Getting Your Thoughts Down on Paper…
Don’t you love just throwing away money? Oh, not one of your favorite things? Well, most people feel the same way so jumping into something like futures trading is pretty scary. The good news is that you can learn by throwing away some virtual money and not the real stuff with something called paper trading futures. Thanks to the wonderful world of the Internet, paper trading futures is an easy, free way to simulate futures trading without the financial risk. Before we go deeper into paper trading futures, let’s talk about futures trading in general.
Futures trading is different from investing in the stock market or bonds since you don’t actually own anything; in futures trading, you are speculating on the future direction of the price in the commodity you are trading. This is like a bet on future price direction. The terms “buy” and “sell” merely indicate the direction you expect future prices will take. He or she must only deposit sufficient capital with a brokerage firm to insure that he will be able to pay the losses if his trades lose money. (Notice the words “pay the losses”. When paper trading futures, you can ignore those nasty words!)
Futures trading is a sort of insurance plan for those who are trading and investing. A farmer may sell futures on his wheat crop if he thinks the price will go down before the harvest; conversely, a bread manufacturer may buy futures if they think the price of wheat is going to rise before the harvest. Regardless of the price movement, both are guaranteed their price. The final component of the equation is the investor in futures trading who looks for changes in the futures markets and seeks to gain advantages by buying or selling at a profit.
The Potential of Futures Trading
Trading futures is an excellent way to make money. It is said that Richard Dennis, a famed commodities trader, was able to parlay $1,600 of borrowed money into $200 million over ten years. Futures trading has a bad reputation as being filled with risk and while there is risk; the truth is that futures trading is only as risky as a trader makes it. This is not the lottery or a trip to the casino; if you take a conservative approach, look for a reasonable return and make this a business then the probability of success in commodity trading is very good. The downside of paper trading futures is that even if you amass a $200 million fortune, you can’t collect it. Remember we’re just learning while paper trading futures…you can spend real money when you open a commodities account!
Getting Started Paper Trading Futures
There are a large number of companies on the Internet that offer free paper trading; a simple Google search will give you more choices that you can imagine. These companies offer this service in hopes that after you get comfortable paper trading futures, you will open a commodity account with them. In the meantime, once you have registered simply follow the directions of the commodity trading software and you are ready to begin.
What You Might Notice
If you put the cart before the horse and try to implement positions before you understand futures trading, you will be in for a surprise. The language of futures trading is different; there is terminology you need to learn, strategies that you won’t understand and even the trading software will probably be confusing. So before you try to begin commodities trading, go back to school and learn the terms, learn the techniques and learn the software where you are paper trading futures.
Is Paper Trading Futures Important?
In and of itself, paper trading futures is not important; it is merely a simulation of the things required to trade futures in the real world. What is important while paper trading futures is the approach you take; if you treat this like a game or don’t understand the importance of learning futures trading, you should seriously reconsider attempting to trade futures. This is a skill and the consequence is losing your money so don’t take paper trading futures lightly.
Conclusion
It is difficult to find another business opportunity where you can practice and learn for free. Take advantage of this unique opportunity and start paper trading futures today.
