Academy · Intermediate

Commodities and indices

Gold and the major indices behave differently enough from currency pairs that a forex-tuned method often breaks on them. This is what changes.

  • ✓ 16 lessons
  • ✓ 75 minutes end to end
  • ✓ Free in MarketPro
  • ✓ No sign-up to start reading

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Gold and the major indices appear on the same charts as currencies and price on entirely different terms. XAU/USD is quoted in dollars per ounce, can travel several dollars in a quiet hour, and carries a spread measured in tens of cents rather than a fraction of a pip, so a forex lot size dropped onto it without recalculating can carry several times the risk intended. Index CFDs inherit the mechanics of the futures beneath them, including dividend adjustments and quarterly rollover that shows up on the chart as a gap nobody traded.

This category covers gold and silver as haven and industrial metals, oil supply, demand and the contango and backwardation that come with storage, how an index is constructed and weighted, and what rollover does to a price series.

Chart reading transfers straight over. Position sizing, trading hours and the drivers do not, and those drivers sit in fundamental analysis.

The 16 lessons in order

  1. What Are Commodities? An Overview Commodities are interchangeable raw materials priced by physical supply and demand, and the contract sizes are far larger than… Beginner4 min
  2. What Are Stock Indices? An Overview An index is a weighted calculation, not an average, and the top handful of constituents often decide where it closes. Beginner4 min
  3. Gold As A Safe-Haven Asset Gold is a haven in the sense that demand rises during monetary stress, not in the sense that it goes up when markets fall. Beginner4 min
  4. Oil Markets And Supply-Demand Drivers Oil is a supply story most weeks, and the weekly inventory report is the scheduled event most likely to decide your position. Intermediate4 min
  5. Trading Commodities Via CFDs And Futures Futures and CFDs track the same barrel. They differ in the smallest size you can trade, in expiry, and in what a night of… Intermediate5 min
  6. Contango And Backwardation Explained The futures curve is not a forecast. It is a storage bill, and a position held across a roll pays or collects it every month. Intermediate5 min
  7. Index Composition And Weighting Methods Weighting decides how much each company's move counts, which decides what an index move is actually telling you. Intermediate5 min
  8. Major Global Indices At A Glance Each major index is a different bet, and index points are not comparable until you multiply by the point value. Beginner4 min
  9. How Interest Rates Affect Commodities And Indices One rate decision reaches indices through discounting and commodities through carry, currency and growth, which is why the… Intermediate5 min
  10. Seasonality In Commodity Markets Seasonal patterns come from real physical cycles, but a sample of twenty years is twenty data points, and that is far less… Intermediate5 min
  11. Currency-Commodity Correlations Commodity currencies track their exports for real economic reasons, and the link is far weaker and less stable than the… Intermediate5 min
  12. Trading Hours And Sessions For Commodities And Indices Indices and commodities close while the news keeps coming, and the price of that closure is a gap your stop cannot prevent. Beginner5 min
  13. Precious Metals Beyond Gold Silver is not a smaller gold. Half its demand comes from factories, and that half is what gets priced in a growth shock. Beginner5 min
  14. Agricultural Commodities Basics Agricultural markets drift for months and then reprice in days, and the limit move is the risk no stop order can cover. Beginner5 min
  15. Natural Gas And Energy Markets Beyond Oil Gas cannot be shipped as easily as oil, so regional prices diverge, weather sets demand, and volatility runs at roughly twice… Intermediate5 min
  16. Risk Management For Commodities And Index Trading The risk rules are the same ones as everywhere else, with three adjustments: minimum contract size, a per-theme ceiling, and gap… Beginner5 min

Guided paths that use these lessons

A path is an ordered run through lessons from several categories, which is how the app sequences them. One path draws on commodities and indices.

Stocks & Indices Basics

What a stock actually is, how exchanges and indices work, and the metrics behind every quote.

10 lessons
Trade · Learn · Earn

Take commodities and indices with you

All 16 lessons in this category, plus the other 304 in the academy, with a quiz on each one and your place kept. Free on any MarketPro account, in the app or your browser.

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