I have an old Hume & Associates booklet that tells how to trade sugar futures on margin, and using a sugar put option as insurance. The booklet is about 15 years old. Is this a viable strategy? Is it still feasible now? I can provide more details if necessary.
Here's a piece of advice, when it comes to trading, there are no real shortcuts. Take the strategy, get some data, and work the trade back 4 or 5 years, and see what you come up with. Then you will know whether it is still working, and then the question becomes, can you make money with it? Is the strategy tradeable, and can you trade the strategy? No substitute for hard work, the most profitable traders I know, while their methods vary quite a bit, they all have that one trait in common, they work the hardest.
Follow FullyArticulate's "advice". Pick one option or the other, not the synthetic. Sugar is perceived as having smoother trending capability. If you believe that, an option position with the primary trend would have better risk/reward than a futures position.
Sugar tends to have some very long term trends, partly due to the substantial time lag between ramping up (or down) supply to meet demand (sugarcane is a perennial, so there's at least a year delay before supply can be ramped up--some can be made up in sugar beets, which are annuals, but they represent only 25% of the supply). Trends tend to last years, so look for a change in the Supply/Demand balance before trying to get long on sugar.
At one time I had all Hume booklets ( about 30 in all). It was my second exposure to trading after my Ken Roberts fiasco (lost alot "fishing with options). I would not recommend anyone of them to you. Old strategies, different times before electronic trading. Simply put .....outdated. Best Regards, Dave