The Complete Guide to Investing in Commodity Trading & Futures: How to Earn High Rates of Returns Safely [Paperback]

Mary P Holihan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2008

Many people have become very rich in the commodity markets. It is one of a few investment areas where an individual with limited capital can make extraordinary profits in a relatively short period of time. Commodities are agreements to buy and sell virtually anything that is harvested except onions. (A 1958 federal law prohibits trading onions.) Such goods are raw or partly refined materials whose value mainly reflects the costs of finding or gathering them. They are traded for processing or incorporation into final goods. Examples are crude oil, cotton, rubber, grains, and metals and other minerals. Since it is impractical to transport these bulky, often perishable materials, what is actually traded are commodities futures contracts, or options, that are agreements to buy or sell at an agreed upon price on a specific date. Trading in futures and options is speculative in nature and there is a substantial risk of loss. These investments are not suitable for everyone, and only risk capital should be used. As with many other business segments, the Internet and technology have opened up this attractive marketplace to a new breed of individual investors and speculators working part-time. You and I can now stand on an even playing field with the largest banks, wealthiest individuals, and trading institutions from the comfort of home. Commodity trading can provide you with very high, secure rate of return, in some cases as high as 12%, 18%, 24%, or even 300% or more per year. If performed correctly, commodity trading will far outpace all other investments. The key is to know how to perform this process correctly. This all sounds great, but what is the catch? There really is none, except you must know what you are doing! This groundbreaking and exhaustively researched new book will provide everything you need to know to get you started generating high investment returns from start to finish. In this easy to read and comprehensive new book you will learn what commodity trading and futures are, how to set up your account online, how to choose software to use in trading, how to invest in commodities, evaluate their performance, and handle fees and taxes. This book explores numbers of investing strategies and tactics, charting techniques, and position trading. You will pick up the language of a trader so that you recognize terminology and know how to use leverage, call options, put options, advancing and declining issues, advancing and declining volume, the Commodity Channel Index (CCI), and commodity charts, among others. Like the pros who have been trading commodities for years, you will learn how to pinpoint entry, exits, and targets for your trades, and use insider secrets to help you double or even triple your investment all while avoiding the common traps and pitfalls. In addition, we took the extra effort and spent an unprecedented amount of time researching, interviewing, e-mailing, and communicating with hundreds of today's most successful commodity Investors. Aside from learning the basics of commodity and futures trading you will be privy to their secrets and proven successful ideas. Instruction is great, but advice from experts is even better, and the experts chronicled in this book are earning millions. If you are interested in learning essentially everything there is to know about commodity and futures investing in addition to hundreds of tactics, tricks, and tips on how to earn enormous profits in commodity trading while controlling your investments, then this book is for you.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Publishing Company (FL) (April 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1601380038
• ISBN-13: 978-1601380036
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Basic 101 Lesson, Bordering on a Children's Book, May 24, 2009

By 

Ronin - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Investing in Commodity Trading & Futures: How to Earn High Rates of Returns Safely (Paperback)

This is a very elementary survey of commodity markets, best applicable for people with next to zero knowledge of this subject. For anyone who already understands the basics, this book will be useless. Do not make the error that the reviewer QE Brown does by saying, "I did not know anything about trading commodities before I started this book. However, by the end I felt completely with the concept and will likely move forward with diversifying my investment portfolio." (His words not mine) If you try to trade commodities after reading this book you will promptly give every penny you commit to the sharks of this vicious marketplace.

A quick skim of the book will reveal not a single formulaic example of how to analyze risk or price a contract. In fact, the words "Risk" & "Volatility" do not even appear in the puny 2-page index that looks geared toward a blind 95-year old; not to mention at least a chapter dedicated to these crucial subjects.

In the section dealing with individual commodities, likes metals for example, Holihan provides a chapter under each heading giving the "Outlook" for the underlying commodity! Read Bloomberg's "Commodities" page over the course of a month and you will find outlooks change daily. While yes, longer outlooks are valid, why would you include this very dynamic concept in a book? The book is now over a year old, so here is one example of how it is loaded with filler; but it gets worse.

