What is the best month to buy if I want to go long a commodity for a short term speculation. I recently went long CL and bought the December futures as the October contract expires on the 23rd and I didn't want to roll over the contract. Is there any advantage in buying the near term contract?
Look at the Open interest. X, Z contracts have OI of around 300K F contract 160K G, H contract 90K etc That will give you some idea of which far month's contract to use.