Timing Techniques for Commodity Futures Markets: Effective Strategy and Tactics for Short-Term and Long-Term Traders

Introduction

1 Industry Background

2 Defining Direction: An Established Trend Keeps Going

3 The Building Blocks for Charts

4 Price Rules

5 Candlesticks: A Useful Tool

6 MACD (Moving Average Convergence/Divergence)

7 Moving Averages for Direction and Support and Resistance

8 Stochastics and RSI: Overbought/Oversold Indicators

9 The Magic of Gaps: Three-Bars Open and Go!

10 Support and Resistance: Horizontal Barriers

11 Diagonal Support and Resistance

12 Bollinger Bands

13 Chart Patterns that Work

14 Cycle Theory: Time-based, Cyclical and Seasoned Forces

15 Commitments of Traders: Who Trades What and How Much?

16 Stock Indexes: The Prime Vehicle for Day-Traders and Position Traders

17 The Entry Checklist

18 Stops: Theory and Practice

19 Getting Out of the Market: The Exit Checklist

20 Case Study: Buy

21 Case Study: Sell Short

22 Short-Term Trading Techniques I

23 Short-Term Trading Techniques II

24 Final Thoughts

In just a few years, futures trading has grown from a specialized area to a major sector that is attracting pension funds, hedge funds, and other capital pools. Technological advances have led to increased globalization and around-the-clock trading, which has generated huge volumes that can be traded at minimal cost.

In Timing Techniques for Commodity Futures Markets, expert stocks and futures advisor Colin Alexander explains how to make money in all market conditions. He shows you how to set up monthly and weekly charts with indicators that determine which markets may be worth trading. Then he shows daily and intraday charts tell you when to pull the trigger and get into a trade and stay until market action generates an exit signal.

With Alexander's proven approach to evaluating markets, you'll learn how to avoid high-risk and marginal trades without sacrificing the high-potential ones. And, you'll see how informed applications of today's most effective indicators-including MACD, moving averages, stochastics, and Bollinger Bands-can help identify markets with the potential for extended moves.

Through a focused examination of how money determines markets, Timing Techniques for Commodity Future Markets shows you how to:

• Define a trend
• Interpret who trades what and how much
• Set stops and get out of trades
• Fine-tune short-term trading

Along with expert advice on such fundamental practices as building charts and reading candlestick charts, Timing Techniques for Commodity Futures Markets provides an insider's edge with rare information on the best chart patterns for all time frames, cyclical and seasonal forces and price rules for knowing when to pull the trigger on a trade. To illustrate real-time use, the Alexander includes two revealing case studies--one based on a prospective long position on gasoline and one based on a short position in copper.