I don't know if most of the reviews here are coming from people paid to hype the book, but reviewer C. Santagate says, "This book is not an "easy read", but it is an excellent and comprehensive handbook for anyone who is interested in the hows and whys of commodities trading, and absolutely necessary for anyone who wants to get in to commodities trading fully knowledgeable and with the tools they need to be successful." Then reviewer Elizabeth Sher writes, "This guide was not always easy to read due to the technical nature of the material." Is this a joke?

This is the only financial book I own that is printed in a 14-font with 1.15 or perhaps 1.5 spacing, with double spacing between the 16 or 18 font chapter headings. On a full page of text I counted 260 words, about half a full page at a 12-font.

Between this and a virtual complete absence of math, it feels like a childrens book. Page 8 is a photo of piglets, p12 hanging corn, p14 coffee beans w/spoon & flower. A whopping 2-pages of intro text out of the 1st 14. Page 39 & 40 have hand drawn pit signals. Page 84 is half a cow, p120 is a rice paddy, p160 is gold coins, p172 is an oil rig, p184 a farm, p220 a wheat field. Cute, but most beginning traders will eventually agree there is nothing cute about trading commodities. And they're all grainy black and white that look fresh off a Kinko's lot.

Now I gave the book 2-stars because for someone looking for a totally basic introduction, who is unlikely to ever trade these markets, the book is perfect. What gets me is the last line of the product description, "If you are interested in learning essentially everything there is to know about commodity and futures investing in addition to hundreds of tactics, tricks, and tips on how to earn enormous profits in commodity trading while controlling your investments, then this book is for you." Sorry, this is total crap. Another reviewer raves about the Index, LOL! Don't take my word for it, go Search Inside and see for yourself.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Look elsewhere for an intro to this topic, May 22, 2009

By 

S. Goodrick (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Investing in Commodity Trading & Futures: How to Earn High Rates of Returns Safely (Paperback)

This is a very poorly edited book. I have found myself rereading many paragraphs in an attempt to clarify the authors intent, but missing words and poor grammar get in the way. A couple of the case studies are repeats with just the names changed!
The book introduces terms without providing a clear definition which makes this book a poor introduction to the topic. The analysis section of the book is completely devoid of any charts! As someone who spends a great deal of time analyzing data in my job, the lack of charts is quite disturbing as visualizing the data often leads to a better understanding of how the data is changing. Save your money, don't buy this book if you are looking for an introduction to commodity trading.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars How to make money in commodities, May 20, 2008

By 

Richard B. Hutchinson (Lansing, Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Complete Guide to Investing in Commodity Trading & Futures: How to Earn High Rates of Returns Safely (Paperback)

Over the course of about 300 pages, this book covers a lot of ground. Divided into two parts, the first section deals with the basics of commodity investing: from what it is and its history, to how to begin investing in it, finding a reputable broker, beginning investment theories, and other commodity-related financial tips for someone new to the venture. The second section looks at specific commodities individually, and discusses each of their current positions, and outlooks moving forward.

The first section is very informative. It assumes that the reader has some knowledge of stock investing, but that they have no prior experience dealing in commodities. The chapters are designed to both teach the reader about commodity investing and to teach them about the world in which it is done. The book struggles sometimes, because it tries to include very technical information along with the beginning basics, which could be off-putting on one hand to the beginner, and on the other to someone who is more experienced, but it does try hard to straddle the line to appeal to both sides.

The second section of "The Complete Guide..." is much more specific, and much more technical. It may be difficult to understand for someone who is yet to open a commodity account, or is reading the book to find out whether commodity trading is right for them, but it can work as a good guide for someone who has just begun investing, or to be set aside and kept as a piece of reference for a future investor.

This book is a good, all-in-one guide for someone who wants to learn the basics of the commodity market, because it includes information on every subject necessary. If you don't know much about commodities, it would be a good investment to make, because it provides an excellent overview of what it is and how to do it, along with more advanced information, if you do eventually choose to try to break into it. In an economy in which other investment ventures, such as stocks, bonds, and real estate, are dropping in value or lying stagnate, commodity trading continues to make money for many individuals, and if you are interested in trying your hand in the commodity market, I would recommend reading this book first.