Candlestick charting is a highly powerful tool in the trading arsenal of any trader. In the last two decades, candlestick charting has become highly popular. There are many candlestick patterns that give profitable trading signals. Some are simple while other are complex. Hammer, the Hanging Man and the Spinning Top are three simple candlestick patterns that can be easily spotted. All three are different!

The first question. How do you identify whether this is a Hanging Man or a Hammer? Hammer and the Hanging Man both have a very small candle body accompanied by a long wick either on the bottom. If this type of pattern appears at the top of an uptrend with the long wick at the bottom, it is a Hanging Man. And if it appears at the bottom of an downtrend it is a Hammer.

In less than ideal cases, you might also find a small wick at the top of the candlestick. When the Hanging Man or the Hammer appears, you need to look for the confirmation on the next day.

If the opening price on the next day is less than the previous day’s close, you have a true Hanging Man. If not, then that was not a true Hanging Man. Now suppose, you think that you have spotted the Hanging Man in an uptrend. Wait for the confirmation the next day with the opening price.

A Hammer should have a very small candle body with a long wick at the bottom. Similarly suppose, you think that you have correctly spotted the Hammer in a downtrend. You should confirm this with the opening price on the next day. If the opening price is higher than the closing price the previous day, you have a true Hammer. If the opening price is not higher than the closing price the last day, it is not a true Hammer!

Whenever, you trade candlestick patterns, first spot them correctly than wait for the confirmation on the following day. The best chart for these candlestick patterns is the daily chart. Once, you get the confirmation, trade these patterns. They can be highly profitable. But in case, you don’t get the confirmation the next day with the price action, simply ignore the pattern as not true.

A Spinning Top is another candlestick pattern that reveals a tight battle between the bulls and the bears. Whenever, the battle between the bulls and the bears ends in a draw on a trading day, the following day, one side has to give in. When this happens an explosive move in one direction is highly likely.

How to identify a SPINNING TOP? This pattern appears very frequently in the daily charts and can be highly profitable if spotted correctly. A Spinning Top has a very small candle body in the middle with two equal wicks on the top and the bottom.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report FREE. Master Candlestick Charting with this 82 page PDF FREE Candlestick Guide!

Technorati Tags: business, Currency Trading, day trading, etfs, finance, forex, investing, mutual funds, options, Real Estate, retirement, stocks, trading, wealth building

Have you ever given a gold ring to your friend as a token of your true love? Gold has been the most precious metal from the dawn of civilization. It is still considered to be the ultimate currency and the ultimate store of value in times of political uncertainity. For the last ten years, the gold market is in a secular uptrend with the spot prices having recently breached the historical barrier of $1,200 per troy ounce. After that there was a retracement and the prices did come down to around $1,100 per ounce but this uptrend is expected to continue for sometime.

Forex trading is considered to be a recession proof business as there is neither a bull market nor a bear market in currencies. Currency prices are always quoted relative to one anther and currencies are traded in pairs. What this means is that if one currency goes up the other goes down. It is being said that many millionaires will be made in the currency markets. Forex trading is the hottest market right now after the recent stock market crash. Many small investors lost their lifetime saving in the stock market crash of 2008. Investors have turned towards forex in droves.

Now, many forex brokers also allow you to trade gold in the spot market from the same platform that you trade forex. If you have been trading forex, you can easily trade gold too. Now when you trade currencies, you take a long or short position on two currencies.

But when you trade gold, you take long or short position in gold in the spot market with the opposite position in US Dollar (USD). In other words just like trading a currency pair like EURUSD, JPYUSD, GBPUSD and other pair involving USD as the counter currency when you trade gold, you are trading against USD.

So, in spot gold trading on forex, you are trading one troy ounce of gold against USD. Interestingly the symbol for this is also XAUUSD with XAU representing one ounce of gold. Now, suppoe the price quote in the spot market is 1100 XAUUSD. What this means is that one troy ounce of gold in the spot market right now is equal to $1,100 USD.

Just like any currency pairs, stock or for that matter any security, the price quote in the spot gold market has got a bid-ask spread. Suppose the price quote in the spot market is 1110/1115. This means is that you can buy one ounce of gold at a rate of $1,115 and sell one ounce at the rate of $1,110 to your broker. Now, spot gold trading on forex is a fast moving market. Due to the fast moving nature of the spot gold market, the spread keeps on changing throughout the day!

