Overview

Have you ever thought about how the seasons can affect the markets? Seasonal futures trading is a trading strategy that involves taking positions in futures contracts based on the anticipated seasonal patterns or fluctuations in prices of certain commodities or financial instruments. We’ll teach you how to navigate this popular approach to agricultural commodities like wheat, corn, soybeans, and livestock, where prices tend to follow seasonal cycles due to factors like planting and harvesting seasons, weather conditions, and supply-demand dynamics.

There are a couple ways to capitalize on Seasonality in the Futures market. Going long or short on the outright contract is one. That can be very risky, and margins are high. The other way is to spread one contract against another which is less risky and has favorable margin treatment. That’s where we will focus!

Spreading is a well-known strategy used by institutional and commercial traders but is relatively unknown outside of those circles. Spreading in the futures market is a trading strategy that involves buying and selling one or more futures contracts simultaneously, (a hedge) to profit from the price difference between them as it expands or contracts over time. Combining spread trading with seasonality in the futures markets involves identifying and leveraging seasonal patterns in the price behavior of related futures contracts.

We’ll also look at inter-market and intra-market spreads, each targeting different price differences to give you a masterful approach to Spread Trading.

This course will cover:

• Seasonality in the Futures Markets
• Using Futures Spreads and Out-rights for seasonal trades
• Applying Core Strategy to Seasonal Trades
• Charting spreads Using Trading View
• Screening for Seasonal Trades using Moore Research Data Base
• Bull and Bear Spreads. Inter-market and Intra-market spreads
• How to enter Spread symbols in a professional Spread Trading Platform
• Margin and Risk management

Application Sessions:

• Weekly review of the current economic conditions affecting the Bond Markets
• How to apply the information used during the class to complement your overall portfolio

Audience

This course is designed ideally for students who have completed OTA’s Core Strategy and Futures classes.

Prerequisites

Core Strategy and the Professional Futures Trader course from OTA is recommended. Futures experience preferred.

Duration

Approx. 6 hours of live instruction & 4, 90-minute live session delivered weekly for 4 weeks post-class

Access

6-hour class when purchased includes 4, 90-minute application sessions accessible from the same course. Unlimited Retakes.

Class Type

Live Online class with Application Sessions