Hello there i am a new inverstor and i am interested in the commodity market. Now i looked at the FT today at the various commoditiesand some had prices up to december and some went up to May does this mean if you buy a december price your contract will expire in december. I take it you will have to sell it before then. Is there anyway of prolonging the duration of the stock.

Also when sold what taxs and hidden charges are there.

Thank you

Also how do i get annual charts for commodities . To clairfy if i look at a stock and i see a december price that means i have that commodity till december and i am buying it at a december price now . When in december will it expire .

Thank you for your help

Commodities are one of the higher risk investment vehicles. Seriously, if you're not sure about what's involved with commodities, it's probably better to read up on them in detail, and seek professional financial advance, before making any such investment decision.

- Brian

it is only fictional at moment . could you explain how a futures contract works and what it involves and also what taxes there are when you sell.

Also is there one website which has all the prices the futures and spot markets.

I have invested in zinc , , silver , wheat , mazie , crude pil and natural gas on a december contract . Aluminium , zinc and copper on a 3 month contract. Gold on the bullion market and palladium on the spot market. Fictionally at first to see if my research was correct.

Seriously, I think you need to have a few words with a broker about how your personal circumstances will affect stock.

I haven't written up a tutorial about this at present, but I'll definitely look to put that on my to-do list.

Firstly does trading in options work like this. Say the price for a december bushel of wheat was 1 dollar and you being in august invest 50 k in this venture. So you ring up the broker and he gives you the premium which is premium per share mutipled by no of shares. Come december you sell and either make a profit or loss. Now if you forget does the contract get automatically sold or become null and void. Plus if you decide to walk away all you lose is your premium.


Now with futures say you invest the same amount on the same commodity does it work by ringing up the broker and he gives up a margin price which say is 10 percent . You then top up as the price drops and you can cream off if the price goes up as a source of extra income from the venture before you sell it for profit.

Are options and futures void of stamp and capital gains.

Currency plus equites market --- do these work on a similar principle where you have a premium for a set amount of investment and for every tick up or down on equites and stock market you get more money or have to top off. I would imagine that is extremly hazardous and prob would be best to do the deal and sell it within an hour due to the no of times you may have to top up as a currency could go down every minute and a ftse every hour. If i have got the idea wrong plz give me an example . plus any links or books which could help.

Thanks for your help.

The big problem you get with trades is the broker fees that slip in when you do so. The actual spread you buy and sell on isn't the actual spread values you buy or sell into, because the brokerage fees can eat into these. It's actually a common problem in forex that someone may sell thinking they've made a 1% gain, when the broker already takes 0.5% of that, which can translate into serious money with everything else taken into consideration.

For the specific ins and outs, you're possibly best starting somewhere like here, then branching out on the specifics:
commodities: Definition, Synonyms and Much More from Answers.com