Start Out In Futures Trading: Updated and Expanded [Paperback]

Mark J. Powers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1993

The fifth edition thoroughly introduces the beginner to futures trading in a clear, concise manner. Futures expert Mark Powers combines both theory and real-world examples, making this the ideal book for practitioners who need to brush up on the essential skills or for those who just want to know what futures trading is all about. In addition to the market basics, Starting Out in Futures Trading covers: How to send an order to the floor; How to develop a trading plan with disciplined risk management techniques; Trading exercises that simulate real trading; Options and fundamental and technical analysis. Contract specifications.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The #1 reference for futures traders everywhere ... now updated!

Everything You Need to Know to Become a Knowledgeable, Profitable Futures Trader

Starting Out In Futures Trading has become renowned for explaining the futures industry to beginners and veterans alike in simple, straightforward language­­and giving futures traders the answers they need in one easy-to-use, fingertip reference. This substantially revised edition reflects on the many new forces shaping the industry and carrying futures trading into the new millennium.

From how to open an account to the emergence of electronic trading and the Internet, Starting Out In Futures Trading, Sixth Edition, will provide you with market-tested, hands-on information about every important aspect of futures trading, including:

• Choosing a broker
• Placing an order
• Agricultural, financial, and stock index futures
• Margin and leverage
• Short-selling
• Globex electronic trading
• CRB index futures
• Fundamental versus technical analysis
• Seasonality and trading plans
• Volume and open interest
• Interest rate arbitrage
• Commodity hedging
• Spreads
• Financial futures
• Yield curves
• Stock index futures and options

How to place an order...techniques to develop a trading plan...new rules and regulations...Starting Out in Futures Trading, Sixth Edition, leaves no stone unturned in presenting you with an accurate, practical, and up-to-date look inside the world of futures trading. It remains the number-one guide for new traders looking to learn all about the futures market­­and the preferred reference for all traders.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Mark Powers is one of the futures industry's most respected and influential figures. A key participant in drafting many of the original contract specifications for trading currency and financial derivatives, Powers is the CEO of Powers and Dubin Asset Allocation and Management and former editor of The Journal of Futures Markets. He also served as chief economist for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and has contributed his expertise as a director on numerous futures exchanges.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Probus Pub Co; 5 Upd Exp edition (May 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557385068
• ISBN-13: 978-1557385062
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,344,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Content / Great Value, July 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Start Out In Futures Trading: Updated and Expanded (Paperback)

For the price this is a great book to learn and help understand the specifics that make up all the basics in trading commodity-futures. After reading this book, I felt as if I had taken a formal college course on the subject of Futures and understood it much better from various angles now. There's no "hype" in the book, no agendas, no further products or services to buy being pitched to you, just plain vanilla (ok, french vanilla) basics being laid out for you in textbook fashion for you to digest in your own terms. I like that - it's refreshing in a way. It is probably like this because it was really written 20+ years ago (don't worry, it's been revised many times to be modernized - 5th edition, 1993). The book was originally written and printed in "Commodities" magazine as a popular mini-course series (before the magazine changed it's name to the modern "Futures" magazine we know it as today). Even though I knew much of the content from personal experience (the most costly way) or from other readings, my CTA, etc, I did not always understand the "why" behind the rules I was following & how the markets work the way they do from both a technical and fundmental perspective (dynamics). Of the some 28 chapters, I really took interest in almost every one. I can't say that about most of the other trading books I've read. Put it this way... if I could keep only 5 trading books, this would be one of them. You'll likely dump more than that on the commissions for 1 trade - or, worse yet, even more than that on 1 bad trade. ** Beginners, I recommend the following: If your goal is to have deeper pockets from trading - then you must first go deeper in your understanding of futures markets & trading them (i.e. Read the book).

13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy the updated version!!, May 11, 2001

By 

Javier Dominguez (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Start Out In Futures Trading: Updated and Expanded (Paperback)

Please note: This review refers to the 1991 edition.

It is a good book, but this edition is plagued with typos, and mistakes in at least one chart. Don't make the same mistake I did; buy the last edition (I bought mine on the store with very little time ...) I haven't had the chance to check out the latest version (Starting Out in Futures Trading), my guess is that it's corrected and updated.

About his writing, I like the fact that he mixes personal experience with academic and corporate studies about the market. I think the book becomes very useful that way.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Good Information, July 29, 2009

By 

Brian D. Kelley "HowToMake100PerDaydotcom" (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starting Out in Futures Trading (Paperback)

This is a good book for the basics of futures trading. It has a lot of the basic
terms and information you need to get a quick edge in trading. Will it be the last
and only book you buy on futures? Probably not! This is a good start that will
peak your curiousity. I recommend it.