You gotta do your own homework, period. There is no shortcut for you here. If you rely on tips, rumors, mentors and the like, chances are, you wont last long as a commodity trader. Even competent advice, such as that which you might purchase through a good and respectable advisory service, has its limitations, since YOU are the one who must ultimately act on the advice.
For instance, your advisory service might suggest you go long Dec Silver. But unless you act on this advice quickly and protect yourself with a judiciously placed stop-loss order, you may wind up missing the market or suffering a loss. Always remember that you alone are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of your trading account.
Before you trade, familiarize yourself thoroughly with the commodities you intend to trade. There are many excellent sources, authors, textbooks, i-net information and live discussion groups available for those, who want to be *in the know*. These should serve as a starting point. You then have to decide on an approach to the markets – that is, will you be a chart trader, use a mechanical system, employ limit orders, moving averages and/or option strategies, or perhaps a crystal ball to find a good commodity trade?
As a next step, you should draw up a balance sheet for your trading activities. On one side of this sheet you will list all the factors conductive to a price advance in the commodity you are following; on the other side, you will list all the factors conductive to a price decline. The whole balance sheet should be revised regularly and a new estimate of the situation made. If new information becomes available, the balance sheet should be revised to reflect that new info. This task will serve to keep you alerted to any developments unfavorable to your position.
Depending upon your point of view, the balance sheet approach should help you create a trading plan. The trading plan will be a written document listing such information as the commodities you intend to trade, whether you are long, short, spread or broke (oops white out the last one), your entries, your target exit prices, margin requirements, and all in all your general game plan.
Having this information available BEFORE you take a position in the market will enable you to monitor and, if need arises, modify your position as time goes on. Not to have such a plan results in haphazard trading that often culminates in losses.
Just some food for thoughts. Take care.
Tom out