What You Need to Know About Trading Futures | TradeStation

What You Need to Know About Trading Futures

May 15, 2020

Trading futures requires you learn how to trade futures, learn about the markets, learn what drives futures prices, and learn how to decide which futures contracts to buy and sell.

Experienced futures traders always have a plan before entering a trade. This plan includes how many contracts to buy or sell, how much risk they are willing to take, how much money they are willing to lose on a single trade and a price level to take profits.

Understanding how futures trading works is a key factor to consistent trading and avoiding mistakes. Each type of futures contract has its own unique contract specifications which you need to fully understand – futures can trade at odd times during the day, each future has both a specific and unique last trading day and expiration day, which can be different and each futures contract has a unique contract point value which determines the profit and loss of a position based on the price action.

Finally, you might have heard stories of the absent-minded futures trader who forgot to close his lean hogs positions and a truck pulled up a few days later to his house to deliver the hogs. Although I guess this could happen, most online brokers are looking out for you in these circumstances and will auto close positions before the delivery notice is required (but it is a funny story).

Discover the advantages of trading Futures with TradeStation

See also

What are Micro E-Mini Futures?

What are Micro E-Mini Futures?

Market BasicsOptionsMicro E-mini futures, the next big thing in equities trading, and offer the benefits of trading equity index futures for a fraction of the financial commitment. There are four index contracts available for individual traders:...

What are Micro E-Mini Futures?

Why Trade Micro E-Mini Futures

Market BasicsFuturesTrade a slice of the most liquid equity index futures Get the same benefits that make E-minis a staple on Wall Street, now on a main street budget at 1/10th the contract size. Enjoy nearly 24-hour trading, no management fees,...

What are Micro E-Mini Futures?

Micro E-Mini Futures Contract Specifications

Market BasicsFuturesAll times of day referenced here and elsewhere in this document are Chicago time. Micro E-mini S&P 500 Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 Micro E-mini Russell 2000 Micro E-mini Dow Contract Size $5 x S&P 500 Index $2 x Nasdaq-100...

TradeStation Securities, Inc. is an SEC-licensed broker dealer and a CFTC-licensed futures commission merchant (FCM), and a member of FINRA, SIPC, CME, NFA and several equities and futures exchanges, which offers to self-directed investors and traders Equities accounts for stocks, exchange-traded products (such as ETFs) and equity and index options, and Futures accounts for commodity and financial futures and futures options (TradeStation Securities does not offer Crypto accounts).

TradeStation Crypto, Inc. is neither a securities broker dealer nor an FCM, and offers to self-directed investors and traders cryptocurrency brokerage services under federal and state money services business/money-transmitter and similar registrations and licenses (TradeStation Crypto is not a member of FINRA, SIPC, CME, NFA or any equities or futures exchange, and does not offer Equities or Futures accounts).

TradeStation Technologies, Inc. is a software development company which offers analytics subscriptions that self-directed investors and traders can use to chart, analyze and design back-tested strategies for Equities, Options, Futures, Forex and Crypto markets (TradeStation Technologies is not a financial services company).

You Can Trade, Inc. is an online educational, news and entertainment media publication service that seeks to provide to the public a marketplace of potentially actionable investment and trading content, ideas, demonstrations and informational tools. You Can Trade is not an investment, trading or financial adviser or pool, broker-dealer, futures commission merchant, investment research company, digital asset or cryptocurrency exchange or broker, or any other kind of financial or money services company, and does not give any investment, trading or financial advice, or research analyses or recommendations, or make any judgments, hold any opinions, or make any other recommendations, about whether you should purchase, sell, own or hold any security, futures contract or other derivative, or digital asset or digital asset derivative, or any class, category or sector of any of the foregoing, or whether you should make any allocation of your invested capital between or among any of the foregoing.

TradeStation Crypto accepts only cryptocurrency deposits, and no cash (fiat currency) deposits, for account funding. In order for you to purchase cryptocurrencies using cash, or sell your cryptocurrencies for cash, in a TradeStation Crypto account, you must also have qualified for, and opened, a TradeStation Equities account with TradeStation Securities so that your cryptocurrency purchases may be paid for with cash withdrawals from, and your cryptocurrency cash sale proceeds may be deposited in, your TradeStation Securities Equities account. Therefore, if you want to open a TradeStation Crypto account, you must also have an Equities account with TradeStation Securities. This cash in your TradeStation Securities Equities account may also, of course, be used for your equities and options trading with TradeStation Securities.

TradeStation and YouCanTrade account services, subscriptions and products are designed for speculative or active investors and traders, or those who are interested in becoming one. No offer or solicitation to buy or sell securities, securities derivative or futures products of any kind, cryptocurrencies or other digital assets, or any type of trading or investment advice, recommendation or strategy, is made, given or in any manner endorsed by any TradeStation Group company, and the information made available on or in any TradeStation Group company website or other publication or communication is not an offer or solicitation of any kind in any jurisdiction where such TradeStation Group company or affiliate is not authorized to do business. Past performance, whether actual or indicated by historical tests of strategies, is no guarantee of future performance or success. There is a possibility that you may sustain a loss equal to or greater than your entire investment regardless of which asset class you trade (equities, options, futures, futures options, or crypto); therefore, you should not invest or risk money that you cannot afford to lose. System access and trade placement and execution may be delayed or fail due to market volatility and volume, quote delays, system, platform and software errors or attacks, internet traffic, outages and other factors. The trademarks “TradeStation®,” “YouCanTrade” and “SheCanTrade,” as well as other trademarks, domain names and other proprietary intellectual property of TradeStation Group companies, are owned by TradeStation Technologies. The proprietary TradeStation platform is offered by TradeStation Securities for Equities (including equity options) and Futures trading. TradeStation Crypto offers its online platform trading services, and TradeStation Securities offers futures options online platform trading services, through unaffiliated third-party platform applications and systems licensed to TradeStation Crypto and TradeStation Securities, respectively, which are permitted to be offered by those TradeStation companies for use by their customers.

Please also read carefully the agreements, disclosures, disclaimers and assumptions of risk presented to you separately by TradeStation Securities, TradeStation Crypto, TradeStation Technologies, and You Can Trade on the TradeStation Group company site and the separate sites, portals and account or subscription application or sign-up processes of each of these TradeStation Group companies. They contain important information, rights and obligations, as well as important disclaimers and limitations of liability, and assumptions of risk, by you that will apply when you do business with these companies.

×