Due to several requests I've received over the last month or two, there is now a forum for those who trade commodity futures: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=41 I encourage those who trade these contracts to spread the word to others about this new forum. Oh, and thanks to those who suggested the idea.
Dear Sir, Thank you for your new Forum Please make the explanation less restrictive. When we trade commodity futures, in general we are not trading stock exchange futures. We do trade Meats, Energy, and Eurodollars futures. Here is a list of recent widely traded futures spreads that should be falling under the Commodity Futures heading that currently may not fit the description as metals or grains. Long June Hogs/Short July Pork Bellies Long May Feeder/Short June Live Cattle Long June Gasoline/Short June Heating Oil Long June Canadian Dollars/Short June Japanese Yen Long June British Pounds/Short June Swiss Francs Long July Gasoline/Short July Crude Oil Long June 10-year T-Notes/Short June 30-year T-Bonds Long March/Short "Red" March Eurodollars Long February/Short January Natural Gas Long November/Short January Orange Juice Long March/Short September Eurodollars Mahalo, -ooO-(GoldTrade
Keep in mind that there will also be a category called Financial Futures which will be for those who trade things like Bond Futures, Treasury Notes, Interest Rate Swaps, etc. The only reason why it hasn't been created already is because I'm not confident that it will get any decent amount of traffic yet. I just hate the thought of having a forum which is basically dead.
More proof you cannot please all of the people all of the time. Maybe I am too simple minded to understand what the difference is in naming a forum on futures. To me, it is, if anything, too specific to narrow it down to "spreads" or the types of commodities. People who trade futures had BETTER know what they are doing. (If for no other reason than it is possible to have at risk more than your initial investment, unlike virtually all but uncovered options, which are generally better understood by ET members than are futures). And if they wish to discuss their strategies, a forum on futures is certainly specific enough. We don't have separate forums for trading nasdaq stocks as opposed to Listed. Or trading "pairs", or trading the opening, the closing, scalping, or trading as a prop trader or customer or even as a licensed or unlicensed equity's trader. If someone wants to talk about their strategies in trading commodities, they can start a thread about their specific topic. Certainly there is no reason to have a separate forum for speculators, and a different one for bona fide hedge traders (if we even have a one). There is no reason to have a forum dedicated to the cost of storage for precious metals. Or for that matter, delivery of livestock to your apartment in downtown Detroit. Or a separate forum for options on futures (certainly a "crossover" topic). Or a forum for people who have or do not have a series 3 license, and on, and on. I believe "commodities futures" says all that needs to be said. Thanks Baron, and I think the entire site is laid out beautifully and probably the toughest thing about doing a forum on futures (real futures...not the index minis), would be finding qualified and willing moderators. And even then, perhaps keeping things civil is more essential than keeping information accurate. For that should not be the responsibility of anyone who is volunteering their time. Again,, great job Baron, and when in doubt, I would say, "Keep It Simple". Let the members contribute the confusion. (we always do). Peace, RS
The primary reason for having separate futures forums is to make searching for a topic of interest easier. Sure, there could just be a single generic forum called "futures", but if you just trade the Eminis, you may find it time consuming to weed through 10 different threads on soybeans, metals, and SSF discussion before you find one on E-mini trading.