Commodity trading is the trading in commodity derivatives, where commodity refers to any bulk goods traded in the exchange. Mainly Bullion, Energy, Metals and Agricultural Commodities are trading in the commodity market. Derivative is a kind of financial security whose price is depend upon or derived from one or more underlying assets. The derivative assets may be in the form of stocks and bonds of corporate, commodities and currencies of various countries. Commodity trading basically refers to trading where investors buy or sell commodities, through future transactions or contracts.

A future is a standardized forward contract that requires delivery of a commodity at a specified price on a specified or predetermined future date. In this case the buyer is obligated to fulfill the terms of the contract. The buyer and seller have the option to square up their position before expiry of the contract subject to other conditions governing each contract. Although the commodity trading pattern is quite similar to equity share trading, it involves smaller margins and is lot easier to understand. A commodity trader can start with commodities like gold and grains, which attract very low margins. As well, the time limits for commodity trding stretch from morning 10 O’clock to mid-night. Hence it is possible to trade after completing day-to-day work.

Requirements – physically & mentally

Find a broker/sub-broker to open account to trade with commodity. The broker if satisfied with the economic standing of the person, they may ask pan card, demat account, bank account and margin money for opening account with him. After completing these formalities, the person allowed for commodity trading.  Margin is the upfront money payable to broker before taking a position in the market. Like equity trading activity, the commodity trading requires the easy accessibility of information and liquidity facility. The trader can easily reduce risk by effective diversification. The low risk trading strategies include both delivery spreads and spot-futures arbitrage. The trader can take advantage of the low margins and take directional calls on the markets. The market is diverse in nature, and it is suitable for the day trader/speculator, long-term investor, hedger and arbitrageur.

Risk and Return

Higher the return there is risk also high; lower the return the risk is also low. Based on the risk-return appetite, the trader can enjoy benefit or return. Commodity trading is basically futures trading giving rise to leveraged positions. For this sake, mostly the wealthy and knowledgeable traders campaigning towards commodity trading place. Risk is inherent in any investment, by proper entry and exit strategy can safeguard from loss. The uncertainty and risk are part of all derivative markets and risk factors in commodity futures trading are similar to futures trading equity markets. The key difference is that the information availability on supply and demand fluctuations in commodity markets may not be as tough as the equity market. The return from the commodity market is also handsome, if the trading strategy of the trader worked out properly. The understanding about the technical and fundamental factors of global as well as domestic economy helps to earn superior returns from the commodity trading. Inflation is the big problem in the present economy; commodity is the good tool of investment strategy to beat inflation risk. Commodities are the hedge against inflation because unlike equity, commodity prices move in tandem with inflation. Besides, buying commodities make your investment truly global and there are no issues with company management or cash flow involved, all of which make commodity trading a pure demand and supply match.

Clearing and Settlement

Delivery based trading is now becoming popular. Each contract has a lot size and delivery size; it varied from asset to asset. Market participant are required to negotiate one the quantity and price of the contract, as all other parameters are predetermined by the exchange. Delivery is in dematerialized form and can be rematerialized at time at the request of the trader with the depository organization.

Conclusion

The markets are very lively and dynamic. A systematized and cautious moving will help to being a successful trader. Patience, discipline and knowledge are all important qualities to develop successful and fruitful commodity trading.

Dwayne Strocen, President of Genuine Trading Solutions says once upon a time a Commodity Trading Advisor was content to be known as a Portfolio Manager trading commodities and futures for a managed futures fund. There is no question today’s investor has become more sophisticated. In response, today’s selection of investment products has become ever more complex and varied, the need for the CTA to understand the uses and management of these products becomes even more acute.

So what exactly is the role of today’s Commodity Trading Advisor. Certainly trading of derivative products for a managed futures fund continues to be as important as before. A CTA has also become more involved with derivative analytics. This role is essentially focused upon becoming an analyst to structure and analyze the more multi-faceted requirements demanded by hedge funds, pension funds and structured products.

The use of derivative analytics to manage the adverse risk of an equity or bond portfolio brought about by adverse market conditions is critical in preserving asset growth. The uses of hedging to prevent volatility has long been understood by the largest institutions but is now available to the smaller sized company and to the individual investor. No doubt as products continue to evolve so too will the CTA evolve to meet the need of today’s professional money manager.

Derivative products are no longer limited to exchange traded commodities futures and options. There continues to be an ever expanding list of over-the-counter derivative products. These are SWAPS. SWAPS and privately transacted products transacted without the use of a recognized exchange. The difficulty is the buyer and seller must find each other to undertake such an arrangement, not always easy. The second problem is no liquidity. There is no one to sell this too should one of the parties wish to terminate the transaction prior to the agreed upon date.

A Commodity Trading Advisor’s role is no longer sufficient to be limited to trading. It is now imperative to understand the industry in a new light so to understand the changing investment environment. Analysis now becomes the catalyst to include a value added service to retain customers. This includes structured products, risk management and OTC derivatives. Continuing education has been and continues to be the hallmark of the best in the industry.

Gamma: Gamma is derived from Delta is the odds of a change in Delta. It also informs in advance if the Delta could be changing. Gammas are positive for both the call and put. When options are deep in the money of deep out of the money the Gammas will be near zero as the probability of a change in Delta are very low. Likewise at strike price the Gamma would likely to e the highest.

Theta: Time decay is reflected in the option position as Theta. Options bought have negative Theta, which means that each day you do not sell that option, the time value is declining because of the time decay. In this case, time decay is making it worse for the buyer of the option. When you sell options, Theta is positive, meaning that time decay is good for the option seller.

Vega: How volatility affects the option pricing is reflected in the in Vega. In other words, its sensitivity to volatility. Options tend to have price increases when the underlying asset’s volatility increases. In this case, volatility is good for the buyer of an option and bad for the seller of an option. Vega is positive for long option and negative for short option.

Rho: Rho is how interest rates affect the pricing of the the option. When interest rates are high and it is good for the position, Rho will be positive. If interest rates are high but bad for the option position, Rho will be negative.

There are 5 Greeks involved and we share go through them one by one.

Delta: The speed of the option’s price gain or loss against the gain or loss of the ‘mother’ or underlying asset price is known as the Delta. The Delta is a figure that shows us how fast or slow the option will move relative to its ‘mother’ or underlying asset. A Delta of 1 means the option price is moving at the same speed and direction as the ‘mother’ or underlying asset. A Delta of -1 means the option price is moving in the opposite direction for every point the ‘mother’ or underlying asset moves.

The probability of an option expiring in-the-money is also expressed in the Delta. An at the money call option has a Delta of 0.5; i.e., 50%, meaning a 50% chance of expiring in the money. A deep in the money call will have a Delta of near 1, or 100%, meaning a near 100% chance of expiration in the money. A very out-of-the-money call option will have a Delta of close to zero, meaning a near zero chance of expiring in the money.