Spot gold market is a fast moving market and the price quotes keep on changing. So, suppose just after 60 minutes, you find the quote to be 1120/1126. You see a profit and decide to get out selling at $11,200 making a profit of $30. Now if you had used leverage, you would have needed a much lower initial investment to make a profit of $30 in just 60 minutes. Now a standard lot in currency trading is equal to $100,000. But in case of gold on forex, a standard lot is equal to 10 troy ounces of gold. So, if you find the price quote to be 1112/1117 and you are interested in going long. In that case you will have to buy 1 lot of gold that is equal to $11,170.

Gold is also know as anti dollar. What this means is that their is an inverse correlation between gold and USD. This inverse relationship can help you hedge your positions in other currency pairs.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Get this Forex Swing Trading Forex-4 Pack Training Kit FREE! Download this 1 Minute Forex Trading System FREE.

Technorati Tags: day trading, Entrepreneurs, forex, forex trading, investing, money, mutual funds, Real Estate, retirement, Small Business, stock market, stocks, trading, wealth building

By using trend following indicators it’s a way to track how to trade stocks. A strategy that will use how those stocks have done in the past on the market, and how they should do in the future as well.

Basically a way of watching the way the market moves and investing based on those past movements of certain stocks. Use of not only the current market price, but averages for moving, and breakouts will be used to figure out what to do.

Traders aren’t forecasting how the market is going to flow, but they will follow a set trend that has been going on. Looking into three components to figure out the strategy. Price of the stock currently, market volatility and equity levels. They will know before getting the stock how much will be bought and how much they will spend on it.

This type of method will be used only after the stock has established a trend. In other words not on a new stock that hasn’t yet established any type of trend to it. Price will be one of the main considerations in this method. A person who trades through this method may use indicators to figure out which way the stock will go next.

They should know when the trend will continue until, and how much they will trade during that time. If the market becomes more volatile they will reduce the levels of trading this will be to cut losses. Price and time are the most important things for trend following indicators.

With trend following indicators you should be able to answer the following questions. When you enter the market, how many shares you will trade at a time. Money that will be risked for each trade, how will you cut your losses on a trade, and what to do when the trade becomes profitable?

Find more on stock trend following and trend following systems.

Technorati Tags: business, commodities, etfs, finance, forex, money, nasdaq, news, Real Estate, stock market, stocks, trading, trend following, trend trading

Leverage is a term used in investment circles to explain a type of borrowing. Its investment jargon, so it may sound complex. Its simply describes the process of borrowing to invest, where there is some kind of security underpinning the borrowing. This could be a house in a property loan, or stocks in a margin loan.

This article is all about the risks and rewards of borrowing to invest, or leveraging investment strategies. The information is general in nature and not intended as specific advice. As always, if you intend borrowing to invest, seek licensed financial advice before you do.

When I started investing, my borrowing habits where the same as most peoples. I had a floating credit card debt which varied to my whims. I had a small personal loan for some household items and a bigger one which enabled me to buy my car.

There are 2 problems with this type of borrowing. Firstly, all the assets I bought with the borrowed money were depreciating assets. This means that as I paid off the debt, the value of the things I bought decreased. Secondly, as I purchased “consumables”, the interest I paid on these loans was not tax deductible. This makes for a very expensive borrowing.

Things have changed over the years. I learned that debt is much more efficient when spent on investments. So now my credit card debt is negligible and paid off every month. My personal loans are completely paid off. Despite this, I have a lot more debt. I have a massive debt on an investment property. I have a margin loan for share trading. And I have a FOREX investment account which is leveraged at 400:1 (Which means I borrow $400 for every $1 I put in)

Why is it more efficient to use your borrowings for investing then?

When you borrow to invest, you increase your investment earnings potential. As you borrow money, you have more to invest. Therefore, the returns on your investments increase by the net returns on the borrowed money. Obviously the basic key here is to ensure your investment return rate is higher than the interest rates on the loan. If this is the case, you will always make money with the money you have borrowed.

