Commodity Futures Education Center.

Specifically, the four steps outlined below are what we at FuturesView.com™ would recommend beginning traders. Of course there are alternatives to our recommended book, newsletter and broker, but we have chosen these three resources because we are familiar with them. These resources have proven to be legitimate and productive sources of education and information, which is imperative to successful investing.

Step	Action
1 EDUCATE	"Don't jump in the water until you know how to swim." Take the time to acquire a comprehensive introduction to the markets. What you're looking for is a futures book or course that explains things like order entry, margin requirements, contract specifications and price ticks, and basic fundamental and technical analysis. These are just a few of the basic, yet extremely 'key', ingredients to becoming a successful futures trader. Of course the more books you read, the more you stand to learn, and from different perspectives too. Just be careful not to overwhelm yourself with too many trading philosophies -you don't want to get to the point where you're trying to trade different "systems" that are contradicting each other and confusing you. Read, listen, and learn so that you form a personal opinion and plan based on what makes sense to you.
2 GET INFO	There are many excellent trading newsletters, hotlines and updates available today. Try out several through free trials and samples. Obviously, an editor's reputation and experience will be a factor in weeding out the lesser quality publications. What you're looking for in a newsletter or a hotline is a market update. There are two main schools of thought that you'll use to forecast futures prices -technical and fundamental analysis. Ideally, you want to gain access to some type of newsletter or hotline that keeps you updated with the type of analysis you want to follow. To be thorough in today's fast moving market place, you'll want a source that's updated at least once or twice a week.
3 PAPERTRADE	Here's the best part of being a papertrader... You get to test any strategy or trading plan you want, and it doesn't cost you a dime if you lose! Papertrading is the process of tracking potential trades on paper and keeping track of the hypothetical profit and losses that occur. It's the perfect way for a new trader to become familiar with how to enter an order, how to follow the market, and if a trading strategy is successful or now. *Just remember, if you're unable to make money papertrading, don't open an account and trade for real* -keep studying.**
4 OPEN AN ACCOUNT	You've educated yourself, you've found a newsletter that keeps you updated and gives you recommendations, and finally you've traded on paper for a few months and made money. Well, it looks like you may be ready to open an account and trade for real! Full-service versus discount? Discount versus online trading? It's up to you and what you feel comfortable with, but we will always recommend that your first trading experience be with a full-service broker. A good full-service broker will help you with order entry, keep you up-to-date with reports and last trading days, etc. It doesn't do you any good to save thousands of dollars in commissions if you just lose it in the market anyway. Look for a full-service firm that has been in business for at least ten years. Ask what type of services that firms offers, and be sure to speak directly with the broker or the people that you will be working directly with -This is important; if the broker doesn't have time to introduce himself to you and answer some simple questions, he's unlikely to have time to spend with you after you open an account!

There is risk of loss in all futures and options trading. Past result are not necessarily indicative of future results. The opinions expressed herein are those of TradeView Services, Inc. and do not reflect the opinion of any other individual or organization Material was gathered from sources believed to be reliable, however no guarantee to its accuracy is made. ©Copyright 2008 TradeView Services, Inc.