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Tag: futures trading

Entering into Futures Trading

Posted on by Ilan

Futures trading can be a rewarding investment for those with an in-depth understanding of a particular commodity. In essence, you will be buying or selling a commodity based on its future selling price. For example, if you can buy a futures contract at a low rate and sell it for a higher price, it’s possible to gain a significant profit in the transaction. But before wading into this highly speculative market, there are some things you will need to do and know about trading futures markets.

First, you will need to enter an agreement and create an account with a commodities broker. These brokers are licensed professionals who are allowed to trade in commodities on the trading floor of an exchange. Accordingly, they manage and mediate futures trading between buyers and sellers as well as keep track of the prices of futures contracts. Because of their knowledge of the market, they can help you make sound investments and recommend an investment strategy that suits your profile.

Continue reading “Entering into Futures Trading”

Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for May 16, 2013

Posted on by Ilan

Connect with Us! Use Our Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports RSS Feed.

Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterView our profile on LinkedInFind us on Google+Cannon Trading Futures Trading Resistance & Support Levels and Economic ReportsFind us on Yelp

1. Market Commentary
2. Futures Support and Resistance Levels – S&P, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, Dollar Index
3. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Gold, Euro, Crude Oil, T-Bonds
4. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Corn, Wheat, Beans, Silver
5. Futures Economic Reports for Thursday May 16, 2013

Hello Traders,

For 2013 I would like to wish all of you discipline and patience in your trading! 

 

We saw good volume across different markets today including better volume in the SP 500 than we saw in a while.
The most meaningful move in my opinion was in silver and gold and a daily chart of the gold market is below for your review:

Continue reading “Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for May 16, 2013”

Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for May 10, 2013

Posted on by Ilan

Connect with Us! Use Our Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports RSS Feed.

Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterView our profile on LinkedInFind us on Google+Cannon Trading Futures Trading Resistance & Support Levels and Economic ReportsFind us on Yelp

1. Market Commentary
2. Futures Support and Resistance Levels – S&P, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, Dollar Index
3. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Gold, Euro, Crude Oil, T-Bonds
4. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Corn, Wheat, Beans, Silver
5. Futures Economic Reports for Friday May 10, 2013

Hello Traders,

For 2013 I would like to wish all of you discipline and patience in your trading! 

 

Not much to write today but I could not believe this article…I guess each of us can make his/ hers own conclusions but to me this reads: ” something is not kosher”!

 

Continue reading “Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for May 10, 2013”

Trading Levels and Economic Reports for May 9, 2013

Posted on by Ilan

Connect with Us! Use Our Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports RSS Feed.

Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterView our profile on LinkedInFind us on Google+Cannon Trading Futures Trading Resistance & Support Levels and Economic ReportsFind us on Yelp

1. Market Commentary
2. Futures Support and Resistance Levels – S&P, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, Dollar Index
3. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Gold, Euro, Crude Oil, T-Bonds
4. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Corn, Wheat, Beans, Silver
5. Futures Economic Reports for Thursday May 9, 2013

Hello Traders,

For 2013 I would like to wish all of you discipline and patience in your trading! 

 

Not sure what to make out of the recent “mini rally” in stock index. Low volume or not, the bottom line is that prices are edging higher.

 

What I PERSONALLY don’t like, is the lack of volatility intraday and the tight ranges along with the feeling that the market is being “manipulated”. That being said, we all need to learn to trade different types of markets at different times and be able to take what the market gives us and not what we wish it would….

 

In between I am sharing a screen shot from the ONLY stock index future I had a successful set up in today…the Mini Russell:

 

FOMC + Trading Levels and Economic Reports for May 1, 2013

Posted on by Ilan

Connect with Us! Use Our Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports RSS Feed.

Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterView our profile on LinkedInFind us on Google+Cannon Trading Futures Trading Resistance & Support Levels and Economic ReportsFind us on Yelp

1. Market Commentary
2. Futures Support and Resistance Levels – S&P, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, Dollar Index
3. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Gold, Euro, Crude Oil, T-Bonds
4. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Corn, Wheat, Beans, Silver
5. Futures Economic Reports for Wednesday May 1, 2013

Hello Traders,

For 2013 I would like to wish all of you discipline and patience in your trading! 

The next 3 days can experience quite a bit of volatility in variety of markets.
We have ADP employment report tomorrow VERY early. Midday we will have FOMC. Thursday will start with rate decision over the EU and Friday is the monthly non farm payroll report. All these reports are market moving and will affect stock index futures, financials, metals, energies and other markets.

Continue reading “FOMC + Trading Levels and Economic Reports for May 1, 2013”

Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for April 25, 2013

Posted on by Ilan

Connect with Us! Use Our Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports RSS Feed.

Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterView our profile on LinkedInFind us on Google+Cannon Trading Futures Trading Resistance & Support Levels and Economic ReportsFind us on Yelp

1. Market Commentary
2. Futures Support and Resistance Levels – S&P, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, Dollar Index
3. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Gold, Euro, Crude Oil, T-Bonds
4. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Corn, Wheat, Beans, Silver
5. Futures Economic Reports for Wednesday April 24, 2013

Hello Traders,

For 2013 I would like to wish all of you discipline and patience in your trading! 

 

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:

Date: April 23, 2013


By: Ilan Levy-Mayer, Cannon Trading Commodities Broker & VP

 

Crude 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 100,000 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…Read Full Article.

 

 

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Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for April 24, 2013

Posted on by Ilan

Connect with Us! Use Our Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports RSS Feed.

Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterView our profile on LinkedInFind us on Google+Cannon Trading Futures Trading Resistance & Support Levels and Economic ReportsFind us on Yelp

1. Market Commentary
2. Futures Support and Resistance Levels – S&P, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, Dollar Index
3. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Gold, Euro, Crude Oil, T-Bonds
4. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Corn, Wheat, Beans, Silver
5. Futures Economic Reports for Wednesday April 24, 2013

Hello Traders,

For 2013 I would like to wish all of you discipline and patience in your trading! 

 

 Today we witnessed the possibility of erratic moves in the futures market.

From what I am reading, false rumors generated by hackers hit the news with: Explosions in the White House, Obama is hurt….
That resulted in the SP futures dropping 18 full points in matter of minutes.  An intraday chart of mini SP 500 for your review below. Note the huge price drop and volume between 12:06 and 12:12 central time.

That brings me to a point that I like to share, using “auto brackets when entering a trade”. This is my personal preference but when I enter day-trades, I like my software to immediately generate a stop and a limit**. I have the ability to modify these stops/ targets but at least I have orders in the system. This can help in situations like today, when different reports come out etc.

Most of our trading platforms have that ability of auto brackets and you can test drive two of my favorite platforms for free:

TransactAT

E-Futures

mini sp intraday chart

 

 

Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for April 11, 2013

Posted on by Ilan

 

Jump to a section in this post:

1. Market Commentary
2. Futures Support and Resistance Levels – S&P, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, Dollar Index
3. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Gold, Euro, Crude Oil, T-Bonds
4. Commodities Support and Resistance Levels – Corn, Wheat, Beans, Silver
5. Futures Economic Reports for Thursday April 11, 2013

Hello Traders,

For 2013 I would like to wish all of you discipline and patience in your trading! 

 

Daily Price Limit Methodology Now Effective 
Implemented Monday, April 8, 2013

Changes to the daily price limit methodology for CME and CBOT equity index futures went into effect Monday, April 8, 2013, in coordination with rollout of Market Wide Circuit Breaker changes in the underlying cash equity market. These changes were deferred from an earlier planned rollout date on February 4.

As previously announced, Market Wide Circuit Breakers, or trading halts, for cash equity markets are now determined by declines in the S&P 500 Index (vs. the Dow Jones Industrial Average). Trading halt levels are as follows:

 

Levels as of
April 8, 2013

Effective Hours of 
Levels as of April 8, 2013
Level 1

7%

8:30 a.m. CT – 3:00 p.m. CT
Level 2

13%
Level 3

20%
Overnight

5%

3:00 p.m. CT – 4:15 p.m. CT;
5:00 p.m. CT – 8:30 a.m. CT

 

In addition, we have coordinated the following changes to CME and CBOT stock index futures’ daily price limits methodology with the rule changes in the underlying markets:

  • Implementation of daily price limits on stock index futures contracts (switching from the quarterly price limits currently used)
  • Application of daily price limits each day starting at 5:00 p.m. CT.
  • Reference price for daily price limits for the next trade date based on the 3:00 p.m. CT futures price:
    • Width of the equity index futures price limit band is based on the underlying cash equity index closing value.
    • Daily stock index futures price limits are published on the CME Group website prior to the CME Globex open at 5:00 p.m. CT.

For more information, visit cmegroup.com/eqpricelimits

 

Continue reading “Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for April 11, 2013”

Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for April 10, 2013

Posted on by Ilan

 

Jump to a section in this post:

1. Market Commentary
2. Support and Resistance Levels – S&P, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, Dollar Index
3. Support and Resistance Levels – Gold, Euro, Crude Oil, T-Bonds
4. Support and Resistance Levels – Corn, Wheat, Beans, Silver
5. Economic Reports for Wednesday April 10, 2013

Hello Traders,

For 2013 I would like to wish all of you discipline and patience in your trading! 

This is the third time that SP futures touched against that 1568-1569 level. We backed down a few points before the close but I think it is important to see how we open tomorrow morning. If we can climb above 1570 then in my opinion we have good chances of visiting 1587 in the next few days or so. On the flip side, failure to do so for the third time can result in a much more meaningful sell off.

 

Daily chart of the mini SP 500 futures for your review below:

 

daily mini sp 500 chart

 

Continue reading “Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for April 10, 2013”

Futures Trading Levels and Economic Reports for April 9, 2013

Posted on by Ilan

 

Jump to a section in this post:

1. Market Commentary
2. Support and Resistance Levels – S&P, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, Dollar Index
3. Support and Resistance Levels – Gold, Euro, Crude Oil, T-Bonds
4. Support and Resistance Levels – Corn, Wheat, Beans, Silver
5. Economic Reports for Tuesday April 9, 2013

Hello Traders,

For 2013 I would like to wish all of you discipline and patience in your trading! 

I am getting excellent feedback on the daily email, information and trading levels and I appreciate it!

 

I would like to ask you for a small favor in return….
If you are a member on Elite trader and/ or use google plus –
Please take a moment to write a positive review on our services/ firm at:
http://www.elitetrader.com/br/?action=view&R_FirmID=229
https://plus.google.com/104474120507024800084/about

 

 

On a different note, earnings season is starting today and will play a role in the intraday moves/ overnight moves of stock index futures.

 

RISK DISCLOSURE: Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. The risk of loss in futures trading can be substantial, carefully consider the inherent risks of such an investment in light of your financial condition.