The second benefit you can get from borrowing to invest is a possible tax benefit. In my situation where I have borrowed to purchase an investment property in Victoria, as I rent out that property and earn an income from it, the interest payments on that mortgage become a cost associated with that income. As such, in my circumstance, I can claim those interest payments as a tax deduction. This means that while my asset is making me money, the tax office is actually giving me a discount on my borrowing by making it tax deductible

Margin loans work in exactly the same way. I have some stocks and I borrow some money using them as collateral. I typically try and keep a 50% leverage ratio, every dollar of stocks I own lets me borrow and invest another dollar. So I end up with a stock portfolio double the size I could have bought with my own money, I earn the returns on the entire portfolio, but pay interest on the money I have borrowed. Because I borrowed to earn money on stocks, the interest is tax deductible for me.

Those are some of the benefits you can gain by borrowing to invest. There are risks too though, so it is very important to get independent financial advice if you are thinking about leverage.

The first risk with borrowing to invest is the same with all loans. Loans come with obligations. You need to be able to fund the repayments, both the principle and the interest. So you need to do your sums properly and work out whether your income can cover these repayments. If you mess this up and over-extend yourself, typically your lender will come and seize your goods and assets and sell them to get their money back. This is never a good position to be in.

In a margin loan situation, it is a little different. If you borrow too much here, you may breach the allowable % of assets to debt you are given and if this happens, you will be expected to put more money in to put the loan back in “good order”. This can be quite difficult if the market swings strongly against you. So you need to know that in extremely adverse market conditions (2007 – 2009 are a good example of this) you can generate enough income to cover such margin calls.

There is alway also the possibility that your trading strategy loses money. If this happens, because you borrowed so you could invest more, you lose more money.

There are strategies to protect yourself against these risks though which your financial advisor can help you with. In my experience, it is definitely worthwhile borrowing to invest, but only if you manage your risk and cashflow responsibilities properly. So the one piece of specific advice I will give you here, is speak to a licensed financial advisor or accountant about whether this is an appropriate strategy for you. Only then should you work out how to structure it to match your personal circumstances.

Gnifrus Urquart has enjoyed impressive success investing for many years. As such, he enjoys discussing investment strategies and giving trading tips to anyone interested in investing

Technorati Tags: credit, Currency Trading, finance, forex, investing, Leverage, loans, money, money management, mortgage, property, Real Estate, stock market

The more volatile the market, the higher then index option premium! The duller the market, the lower the index options premium. Well it depends on the expectations of the traders whether the market will move sufficiently in the near future for them to exercise their buy or sell rights.

You can find many options types of options contracts. You will find futures options, currency options, stock options, ETF options and so on. Options offer investors far more trading strategies as compared to futures. Such strategies can range from highly speculative to highly conservative. Options are a far more basic instrument than the ETFs and futures. You can easily replicate any ETF or futures contract with an option but the reverse is not true.

Now the seller of a call options believes that the market will not move sufficiently up in the near future so he/she can make money by writing a call options contract and selling it to someone who believes the maker will move up. Of course for anyone who buys an options contract there should be someone to sell the options contract to make a complete transaction.

There are always two parties to a trade. In case of options, one is the options buyer and the other is the options seller. Options trading are a zero sum game. Either the options buyer wins or the seller wins. Both can’t. Now the seller of a call options believes that the market will not move sufficiently up in the near future so he/she can make money by writing a call options contract and selling it to someone who believes the maker will move up. Of course for anyone who buys an options contract there should be someone to sell the options contract to make a complete transaction.

So in a way, buying and selling of options contracts make options trading a zero sum game. Either the market will move up or it will not. Either the option seller will win or the options buyer will win. The development of the stock index futures and the index options was a major development in’80s for investors and money managers. The buyers of the put options are in a way insuring their portfolio against possible market decline but who are the sellers of the put options. They are primarily those investors who are willing to buy those stocks but only at lower prices. Options are an important component of any money manager portfolio. Many hedging strategies now depend on options.

Index options have some unique advantages. They already have the diversification inbuilt into them. But with stock index futures and options, investors were able to buy in some way the whole market such as represented by these stock indexes. Heavily capitalized firms in the major stock indexes like the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) have always attracted money because of their outstanding liquidity.

Index options give the investors the ability to insure the value of their portfolios at the lowest possible prices and save on the transaction costs and taxes. Why don’t you try trading index options?

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Try these cash printing Forex Signals from heaven. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot System!

Technorati Tags: business, Currency Trading, day trading, ecommerce, finance, forex, investing, market news, money, mutual funds, personal finance, Real Estate, stocks, trading

Do you know China is the largest producer of coal? Coal production n China would peak somewhere around 2010-2020. Are you aware of the fact that the peak of the global oil production (all liquids, including unconventional oil) will peak in the next few years.

