In analyzing many new traders' performances, I have seen a disturbing pattern.

The first thought conjured up when laypeople hear the words futures trading is that it's pretty much just another form of gambling.

"May you live in interesting times" is an ancient Chinese curse. The fact that the last few weeks have seen neck snapping and wild changes in volatility, I think we qualify for living in what these philosophers would consider to be interesting times.

If you do what everybody else does, do you really have an edge? That would be a no.

I want to reiterate that there is no one way to trade. That is what makes this so challenging and fun. We need to find a style that best suits us and create rules that we can follow and improve upon.

Recently, I taught a class in Houston, Texas, and many of the students had a hard time understanding what they should be actually focusing on when looking at an option chain.

To the new option trader, it often seems as if he has entered into the terra incognita of the derivatives world through Alice's looking glass.

What is a trading plan? It's a set of rules that you will follow as your trading business evolves. A few suggestions for included topics in the trading plan are as follows:

On January 12th of 2010, I wrote an article titled, "2010, Back to the Future?" In the article, I remarked at how the economic environment was starting to mirror that of the 1970's. We still have sluggish growth, high unemployment and some signs of inflation rearing up again. Even Big Ben is hinting that QE3 may not be too far away from reality

Want to know if you will be a successful trader or not before you dive too deep into the world of trading and spend too much time in front of your computer?

Welcome to the premiere of The Long and Short of Futures Options. In this episode, www.TheOptionsInsider.com Founder Mark Longo dives into the explosive world of agricultural options, with a particular emphasis on corn options. Mark is joined by Tim Andriesen (MD, Ag Commodities and Alt. Investment Products, CME Group) and David Lehman (MD, Commodity Research and Product Development, CME Group) to examine the mysteries behind the corn option frenzy. In addition, Mark, David and Tim examine the growing interest in weekly corn options, the plans for the Corn VIX, and much more. They even take a few minutes to answer listener questions regarding agricultural options. The Long and Short of Futures Options: The Great Ag Explosion is required listening for all current agricultural options traders, as well those planning to enter this dynamic marketplace for the first time.

Unlike a Stock that has no expiration, this creates a few challenges to the Commodity trader. The question soon becomes, "Which chart do I trade Commodities on – Continuous or Contract Specific?"