Futures investing is a form of trading in which you speculate on whether or not the price of commodities will go up or down. You, the investor, try to buy low and sell high. The trader doesn't usually actually buy the commodity itself, but rather buys a futures contract. These have various expiration dates which are standardized. For example, gold contracts have expiration dates of, February, April, June, August, October and December. If you felt the price of gold was going to rise in the new year, this being September you would purchase a February gold contract. And you don't have to hold the contract until February. If you hit a price point you like beforehand you can sell your paper then. In fact as contracts get closer to their expiration date they become more liquid (more trading volume).

What is a commodity? Well they are mostly hard goods that are commonly used every day. Things such as wheat and corn, lumber and steel, gold and oil, even currencies. The nice thing about futures investing is that it is a margin trade, you make a leveraged purchase. So say gold is selling at $400 per ounce. A gold futures contract holds 100 ounces of gold, therefore the contract is $40,000. But normally you only put up 10% so you get $40,000 dollars worth of gold for $4000. So if gold goes up by say 15% you have a nice profit of $6000 (minus commissions).

Also the commissions are low on futures investing so you keep more of your profits. Plus this market is open and a lot less succeptible to insider trading. But be sure to learn as much as you can about futures and commodity trading before you begin. There is a lot of money to be made, but a lot to be lost as well.

Investors who partake in momentum trading are looking for stocks that are moving rapidly, and on high volumes either up or down. Penny stocks or OTC stocks are not normally available for short selling, so these will be on an upward movement. This is short term trading, less than the trading day normally, hours and sometimes even minutes. It is a favorite of day traders.

The goal of the momentum trader is to buy just before the stock is going to make its move and then close the position before the movement ends or when they have hit their desired price point.

This form of trading is not for the weak of heart, study up, learn all you can, and try some practice trading before you jump in.

Happy investing.

Warren Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway is going to invest $5 billion into Goldman Sacks. So not everyone needs a government handout. To be fair Mr. Buffett is a shread investor and he obviously sees potential in this investment, the man does not give money away.

You can read about it here in the Wall Street Journal

If you are don't feel bad or alone. Even the guys that are running the country are befuddled.

But this article in the New York Times may help clear up some of your questions:

The Issue Is Payback Not Bailout

A good read I highly recommend it.