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What are the best futures for medium term trading?
Hello guys,
I am new to futures trading and I was wondering if I could get any insight into what are some good futures contracts to trade longer term (from a few days to a few weeks) with a relatively small amount of capital. In other words, I am looking for something with good liquidity and volume which I can hold for a medium period. For example, Crude oil (/CL) has too much movement for me to buy and hold and I do not want to day trade; the Eurodollar (/GE) moves to slowly for my taste I need something bang in the middle of this spectrum and preferably something with a small margin requirement. I was thinking E-mini Crude oil (/QM) or Corn (/ZC), what do you guys think?
Thank you very much.
I trade according to fundamentals. In this case it is important that you like researching about "your" commodity. You will spend hours each week looking for information (eg. supply & demand, seasonals, COT data).
If you intend to trade according to charts, this point does not matter.
Well that is hard because some markets can be in a period of low volatility entering
with a momentum to the low/high side and all of the sudden you see a spike in volume
thus high volatility. Some market have that kind of identity crisis as some trade called it.
At the moment grain is that phase but it doesn't mean that there won't be a time that grain
volatility will spike up, as a trader is important to be adaptive to market conditions.
Personally I will say take a look at the grains, sugar, and maybe the rates like ZF, ZN.
Look at the daily or weekly ATR and see if you can handle the swing without affecting your stop loss.
I agree with Myrrdin about looking at your data like (seasonals, Cot, etc). This will help you adapt
to potential market change.
Trading: The one I'm creating in the present....Index Futures mini/micro, ZF
Posts: 2,311 since Nov 2011
Thanks Given: 7,341
Thanks Received: 4,518
I think you can definitely get to this goal!.....It will take some training, like anything, but you have a great resource here at FIO to assist you! Start a Journal.
Based on my experience:
mini sp
bonds
gold
silver
copper
crude
nat gas
euro
aussie
beans
bean oil
bean meal
wheat corn
cattle
hogs
coffee
sugar
PM with any questions about Cannon Trading (800) 454-9572 (310) 859-9572. Trading commodity futures, forex and options involves substantial risk of loss. The recommendations contained in this post are of opinion only and do not guarantee any profits. These are risky markets and only risk capital should be used. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.
if your looking for ones to trade from only the long side . it is stock index futures. there is a long bias ..they go up 7 % a year over time. buying the dips has worked for 7 years. there not good for shorting for the same reason. if you want to short stuff i would say futures on FX . you do not have a bias problem and they seem to trend longer and harder.
Can't go wrong with bonds there is one for every risk tolerance. I think if I had a 5k account I'd probably trade ZF. If you're ultra risk adverse then ZT barely moves some days. ZN is an option too. UB/ZB would be too volatile
I once heard a ex floor trader say during an interview that they used to tell the new guys "If you cant trade, trade corn". I figured "Hey, I'm new maybe i'll try corn". It's the only grain I trade and I've done well by it so far.
Small notional size, daily swings are not that bad and I find it tends to range trade quite a bit(at least on the daily time frame). Keep your stops in place for when it breaks out though..