ONLINE COMMODITIES INSTITUTE [OCI]
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This site is offered as a
FREE INTERACTIVE RESOURCE CENTER FOR DAY TRADERS
Learning to profit by trading commodity contracts is a discipline that requires
intensive sacrifice, commitment, and talent. A commodities trader must know how to walk the
fine line between greed and fear. The main objective is to cut losing positions short and
let winning positions ride. Very few traders find it easy to exit a losing position and
take a loss, but it is the most important thing to remember for staying in the game. Whether a 'trader'
uses his/her own account or other-peoples-money (OPM), fortunes can be made or lost in moments.
Successful trading demands the time and dedication that is necessary to train for any
profession, such as law or medicine. It also requires the unique aptitude of a professional
gambler; a gambler who can instinctively equate and correlate risk management with probability
analysis. Commodities trading, even when hedging, is a bet, nothing more, nothing less.
However, with the experience acquired only through adequate instruction and extensive simulated
trading, it is possible to get better 'odds' speculating in commodities than with casino
'gaming'.
Hedging or speculating in commodities or derivatives includes identifying
'coincidental' and 'leading' indicators that involves developing a methodology based on
fundamental analysis, and/or it includes identifying intraday, daily, weekly 'trends' and
'support/resistance' parameters that involves developing a trading system based on technical
analysis. Both strategies attempt to predetermine theoretical outcomes to get the 'house odds'
of a casino.
However, betting on the direction of a stock, bond, derivative, or financial
market index is always an uncertainty, no matter when a position is taken. Some traders
mistakenly keep waiting before entering a position hoping to 'confirm' market direction.
When this occurs, the price of the security, contract, or instrument gets too high and the
favorable 'house odds' progressively diminish the longer the delay. To get the most
advantageous price, the trade must be entered during the period of maximum uncertainty and
before market direction is obvious.
Acquiring experience and developing commodities trading skills before using real
money accounts can be very expensive and prohibitive. There are thousands of trading courses,
tapes, and seminars available and most are very expensive. Finding the best ones are very
difficult. Also, there is still no guarantee a new trader can recover the initial investment
through real money trading later. This scenario is analogous to spending money on music
lessons or on basketball training camps. The question is, what is the percentage of music
students and/or basketball students that have the talent to go on to become net income earning
professionals? Of course the answer is not many, relatively speaking.
For short term trading, a complete assortment of real time financial quotes are
mandatory, and the expense of real time financial quotes is considerable. The lowest rates
for a minimum list of real time quotes runs over $150 per month from commercial data vendors.
Using trial and error, on average it takes at least 2 years for new traders to learn how to just 'break even' on their accounts, not figuring
the overhead that keeps increasing.
Novice traders, some having the latent undeveloped talent to become successful, are
discouraged from entering the commodities trading profession because they think the risk/reward
factor does not justify the initial costs of instruction or services. Unfortunately, many do
not realize the importance of setting up hypothetical accounts before trading real money and
making simulated trades over an extended period of time, and those that do pay for instruction
and services make the decision to trade real money prematurely, in a futile effort to recover
these start up costs. The result is margin calls, under capitalization, and the insolvent
traders are forced to close their accounts before their true trading potential is realized.
ONLINE COMMODITIES INSTITUTE [OCI] was originally conceived as a free resource center
for sophisticated financial market watchers and players. The objective was to provide a forum
where traders can go to read specialized essays and condensed financial news, engage in
voice chat sessions, and find a select comprehensive list of hyper links to sites that
provide intraday news, quotes, and charts that could be accessed from a remote location. By
visiting the OCI Quotes and Charts page, a trader, whose 'in house' quote system is down, can
get updated on most of the financial markets in real time.
OCI also offers
access to free real time quotes, live charts, and other internet resources that are adequate
for simulated trading purposes.
To visit this site, agree to the following waiver:
All site activities are intended to be used for
evaluation and analytical purposes only, and are not intended to be
considered as financial advice for trading real money accounts.
The site moderator is not registered as a Commodities Trading
Advisor with the CFTC or NFA, and no responsibility is accepted for
financial losses sustained by site users.
Futures speculation represents substantial risk. Investors can
and do lose more than original equity. Past performance is not indicative of
future results.
[By clicking 'ACCEPT' you agree to the preceding terms and conditions]
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