How to begin trading Commodity and Financial Futures Markets - Select a Broker

In order to begin trading futures, you must select a commodity futures broker. How do you find a futures broker? What is the most important component of finding and selecting a futures broker? We believe innovation is the key - most futures brokers offer competitive rates. What makes them different? Unique services offered by a futures broker make finding a futures broker easy. This site is devoted to trading, but is biased towards technology and automated or black box systems trading. Therefore, when selecting or finding a futures or commodities broker, please think about more than commission rate. Think about technology, black box programming services and the ability to have direct access to individuals within the brokerage firm (or FCM) that will assist you and help you achieve your trading goals.

There are many to choose from and most offer competitive commission rates.(please contact us for a recommendation.).Ideally, your broker should be technically savvy, and preferably, should have decent computer programming skills. Again, do not worry about commission rates - most brokers are very competitive with their rates. Focus on finding a broker with technical skills that can help you develop your systems, teach you technical analysis and provide information about risk management.

Once you have selected a broker, make sure that you have a powerful computer, fast and reliable Internet connection, charting software, access to real-time quotes and a good trading platform for trade execution.

These operating costs are minuscule. More discussion will be provided later, regarding which charting tools are suitable for a given investor.

This site is advocates using technical analysis for trading futures. There are many sources of information for learning about technical analysis, including books, magazines, blogs, newsletters or online forums related to futures trading and technical analysis .

You do not need dozens of books about futures trading or technical analysis, however, in addition to finding information online, I recommend that you purchase several books and outline or highlight important topics you cover as you study technical analysis.

Read as much as you can about technical analysis. Each time you read about technical analysis, you may gain additional insight, or a paragraph may spawn a trading idea you would like to implement and test.

Check out the Recommended Readings Category of this site.