There were many factors that contributed to the massive use of these natural resources, industrialization and population increase were the most important. Then there was no consideration given to the environmental damage this would do. You must be thinking what to do every available source of energy seems to be peaking in the near future? The global peak of uranium production lies somewhere around2025-2050. The global peak of natural gas production lies somewhere around 2025!

So what will fill this void in energy production in the coming decades? Do you know this fact that the US Department of Energy has estimated that there is enough available offshore wind energy of the coasts of US that can nearly cover the current US electricity capacity?

With introduction of energy saving technology in the fluorescent lamps and bulbs, a lot of energy can be saved. If every bulb in the US was replaced with an energy efficient fluorescent lamp, enough energy could be saved to shut down around 100 power plants. If all the care in US were hybrids by 2025 that would roughly reduce 80% of the US oil import.

So the solution is already there but it requires investments which are right now not forth coming. This will soon change as the global supply of oil starts to dwindle. The solution is already there and as the end of fossil fuel nears which is only a decade away, more and more alternative energy solutions will be used to generate cheap energy. Enough power could be generated for the entire US by covering only 9% of Nevada desert with parabolic trough systems. This is something like a plot of land 100 by 100 miles.

You might have seen only a glimpse of that last year in 2008 when crude oil prices jumped to around $150 per barrel. This is something that is bound to happen. The supplies of fossil fuel are finite and will be exhausted in the near future. When the oil price reached above $100, plans got rolling for massive investment in the alternative energy sector. With the oil price coming down, these plans have been shelved but will be rerolled again when the oil price again starts to sky rocket.

There is little doubt that companies operating in the green energy sector will ultimately become the major players in the overall energy generation and transportation mix of tomorrow. This prediction is based on our insatiable energy consumption and the lack of conventional supplies to meet the growing energy demand. This is most probably the safest long term bet that you can make in the long term.

Keeping in view the above facts, investing in green energy stocks in the best long term investment that you can make! Imagine Henry Ford in’09 asking you to invest in his Ford Motor Company that is about to mass produce a horseless carriage.

Right now the world is standing at another threshold. But many folks in that year of’09 were skeptical about Model T success. This is now 2009, exactly a century has passed. Do you think investing in green energy stocks is a bad idea? He tells you that this invention could change the entire landscape of the country. Knowing everything that you know right now with the power of hind sight with you, you will definitely say yes. Green Energy stocks may turn out to be your best investment decision of your life. A massive investment frenzy is about to take place in the green energy technologies.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Try these cash printing Forex Signals from heaven. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot System!

Technorati Tags: business, Currency Trading, day trading, ecommerce, finance, forex, investing, market news, money, mutual funds, personal finance, Real Estate, stocks, trading

When we talk of the capitalization of a company what do we mean by it? Capitalization or cap refers to the combined value of all the share of a company’s stocks. The division between large cap, mid cap and small cap are often blurry and not sharp. When you start looking for good stocks, you often come across these terms like large cap, mid cap, small cap, growth and value. Let’s discuss these terms for a moment.

Statistical studies of large cap, mid cap and the small cap stocks has shown that over the years small cap stocks have outperformed. Mid caps are companies with $1 to $5 Billion in capitalization and small caps are companies with $250 million to $1 Billion in capitalization. Anything below $250 million can be considered as micro cap. However the following divisions are generally accepted: Large caps are companies with over $5 Billion in capitalization.

What is the P/E ratio? The P/E ratio divides the price of the stock by the earnings per share. Suppose, company ABC stock is presently selling for $50. Now suppose that last year company ABC earned $5 for every share of the stock outstanding. This means stock ABC P/E ratio is 50/5=10. So the higher the P/E ratio, the more investors are willing to pay for the stock.

Now the higher the P/E ratio, the more growth the company is supposed to have. So it can be either the company is growing real fast of the investor have high hopes of its growth. Now these hopes can be realistic or foolish, you never know!

Growth companies are usually adolescent companies usually in sectors like computers, technology, telecom while value companies are mature companies usually in sectors like insurance, banking, manufacturing. Now, if you follow financial news than you must know that the large growth companies always grab the headlines. But do the growth stocks really make best investment? The lower the P/E ratio, the more value the company has. Low P/E ratio companies are not considered to be the movers and shakers in the market. Is there any statistical study that can guide us as to the performance of these different categories of stocks? Eugene Fama did seminal research on stocks and stock market s in’70s. Most of his results were startling and broke many myths. According to Fama and French, two famous researchers who did ground breaking research on stocks, over the last 77 years, large growth stocks have only seen 9.9% annualized rate of return as compared to 11.5% for the large value stocks.

