Easy Forex has a good guide on purchasing oil futures. They will also provide guides for purchasing everything on the futures market from gold to wheat to pork bellies.
Futures tickers are a little different from stocks. Each futures market has a ticker symbol that is followed by symbols for the contract month and the year. For example, crude oil futures have a ticker symbol - CL. The complete ticker symbol for December 2007 Crude Oil Futures would be - CLZ7. The "CL" stands for the underlying futures contract. The "Z" stands for a December delivery month. (F=Jan, G=Feb, H=Mar, J=Apr, K=May, M=June, N=July, Q=Aug, U=Sep, V=Oct, X=Nov, Z=Dec) The "7" stands for the year - 2007. This is the standard formula for futures ticker symbols. Some quote services are a little different.
They can be. If you look at the futures pricing, you'll see futures contracts that settle in 2013--and futures contracts that settle next month.
Numerous futures brokers exist; most can be accessed online. These include RJO Futures, Optimus Trading Group, and Global Futures, Noble Trading, and E-Futures. Simply visit the website and apply to open an account.
There are numerous futures trading charts online. One can find these online charts at Trading View, Express Futures, United Futures, Trade Station and many other online locations.
To start trading in crude oil futures, the fist thing one should do is read up on the futures market and understand how it operates. A familiarity with the oil industry and the environmental and economic factors that affect its profitability is also helpful. Or, one can select a broker who is an expert in the commodities futures market and has experience in crude oil trading.
Futures trading started on the banks of the Chicago river in the US more than a hundred years ago.
There are many risks and dangers associated with trading oil futures. The oil market is volatile and may pick itself back up quickly, which leaves futures high but oil prices low. Oil futures are also difficult to predict in price.
Oil Futures are contracts that are legally binding. Buyer and seller have the obligation to take and make the delivery. Trading oil futures refers to the price oil is being traded at on the stock market.
Easy Forex has a good guide on purchasing oil futures. They will also provide guides for purchasing everything on the futures market from gold to wheat to pork bellies.
Sally Clubley has written: 'Trading in Oil Futures and Options' 'Trading in oil futures' -- subject(s): Commodity exchanges, Futures market, Petroleum industry and trade, Speculation
The price of oil futures is similar to any other stock or commodity, in that it's shown on most financial websites. One can find the price of oil futures online at Forex, Yahoo! Finance, Bloomberg, CNNMoney.
Futures tickers are a little different from stocks. Each futures market has a ticker symbol that is followed by symbols for the contract month and the year. For example, crude oil futures have a ticker symbol - CL. The complete ticker symbol for December 2007 Crude Oil Futures would be - CLZ7. The "CL" stands for the underlying futures contract. The "Z" stands for a December delivery month. (F=Jan, G=Feb, H=Mar, J=Apr, K=May, M=June, N=July, Q=Aug, U=Sep, V=Oct, X=Nov, Z=Dec) The "7" stands for the year - 2007. This is the standard formula for futures ticker symbols. Some quote services are a little different.
According to the MarketWatch website, the average 2013 price of crude futures oil is close to $100 a barrel. Prices for the August futures for Brent crude rose 71 cents.
The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) began to trade heating oil futures in 1978. The exchange later introduced crude oil, gasoline, and natural gas futures. Airlines, shipping companies, public transportation authorities, home-heating-oil delivery services, and major multinational oil and gas companies have all sought to hedge their price risk using these futures contracts. In 1990 the NYMEX traded more than thirty-five million energy futures and option contracts. www.econlib.orglibraryEncFuturesandOptionsMarkets.html
You purchase a futures contract by first opening a futures trading account, which is a margin account, with a futures broker. Once that is done, simply choose the specific futures contract you wish to buy and then pay its "Initial Margin", which is a deposit needed to start a futures trade.
The best place to check crude oil futures is CNN commodities section. This section allows viewers to get the latest prices for oil, gold, silver, copper, and more.