Can somebody explain Futures Trading to me in the most simple terms?
Dear “Bedford”: Well I hope this is a school assignment because “futures” is no place for novices. Futures Trading is nothing more than a prediction of what value something will have in the future. For fun, watch the Eddie Murphy – Dan Akkroyd movie “trading places”. You basically predict as in the movie the future value of Orange Juice and you place one or more bets on it. If you’re right, you make gobs of money. If you’re wrong, you end up like the Duke Brothers … broke. Novice investors are like babies on the interstate. It’ll be disaster and quickly. You have certain gooferment enforced protections, but don’t depend upon them to keep your money safe. In order to open a futures trading account, you will have to jump thru some hurdles. Your broker can be held liable if you can NOT pay for your losses (You can go to jail! They have to make good.) or if you are deemed “unsuitable” to play in that market (You get an nasty letter; they pay big big bux). Assuming that you can deposit en
