Commodity futures trading is a type of investment where one can make money by speculating on the price of a certain commodity going up or down in the future. Commodities are usually the essential things that people make use of everyday. Most of the times, these commodities are the basic essentials needed by a modern society.
When talking about certain commodities being traded in the commodity market, it must meet specific conditions to make it acceptable for trading. One of the conditions is that the commodity should be homogenized. In trading agricultural and business commodities, the traded commodity should be in its basic raw and unprocessed state. In this situation, Wheat could be traded in the futures market although not flour.
Another condition a certain commodity has to meet is that the perishable kind should have acceptable lifespan. The explanation for this is that these commodities are traded with their delivery prepared deferred at a future time. There may need a long product life so the commodities could be delivered with its quality still good and untouched. Another condition a certain commodity should meet is that it ought to have a price that changes frequently making some doubt as well as chance to profit.
The history behind commodities trading in commodities developed from the farmer’s need to earn more from each crop. Before commodities trading started, the farmers were always at the beck and call of the dealer when referring to pricing and selling their crops. Dealers often set the costs and the farmers can’t to anything apart from accept the terms. In a way the farmers were being exploited by some dealers and so another type of selling their crop.
In the hunt for having a fair system of engaging in business, farmers commenced offering future crop to interested consumers. The farmers started giving their own terms for the future crops to dealers. The exchange is composed of commodities offered as a certain price and to be delivered as a stated date. Contracts were then drawn up between the farmer and the interested buyer that stipulated the certain quantity of commodity to be delivered at a selected time in times to come. From this system, what’s now known as commodities trading has started.
It was sometime in 1878 that a central dealing facility for such commodities contracts was established in Chicago. In this facility, farmers and dealers began initially in spot dealing of their grains that was immediately delivered upon a reached settlement in price. It eventually evolved into futures trading when farmers started committing future harvests to interested dealers willing to buy to ensure that their grains supply are maintained in the future.
In the beginning, futures trading initially consists only of a few farm commodities such as grains. But later on, a huge number of other commodities joined in. Now there are futures trading markets that deal in precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum. There is also a futures trading market for livestock and cattle as well as for energy products such as crude oil and natural gas. It has gone on to include futures trading in coffee, orange juice ad industrials such as lumber, cotton and even on interest rate bearing instruments such as currencies and stocks.
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