So most of these growth stocks become highly popular in a small period of time! Everyone rushes to buy these growth stocks thinking that they are great investments. The most probable cause seems to be their immense popularity. Since most of the headlines are captures by high growth companies, investors seem to think that they are the best investments. Now intuitively you might have thought that growth stocks are better. What can be the reason for their lower performance over the years?

Think about Google, how its stock price shot up within a matter of weeks after it hit the market. Weeks after that it began to cool off. So large growth stocks tend to get overpriced before you are able to buy them!

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Try these cash printing Forex Signals from heaven. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot System!

Technorati Tags: business, Currency Trading, day trading, ecommerce, finance, forex, investing, market news, money, mutual funds, Real Estate, stocks, trading, wealth

The story was once told by a proud father of his young boy who previously had no business sense or acumen what so ever. It seems that this young lad had parlayed a meager sum of his money and cash into a rather large sum of funds simply by changing his wealth on a regular basis from one currency to another. As the young fellow instructed his father. Anyone can do it. You simply read the newspaper for current currency rates. It does not cost anything. Then I went to the bank and purchased traveler’s checks , which to his good fortune his bank included in his service fee package. If the paper told me that dollars went up , I cashed in my US dollar denominated Amex travelers checks. If British pound sterling was low , I would use those funds to buy units in that currency. Add in Japanese Yen and E.U. European money into the mix , and all in all you have a simple explanation of forex , foreign currency trading. Interestingly the young man was able to place down a substantial down payment for a substantial new home in Coquitlam Canada.

In business and investments , money is always changing hands . What goes up and some point goes down. Buy low and sell high is the refrain. This is the whole point of the exercise – to buy specific currencies when they are being sold at a lower rate than would be expected and sell these same holdings either at a higher value at a given point in time , and yet at other times to even dump holdings before times get even worse for the party in question. No trader can ever be right 100 % of the time , just as no stock broker can be unfailingly accurate each and every trade. It is a numbers game overall – the winner picks the best and wisest choice in the highest percentages of trades. Its a simple as that.

Some people and financial authorities will advise their clients that done with research , analysis and care forex foreign currency trading can be a most lucrative investment pastime , endeavor or even hobby. Yet others get carried away with the whole fun of the game. One must remember that overall you are in the pit to make money , increase your wealth and holdings not to lose your shirt and cause both yourself and your family members financial hardship and hardships.

Currency markets are heavily influenced by news happenings. A change of political fortune or an election can change the value of a currency. A storm or natural disaster can do the same. Forex trading has the potential for large gains, but conversely there is the risk of large losses. If you enter the forex speculation Market you need to be clear what your risk profile is.

Forex trading is not for everyone , nor the weak of heart. Speak to knowledgeable investors who have been in a varied grocery basket and index of differing forms of investments and financial products. Experience tops all . Benefit from both their good and bad insights. Forex can be seen as a gold mine or it can be seen as gambling. If there are several rules to follow they are , do your homework , check your facts , limit your exposure to any one currency holding and lastly don’t “invest” what you cannot afford to “lose

Forex Beginner Resource Novice Help Center

Technorati Tags: bonds, business, credit, Dollar, forex, gold, invest, investing, Real Estate, real;estate, stocks, trading, wealth, Yen

The whole point of investing in stocks is to choose one that has the greatest chance of a rising share value. Don’t we all look for a stock that we could buy for $10 and later on sell for $300 per share? Well, how can we proceed to accomplish such a feat? What would make a stock rise so much?

Many people think of buying stocks as if they are buying a piece of paper. No doubt all these financial instruments are pieces of paper written on real assets that give you to right to claim a share in some of the earnings of those real assets. So if the company does well, its stock will go up in price and if the company does poorly its stock will go down in price. Buying a stock is essentially buying a small piece of the company and its future potential for growth and profits.

Now why does the stock goes up and down with the performance of the company. Actually the real force behind the stock rise and fall is the market place. The marketplace is in fact buyers and sellers, individuals and organizations that want to buy stocks or sell them.

