Professional Futures Trader

Professional Futures Trader Course

Course Type: On Location, Online

Duration: On Location: 5 Days approximately 8 hours per day
Online: 10, 3-Hour Sessions

Print Curriculum

Overview

Futures trading is a zero-sum game which means competition between two sides where there is always a winner and a loser. To increase your confidence and skill in trading the global Futures markets, we’ll teach you a strategy designed to help you find where banks and institutions are buying and selling, so you can too.This class is paired with OTA’s award winning education trading and analysis software CliK, which allows you to apply the knowledge you learn in the classroom into a trading environment. Market Timing is a strategy designed to identify key market turning points and strong potential market moves in advance. This course covers the six major groups of the Futures market including the Equity Index Futures, Interest Rates Futures, Energy and Metal Futures, Currency Futures, and Agriculture Futures. The Professional Futures Trader Course combines powerful skill building lessons and interactive live market trading sessions during this five-day course. No heavy math or understanding of economics is required.

Audience

This course is designed for students of all experience levels who are interested in learning how to trade and invest in the futures markets.

Prerequisites

Core Strategy Program, Online Student Orientation and the Platform Orientation are required pre-requisites for this course.

Format

• Each day’s agenda contains 2-3 powerful and fully interactive lectures led by an experienced instructor combined with 1-2 interactive, live trading and analysis sessions focusing on market analysis and trade execution.
• Typically there is a maximum of 22 students in each class, allowing for individual attention from your instructor.
• Each student is provided a classroom computer where they learn in an interactive environment. Students are provided trading workstations with real time data so they can practice trading under the guidance of an experienced instructor.

Course Materials

In class, each student will receive a courseware manual or eBook. There is room to write notes in both versions (annotation is available in the eBook).

If you participate in only the Professional Futures Trader course, you will receive:

• Printed courseware manual or eBook
• Printed lab guide or eBook version of lab guide
• Printed reference cards or eBook version of reference cards

If you choose to purchase XLT - Futures Trading in addition to the Professional Options Trader course, you will receive:

• Printed courseware manual or eBook
• Printed lab guide or digital version of lab guide
• Printed reference cards or digital version of reference cards
• Access to CliK – our proprietary educationtrading and analysis software with the trade builder designed specifically for the Professional Futures Trader

Course Outline

The following detailed outline contains the topics and subtopics covered in the Professional Futures Trader course.

Day 1

• Futures 101 - Understand what a Futures contract is and some of the specific information it details
• Real World Futures - Learn how Futures are used in the real world; intro to the six sub-assets of Futures
• Benefits of Futures - Explore key characteristics that differentiate Futures from other assets
• Understanding a Futures Contract - Life cycle of a contract, rollover, contract-specific vs. continuous contracts
• Global Futures Markets Around the World - Discover the six futures market groups along with their general characteristics
• Trade Plan blueprint - Review the Trade Plan blueprint
• Selection Criteria for Short Term Income - Learn the criteria for a futures product to be suitable for short term income trading

Day 2

• Equity Index Futures - Equity Index sub-asset: its symbols, tick size and value, and characteristics
• Mastermind Grid - Understanding the Grid — how to use it to seek trading opportunities
• Core Strategy Review - Review of the 6-step process we learn in Core Strategy
• Active Trading Hours - Understanding the importance of trading during the active, high volume hours
• Globex Session and Globex Trap - Learn about the Globex session and the Globex Trap

Day 3

• Mastermind Market Screener - Understanding the Market Screener – how to use it and seek trading opportunities
• Energy Futures - Energy Futures sub-asset: its symbols, tick size and value, and characteristics
• Metals Futures - Metals Futures sub-asset: its symbols, tick size and value, and characteristics
• Economic Reports and Daily Market Overview - Understand Economic Reports and what actions to take around their release
• Risk Management in the Futures Markets - Managing your risk in the futures markets; position size, buffer zone, margin calls
• Trade Management - Learn how to manage open positions

Day 4

• Dollar Index - Understand the dollar index and its impact on currencies and commodities
• Currency Futures - Currency futures sub-asset: learn its symbols, tick size and value, characteristics
• Currency Futures vs Spot Forex - Understand the key differences between currency futures and the spot Forex market
• Interest Rate Futures - Interest rate futures sub-asset: learn its symbols, tick size and value, characteristics
• Market Correlations - Discover key market correlations, and how to use them
• Analysis Techniques - Introduction to analysis techniques and how best to use them

Day 5

• Log Trade - Understand the importance of logging trades using the Trade Tracker in My OTA
• Agriculture Futures - Agriculture and softs futures sub-asset: learn its symbols, tick size and value, characteristics
• Limit Moves and Circuit Breakers - Learn what a limit move is, what a locked limit is, and what circuit breakers are
• Final Review and Survey - Test your understanding of the concepts you learned about the futures markets
• Next Steps - Next steps after you leave class to shorten your learning curve
• Class Completion