Futures Trading Academy (FTA)

New to futures or looking for a refresher? This course is designed for you. Dive into the basics of futures contracts, how contracts trade on a futures exchange, the different ways customers use these instruments and the benefits that futures provide. Gain a stronger understanding of how futures work and why more market participants are using derivatives in their trading strategies today.

Trading Futures (and Options on Futures) differs in important ways from trading stocks, ETFs or CFDs. In this course, we’ll walk you through all of the steps involved in placing an order to trade. You will learn that trading futures requires an account with a broker or FCM, the steps involved with submitting your first order, the different order types a trader may use when expressing their opinion on the market, what happens to the order when it is sent to the exchange, and how you manage and close an open position.

Losing money is a particularly difficult test for new traders, who tend to lose very often. It is very hard to believe in yourself when you have no history of success and no way to put losses in perspective. But, being a good trader is like being a good baseball player who is considered a superstar if he gets on base 4 times out of 10. You don’t have to win every time to be a successful trader. You just have to understand that’s the way it is and be comfortable with it.

There are many types of economic events including releases by a governing body, changes in sales or consumption of commodities, and increases in supply and demand. All of these can affect the markets you trade, making it important for you to know how and when these changes are happening.

Curious about what futures can bring to your portfolio? Discover 8 advantages you can enjoy from day one when you insert futures into your trading strategy in this easy-to-complete, multi-part online course.

Learn how to instantly enhance your diversification opportunities and access with more hours to trade, in deeply liquid markets with fewer day trading restrictions than equity markets. Learn how to harness the power of leverage to expand your investment’s reach, enabling you to control a large notional value with a relatively small amount of capital. Free up capital for other uses with lower margin requirements and enjoy flexibility and ease for entering and exiting the markets when you need to, without worrying about inflated costs. Get started today.

Traders who win consistently treat trading as a business. While there is no guarantee that you will make money, developing a trading plan is crucial if you want to become consistently successful and thrive in the trading game. Every trader—no matter your experience—needs a plan.

Many traders attempt to combine technical and fundamental analysis to derive a benefit from both approaches, each with their own virtues and drawbacks. Whether you choose to employ fundamentals, technicals or both to help predict the future, always remember that the current market price is always the right price. The market always knows best because the latest price is the one at which current sellers and current buyers are meeting in a fair and transparent marketplace.

In this section, you’ll explore the differences between fundamental analysis and technical analysis. Then, you’ll learn an important concept that traders need to understand—the difference between trending and anti-trending markets.

Controlling risk while trading takes many forms. It starts with properly selecting which markets to trade, then moves on to decisions about allocating capital and taking appropriate-sized positions. But managing risk and limiting losses also is accomplished through understanding risk itself as well as human nature. Any trader’s chance for success improves with a disciplined use and understanding of money management techniques.

There are two types of analysis used by traders to inform their trading decisions. Technical analysis and fundamental analysis. In this course, you will learn about the various patterns, indicators, and analysis techniques traders use when studying the price of a commodity. We will start at the beginning by learning how to read price charts. Then we’ll cover some of the more popular techniques such how to identify trend and reversal patterns, finding support and resistance levels, and various oscillators.

Fundamental analysis is the process of determining the model price of a futures contract, now and in the future, using factors like economic data and industry financial conditions. A trader using fundamental analysis to inform their decisions is looking at how supply and demand could move price, now and in the future. The type of information a trader will use to formulate their opinions will differ across products, in this course we’ll look at each class of products and cover some of the variables that could impact price.