Futures

Futures margin requirements vary. Know the initial and maintenance margin requirements for futures contracts you’re considering trading to avoid margin calls.

Understanding the relationships between stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies can help you identify economic trends and better manage your investments.

Metals futures can be used to diversify your portfolio or hedge your equities metals exposure. Learn the different ways you can trade metals.

CME Group is now listing Micro WTI Crude Oil futures. Approved account owners can now trade them on the thinkorswim® platform. Here’s what you need to know.

Industrial and precious metals are key components for investing, trading, and understanding the market. Learn how industrial and precious metals markets may potentially affect economic growth and sentiment.

Commodities have been red-hot in 2020 and 2021. Is this the start of a so-called commodity supercycle? And what might that mean for investors?

Investors caught between whether to buy a stock or a short-term options contract might consider LEAPS®—Long-Term Equity AnticiPation Securities.

The futures market can open new worlds for option traders, but it can also carry unique risks. So before you dive in, know the nuts and bolts of the futures markets.

A commodity “supercycle” can last for years and lift commodity prices across industries. Is one brewing as we emerge from COVID-19, and what does it mean for investors?

Trading futures in an individual retirement account (IRA) comes with benefits as well as risks and limitations. Here’s what you need to know.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and North Sea Brent: What’s the difference between these two global crude oil benchmarks?

Crude oil futures are one of the most actively traded in the world. Understand the different ways an investor might participate in the crude oil market.

Whether you're buying groceries, filling your tank with gas, or shopping for your next home, understand how different types of futures contracts could have influenced their prices.

As long as there have been markets, there have been occasional market bubbles. Here’s a look at a few of them, and what today’s investors can learn about avoiding the excesses of exuberance.

Learn how the VIX, VIX futures, and VIX options work together to help traders increase market awareness, make more informed options trading decisions, and employ trading strategies.

When a relationship between a pair of stocks, futures, or options gets out of line, pairs trading may offer potential opportunities. Here’s how some investors choose among many combinations of bullish and bearish positions.

With Micro E-mini options on futures, option traders can participate in the futures market with less capital and with streamlined risk management.

S&P 500 Index futures can provide investors and traders with exposure to the individual companies that make up the S&P 500 Index. But trading futures is different from trading equities. Understand how they work and how you can trade them.

Upward-sloping, flat, or negative? The yield curve is tracked by traders and investors as an economic and inflation barometer. Here are three ways to track yield curve spreads on the thinkorswim® platform.

Learn about micro e-mini futures contracts and how they could help your portfolio play hard during earnings season.

Find out more about investing in commodity ETFs, including what they are, things to research, and some of the common types of these investment products.

What are contango and backwardation? It’s all about the future: whether deferred-month futures contracts are priced higher than the front months. Learn why a market might be in contango or backwardation.

The volume profile tool can be used to identify which price is attracting most of the buyers and sellers. It can help identify support and resistance levels and areas where trading volume is accumulating.

When market volatility throws a wrench into diversification strategy, some investors consider alternative investments. Here’s a look at the world beyond stocks and bonds.

The global foreign exchange (FX) market is deep, liquid, and traded virtually around the clock. If you’re an option trader in search of a new asset class to trade, consider options on currency futures.

As the coronavirus pandemic sent markets reeling, many investors wonder if there's such a thing as a safe investment. Technically, no investment is risk-free. But some investment practices can be safer than others.

The bitcoin code dictates that the supply of new tokens entering the market should fall by half roughly every four years. Here’s what cryptocurrency investors should consider.

Investing in silver can be a defensive strategy, especially when equity markets are trending lower or when interest rates are low.

Stock trading versus futures trading each pose intriguing possibilities. But although stocks and futures share some common ground, they differ in several ways that investors should understand before diving in to either.

Are you looking to include gold in your portfolio? Learn about the different alternatives and their pros and cons.

When trading options on futures contracts, the number of choices available—delivery months and options expiration dates—can be overwhelming. Follow the volatility curve to help you whittle it down.

Learn how futures contracts use tick sizes to track how much positions gain or lose each day.

If you're familiar with StockX and similar online shoe reselling platforms, you might see similarities to the financial market system. What can we learn about investing and stock markets from the sneaker trade?

