It’s great to be able to trade a commodity where you wouldn’t mind actually taking delivery.
Coffee prices have been rising for the last two years, after a substantial dip. Producers haven’t completely recovered, but for the first time in several years optimism is on the rise.
Prices fell from around 129 to 113 cents per pound [...]

For those who like their trading radioactive, uranium offers a wild ride. Prices exploded a couple of years ago, then dropped back just as quickly to the $29 level, the boom up to $45. And you thought oil prices were volatile. Nevertheless, prices have been on a steady rise the last two years, and it’s [...]

Soybeans aren’t sexy… except to a commodities trader. Yet this grain is among the lowest risk, most potentially profitable trades around.
Soybeans were first cultivated in China thousands of years ago, and they continue to be grown there. First arriving in America in the 1800s - they were used to stabilize clipper ships - their use [...]

Silver is unique among commodities. Like gold and a few others, private investors can feasibly take actual delivery. But unlike gold, the price is within reach. Physical storage is not out of the question and security can be as simple as bank’s safe deposit box.
The possibility of taking delivery on a commodity expands trading strategies [...]

For decades, commodity trading in petroleum products was a club for only the big guns. At 42 gallons per barrel, and a minimum contract size of 1,000 barrels, the prospect of delivering oil was only for professionals. But several changes have occurred in the last few years to alter the scene.
Oil prices remained stable for [...]

Welcome to the confusing world of commodities.
Most trades are carried out by buying and selling futures contracts, rather than trading directly in the commodity. And most futures contracts trade more or less like stocks or bonds, with the key exception that they have an expiration date. Nevertheless, some of the mechanics of trading can still [...]

Commodities are categorized for ease of price comparison, research and other conveniences in trading. Investors interested in getting involved in one of the riskiest, and potentially most profitable, areas will need to know the basics.
Energies
One of the most active areas recently, ‘the energies’ encompass a basketful of products used to provide energy to heat and [...]

There are more than a dozen major commodity exchanges around the world, reflecting the global nature of speculation today.
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT, http://www.cbot.com) for example trades a wide variety of commodity types. On the exchange, traders will find everything from corn, soybeans, wheat and oats to several metals contracts: 100 oz Gold, 5,000 [...]

For over thirty years - roughly 1974-2004 - the S&P 500 trended upward, with the CRB (Commodity Research Bureau) trending down. The CRB is analogous to the Dow Jones Index - a mathematical combination of commodities prices that indicates their movement. It’s composed of weighted averages of prices of oil, coffee, gold, wheat, etc. Yet [...]

Two different motives compel commodities traders: speculation and hedging. They’re not mutually exclusive - one can do both at the same time - but speculation is primarily profit oriented. Hedging is more oriented toward protecting profits or minimizing a potential loss, it’s a defensive strategy.
Hedging is essentially recognizing a hard fact: traders can’t predict prices [...]