Any place where buying and selling takes place can be considered This buying and selling of stocks can only take place in exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and over the counter markets like NASDAQ. If there are more buyers of the stock, its value will go up and if there are more sellers in the market, the stock price goes down.

Markets are a totally unpredictable beast. You never know how the market will react to a news item. Sometimes you will find that the company does well and is posting good quarterly earnings but still its stock price goes down. What’s the reason behind this? Now it doesn’t mean that if the company does well and is showing good profits and earnings, its stock price will go up.

In reality the price of stock depends on the investor’s expectations. The price of a stock goes down because there are more sellers than buyers. So why is it so? The stock price does not go up or down just based on the company’s present performance. Stock price goes up and down because of what the buyers and sellers expect will happen with the company in the near future.

However, the performance of the stock and the performance of the company over the long term have a logical relationship. In the short term, the behavior of the stock price is irrational and it can behave in crazy and illogical ways.

Focus on finding companies that are strong, well positioned in the right industries and have solid fundamentals like a good management, good product, good service, growing industry, rising sales, increasing profits and so on. The bottom line is don’t worry about the short term gyrations of the stock price. Sometimes the industry and the economy matters more than the company. Picking a stock doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Understanding the company’s industry and the overall economic environment is critical to stock picking process.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Try these cash printing Forex Signals from heaven. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot System!

Technorati Tags: business, Currency Trading, day trading, ecommerce, finance, forex, investing, market news, money, mutual funds, Real Estate, stocks, trading, wealth

If you have been following the breaking news that you might have come across the news that gold prices have reached historically the highest level! Recently gold broke the price barrier of $1000 per ounce. This might be the best time to invest in commodities. Some expert of the opinion that the secular bull market started in the commodity market a few years back and may continue for the coming decade! If you want to invest in commodities than you have many options like trading commodity futures, commodity ETF, commodity stocks or commodity mutual funds. A mutual fund is a fund managed by an investment professional on behalf of the fund investors. Now, mutual funds by law are constrained to follow conservative trading methods. Mutual funds cannot engage themselves in such sophisticated and risky trading techniques like arbitrage trades, long short strategies and distressed asset investing.

There are many different mutual funds like stock funds, bond funds, currency funds and even country specific mutual funds. But there are a number of mutual funds that specialize in investing in commodities or commodity related products. If you want to have a low risk investment in commodities than you should think about buying shares of a commodity mutual fund.

Now some of these commodity mutual funds invest in derivates based on commodities such as futures contracts and options based on futures contracts traded on the major exchanges in New York, Chicago and so on.

So how can you invest in these commodity mutual funds? After doing your research on these commodity mutual funds, you can select one that you consider to fit your investment objectives, simply write a check and purchase the shares of that commodity mutual fund either through your broker or directly through the fund providers. There are commodity mutual funds that may invest in companies that process these raw commodities such as energy companies and mining companies. So you will have to do your research in find the right commodity mutual fund for your objectives.

It is always good to make a list of research questions that you need answered while doing your research. These days a lot of research can be done online. Even you can ask for the prospectus of the mutual fund online. Now I said, after doing your research. The first step in your research should be to compile a list of questions like what is the fund’s investment objective, what securities does the fund invest in, who manages the fund, what kind of strategy does the fund uses, what type of people invest in this fund, what are the risks involved in investing in this fund, what is the funds track record, what is the funds fees and expenses and so on.

Now the two main commodity mutual funds are the PIMCO Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund and the Oppenhiemer Real Asset Fund. Now PIMCO Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund (PCRAX) is the largest commodity mutual fund in the market with $12 Billion of assets under its management. PCRAX tries to mimic the performance of Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index by investing directly in commodity linked instruments like futures contracts, forwards contracts and options on futures. Once you have your list of questions, see if the fund prospectus answers these questions satisfactorily. The good thing is that most of the mutual funds send their fund prospectus free!

Now as always Morningstar website is a very good resource for doing your research on commodity mutual funds. It can give you a lot of information about these commodity mutual funds such as the latest news, updates, load charges, expense ratios and other useful key data. Morningstar also have got a five star rating system that can be really helpful to you in picking the best commodity mutual fund.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Trade Dow Futures . Learn Commodity Trading !

Technorati Tags: business, day trading, ecommerce, finance, forex, investing, market news, money, personal finance, Real Estate, stock market, stocks, trading, wealth