but are not guaranteed as to accuracy, nor they purport to be complete. No responsibility is assumed with respect to any such statement or with respect to any expression of opinion herein contained. Readers are urged to exercise their own judgment in trading!
