in some articles I read these comments…
[I]futures should not be traded but to be used to hedge[/I]
[I]futures are weapons of mass destructions[/I]
How valid are these comments ?
Do we have any top futures traders in the world ?
Less valid now than they were, when they were made, I suspect.
Well, that’s someone opinion, and I don’t doubt it’s valid as his opinion. I suspect the author’s making the point that futures trading is difficult, requires a lot of experience, shouldn’t be undertaken lightly or by anyone without plenty of trading capital, and that it’s easy to lose your shirt, trading futures. All of which is true.
On the other hand, if you look at the “closest future” (i.e. the one less than 3 months ahead) for any currency pair, the correlation between its movements and those of the underlying spot forex instrument are typically about 99.9%, so in that sense they’re not much different. The minimum position-sizing is typically much bigger with futures, though.
There are thousands of professional futures traders in the world, though (many working for institutions and some freelancers, too, some of whom are ex-institutional employees who have become self-employed, often having saved up their 6/7-figure bonuses to use as their own trading funds).
This was their original use and the reason they were invented.
But these days, if sites like Investopedia and Wikipedia are to be believed, something like 85% of futures transactions are speculative rather than for hedging.
I suspect that comment might be a warning reference regarding the risks to retail, amateur traders of wandering into futures trading without adequate accounts and experience.
In general, forex futures probably aren’t quite as dangerous as commodity futures, anyway.
All or nearly all of the people interviewed by Jack Schwager in his books [I]The Market Wizards[/I] and [I]The New Market Wizards[/I] are futures traders.
Thanks…dont have that book.
will it be possible to put 5/6 top futures traders name from that book here…
I suspect that comment might be a warning reference regarding the risks to retail, amateur traders of wandering into futures trading without adequate accounts and experience.
that comments was from warren buffet !
Warren Buffett: Derivatives Are Still Weapons Of Mass Destruction And ‘Are Likely To Cause Big Trouble’ � Infowars Alex Jones’ Infowars: There’s a war on for your mind!
a quick google search “top 10 trader in the world” …result shows they are from investing world…mostly from stocks.
thats a concern …does future traders looses money in the long run finally ?
Is there any future trader/traders who has set an winning example in the long run ?
Thanks for your time
They’re all listed on the contents pages of the two books, which you can see online at amazon.com (click on the “see inside” feature). 
That makes sense: I was thinking it sounded very out-of-date/old-fashioned/conservative. He’s an investor, not a trader, really.
I suspect less so than forex traders, actually, but perhaps mostly because futures traders tend to be professionals more than amateurs, while forex traders tend to be amateurs more than professional, overall, if you look purely at participant numbers? In other words, it doesn’t really matter: what matters is its relevance to you.
We all have our own perspectives and experiences: I happen to know quite a lot of futures traders (just because of my father’s profession) and they’re doing well. But they’d have to be, otherwise I wouldn’t have the chance to know them because they wouldn’t be employed there. The “average retail forex trader” who ventures casually into futures trading will get their account decimated, without a doubt.
And realistically, you need quite a lot of capital to trade futures (significantly more than you need for forex, anyway).
Yes, thousands, of course. Including (as mentioned above) the famous ones widely interviewed, the institutional traders, and the independents (some of whom are ex-institutional traders). But it’s a little like professional golf, I think: a very small proportion of expert pro’s take nearly all the money. The same’s true in many other forms of business, though.
gotcha…
ouch ! I thought Ed Seykota is an Stock Investor … He is Future & Currency trader !
Thanks Lexys for your time.
Well, I think he’s a commodities trader, more than anything, but I [I]think[/I] it’s commodity [I]futures[/I], rather than just “commodities”. I can’t quite remember, and haven’t got the book here!
Godzilla,
Go to amp futures website and search up margin requirements…it will give you an inkling to the margins needed to trade one futures contract. Also, don’t forget money to cover your losses. Be prepared to study…list is 'bout quarter mile long.
Na Zdorovie,
Tim