Help me learn about commodities trading

February 23, 2014 6:27 PM

I need to learn more about how commodities markets work for my job. Can you recommend some good sources of information, either on the internet or in print form, to learn the basics of how commodities trading works?

I'm not a trader, but I need to understand how commodities trading, futures and options, etc, work for my job (research position that sometimes involves research related to a commonly traded commodity). I've searched around the internet, and there's a lot of random explanations out there, but I haven't found anything that's done a great job of explaining how all of the different pieces fit together. Could you point me to a good book or online source that explains how the fundamentals of commodities trading?

posted by tokaidanshi to Work & Money (3 answers total)

Peter Brandt is the classic guy to read on commodities. Diary of a Professional Commodities Trader was a good read! He also has a good book on charting, but I'm not sure how in-depth you want to go.

Reading articles or reports from industry publications-- or even methodology articles where they explain how they put price indexes together-- will help a lot, I think. Check out Argus and Platts.

I've found CFA textbooks to be quite helpful in establishing a very basic understanding of futures and options. If that's all you need-- basic overview-- they're a great resource. I use the Schweser materials. (Feel free to PM me if you're interested in this material because the full set is not cheap.)
posted by hellomiss at 7:23 PM on February 23, 2014 [1 favorite]

A good place to start is the Chicago Mercantile Exchange website
A good basic overview of futures trading and some commodity specific stuff as well.
posted by limagringo at 2:04 AM on February 24, 2014

Read Hull. I went from zero to "employed as a quant" more or less on a copy of Hull, some lucky breaks, and a bit of hard work..
posted by doop at 4:40 AM on February 24, 2014