Commodities for Dummies by Amine Bouchentouf

Summary: A good guide book on the basics you need to know about commodity markets. The materials give the readers a solid foundation of what they are dealing with and the factors affecting these markets. Various ways to engage in trading the commodities are also discussed so that the readers can choose from the various instruments (e.g. ETFs, futures, etc.) as oppose to the tunnel view from say a future trader’s perspective. Good introduction for both traders and long term investors who want to diversify their portfolios. Highly recommended.

Review

This book is a comprehensive guide on how to engage in commodity trading / investing. Unlike trading books that focus on a particular kind of trading vehicles, this book tries to provide a broad based overview of all the available financial instruments that you can use to trade commodities. Hence, this book is perfect for those traders or investors who are not familiar with commodity trading to grasp the important basics of these markets quickly.

Thorough discussions on the reasons why trading commodities is a good fit for those people whose investments primarily focus on stocks. As so many people never even pay attention to the world economy, the commodity markets are often invisible to these individuals. Due to the advancements in financial products, we now have ETFs, etc. on commodities in addition to the more traditional future contracts and spot markets. This makes it possible for many people to engage in commodity trading without the extra effort of learning to trade instruments like future contracts.

Explanation on each type of commodities are filled with expert tips and information where in the old days you have to read from multiple sources to just gather the facts together. Pointers are provided in understanding the various factors affecting each commodity market. Beginners should have no problem understanding and absorbing the materials as the book is very well written.

Similar to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Day Trading Like a Pro, I made this book a must read for my support staff so that they can pickup the lingo quickly with solid understanding of the commodity markets. This book, in my view, is much better than the Idiot’s Guide because the information presented is both clear and insightful.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who plans to trade commodities with little or no experience.

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