This paper will cover investing in commodities through futures contracts. It will note the unique sources of risk and return for such investments. We will also discuss the factors that one should take into consideration before deciding upon how much of their portfolio should be in commodities....

With concerns on inflation flaring up, there has been renewed interest in potentially including commodities in diversified portfolios. This article builds off prior research in examining which commodities to include and in what size. The article briefly reviews the relevant literature and...

In 2007, the highly dynamic commodity markets had attracted new classes of participants such as algorithmic high-frequency traders; sophisticated product structurers; and Chinese entrepreneurs. This paper will briefly cover the market developments that brought in these new participants by...

Market participants have an obligation to periodically explain the economic role of futures trading and the role of speculators in these markets. This will be the main task of this paper. In addition, this paper will discuss two other challenges in the commodity markets: the impact of the Risk...

This collection of articles covers the commodity derivatives markets from a broadly conceptual perspective. Specifically, this set of articles reviews (a) the potentially persistent sources of return in the commodity futures markets; (b) the differing risk-management priorities for commercial...

This article revisits a number of empirical relationships in the oil and commodity index futures markets. For example, the article examines how to put roll yields in proper perspective, which is that they are most properly seen as predictive of future returns over sufficiently long timeframes....

Should an investor enter into long-term positions in oil futures contracts? In answering this question, this paper will cover the following three considerations: (1) the case for structural positions in crude oil futures contracts; (2) useful indicators for avoiding crash risk; and (3) financial...

On September 28th, 2012 a federal judge struck down the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC's) current iteration of federal position limits on holdings of commodity futures contracts. A month and a half later, the CFTC announced that the commission would appeal the court's...

In the United States, there is a rich historical experience with controversies over futures trading that date back to the nineteenth century. After a brief recounting of history, this paper notes that a review of U.S. history provides valuable lessons in figuring out what is necessary for...