real basic intro to trading futures

Hi,

Can anyone point me to an article online that gives a "for dummies" explanation of how to trade futures contracts, maybe contrasted with trading stocks (which I have some experience with). I don't need strategies at this stage; just the mechanics of how to get quotes and place trades.

Thanks

Hi andrew, and welcome to Trade2win !

As you are no doubt aware, futures trading is quite a broad subject. Initially you'll need to think about brokers, as their trading platform will be a factor in what you actually have to do to place orders etc. Although the mechanics are the same for all, platforms vary a lot. IB might be worth looking at, follow this link for some basics :

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/php/webhelp/webhelp.htm

Good luck
rog1111

Thanks - appreciate it. Is there somewhere that has free 1-minute charts for e-minis? It doesn't matter if it's delayed data, as long as it's intraday.

Thanks

IB have a good paper trader with charts, but you need to open an account first, and pay $10pm for data.

Quote.com have some free basic live charts here :

http://www.quote.com/qc/livecharts/default.aspx

......although I havent looked at them for several years now, so I dont know exactly what's on offer.

or get a demo from GCI perhaps :

http://www.gcitrading.com/

rog1111

Hi there,

You may also find this futures contracts table useful.
Contract Tables

Let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to help.

want to know where can learn futures like babypips.com(Forex)