Learn how futures contracts can help experienced traders and investors manage portfolio risk with a beta-weighted hedging strategy.

With TD Ameritrade offering an expanded list of ETFs available for overnight trading, investors can react to tariff-related and other overseas news as it happens.

Thinking of futures as just another asset class, let's start with the basics: how to use capital efficiently, speculate, and hedge with futures.

Understanding the basics of futures. This is a brief futures 101 defining what are futures.

Treasury bonds are boring, right? Wrong. For traders, they represent a market that can be bigger than stocks.

SPX and S&P 500 futures don’t always move up and down together. Which one should you look at if you want to know what the market might be doing?

Want to learn about commodities trading, or how to invest in commodities? Start with this overview.

Trading bond futures may not be as risky as you think. A step-by-step guide that explains bond futures contract specs, pricing, and margin can go a long way. Walk through a 10-day bond trade and get a feel for day-to-day price action in the bond futures markets.

Learn the differences between equity options and options on futures contracts, and how experienced options traders can use futures options to enhance their trading.

Interested in learning about futures contracts? Here's a primer on multipliers, tick size, and other futures contracts specifications.

At first glance, futures trading may seem complex. Let's explore what goes into trading futures contracts.

The foreign exchange or forex market is traded around the globe, virtually around the clock. Find out if the forex market is right for you with this retail forex guide for beginners.

Options on futures are quite similar to their equity option cousins, but a few differences do exist.

Learn the fundamentals of grain, energy and other markets, and how to follow prices using futures markets.

Learn how futures contracts can help experienced traders and investors pursue their objectives while tying up less capital.

Is trading the overnight session in futures or foreign exchange right for you? Find out volume patterns, international open and close times, and more.

The foreign exchange market is large, global, and generally liquid. Find out if the forex market is right for you with this primer.

Arbitrary entry and exit points in futures trading can be futile—learn how to place your trades using a price range based on volatility and probability.

Volume profile provides clues about price in different ways, use it to take a peek at support and resistance levels by looking at high and low volume nodes.

Coffee may wake you up in the morning, and coffee can perk up a portfolio, too. Learn how investors can gain exposure to coffee and diversify a portfolio.

Potential strategies for a depressed VIX—When volatility is low, learn how to hedge a trader's version of "yield" by trading volatility as an asset class.

Don't be caught on the wrong side of a trade—consider managing risk in futures trading with certain options spreads, futures and calendar, to hedge.

Basis trading is a third dimension open to aspiring futures traders to trade without speculating on direction, working with the gamut of futures products.

Economists and pundits like to pontificate on if and when the Federal Reserve will raise ultra-low short-term interest rates. But there’s an easier way to get a reading on Fed moves, and it’s right under your nose.

If you’re in a position you can’t access while in a locked-limit scenario, consider constructing a synthetic futures contract to offset your position.

Look to futures market calendar spreads and intermarket spreads to potentially lower the risk of fast-moving, directional markets.

Just what happens when futures contracts expire? Understanding settlement is one of the biggest hurdles to learning futures trading.

Thinking about taking your options knowledge into the world of futures? Keep these differences in mind as you get started.

Only pros care about interest-rate trading, and bonds are boring, right? Not so fast. There’s more to them than meets the eye. Pros don't have all the fun.

If you recently started trading futures, you may have some burning questions. Burn no more...

I was happy when CBOE VIX futures were added to TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim® platform. So, it’s not running with the bulls in Pamplona. But I’m a trader...

The nuts and bolts of futures calendar spreads are a bit different than their equity-option cousins.

If you’ve been around the futures-trading universe, you might’ve heard of Monkey Bars. Funny name. Serious chart concept for swing traders.

If you've ever wondered what index futures are, how to trade them, or why you'd trade them in the first place, wonder no more.

Yes, you can have a derivative on a derivative. But don’t let that scare you. Options on futures may be easier to understand than you think.

If you're new to trading futures, keep your eye on three critical reports: Petroleum Status Report, U.S. Treasury Auctions, and USDA Crop Reports. Here's why.

Futures’ time has come. And with it, so has the technology to trade them. If you're new to futures, let's start with the basics.