Commodities

What you'll learn

• ✓List major commodity categories
• ✓Explain contango vs backwardation

Lessons

1. 🚢
   Real Stuff, Tradeable

   What commodities actually are
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2. The Four Buckets

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3. Spot vs Futures

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4. Contango vs Backwardation

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5. How Do You Actually Own This Stuff?

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6. Final Boss: The Whole Pit

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Sources

All content is drawn from the sources below. We deliberately avoid unverified material.

• Investments (Bodie, Kane, Marcus)
  McGraw-Hill · book
  Reference textbook for commodity asset class taxonomy and the distinction between commodity equities and the underlying commodity.
• Commodities and Commodity Derivatives (Hélyette Geman)
  Wiley · academic
  Authoritative reference for spot vs futures, contango and backwardation, and roll yield mechanics.
• Introduction to Futures (CME Group Education)
  CME Group · institutional
  Used for the definition of futures contracts, standardization, margin, and rolling before expiry.
  https://www.cmegroup.com/education/courses/introduction-to-futures.html
• Statement on April 2020 WTI front-month settlement
  CME Group · institutional
  Confirmation that WTI May 2020 contract settled at -37.63 dollars on 20 April 2020.
  https://www.cmegroup.com/
• Trading in NYMEX WTI Crude Oil Futures Contract on April 20, 2020 (Interim Staff Report)
  US Commodity Futures Trading Commission · institutional
  Official report on the negative WTI settlement and the storage constraint at Cushing.
  https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8315-20
• Gold as a strategic asset
  World Gold Council · institutional
  Source for gold's role as a diversifier and safe haven, and its lack of yield.
  https://www.gold.org/goldhub/research
• Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR)
  OPEC · institutional
  Used for the role of OPEC supply decisions and geopolitics in oil pricing.
  https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/publications/202.htm
• The financialisation of commodity markets
  BIS Quarterly Review · institutional
  Background on how futures-based products and ETFs reshaped commodity markets in the 2000s and 2010s.
  https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt1303f.htm
• United States Oil Fund (USO) prospectus and 2020 disclosures
  US Securities and Exchange Commission filings · institutional
  Primary source for USO's structure, roll exposure, and 2020 restructuring during the contango episode.
  https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001327068