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Global Sectors . . .
Chart Research monitors a diverse basket of 40+ global futures markets across eight separate sectors within our trading programs. Listed below is a basic summary of each of the sectors traded within our trading platform.

1. Currency Sector:

Also known as foreign exchange, the currency market is the world's largest, most liquid financial market. Financial institutions, investment managers, corporations, and individual investors trade currency futures to manage the risks and capture potential opportunities associated with currency rate fluctuations. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is the worldwide leader in currency futures trading and offers a variety of contracts with pricing based on a nation's respective currency value vs. the U.S. Dollar.

Currency Markets

  • Australian Dollar
  • Canadian Dollar
  • Dollar Index
  • Euro Currency
  • Japanese Yen
  • Swiss Franc

2. Energy Sector:

Crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas are very much in the news these days. Energy futures are considered important barometers of world economic and political developments and are watched carefully by investors and traders worldwide. The value of the U.S. Dollar is significant because much of the world's crude oil inventory is priced in Dollars. These markets are also subject to seasonal fluctuations -- mild weather may lessen the need for heating oil, for instance, while the summer driving season tends to bring greater gasoline demand.

Energy Markets

  • Crude Oil
  • Heating Oil
  • Natural Gas
  • Unleaded Gas

3. Grain Sector:

The grain complex is comprised of corn, soybeans, soybean meal, soybean oil, wheat, oats, rapeseed (canola) and barley. Grains and soybeans are essential to food and feed supplies, and prices are especially sensitive to weather conditions in growing areas at key times during a crop's development and to economic conditions that affect demand. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regularly publishes reports that summarize key factors influencing supply and demand, including current production and carryover supply from the prior season.


Grain Markets

  • Corn
  • Kansas City Wheat
  • Rough Rice
  • Soybeans
  • Soybean Bean Oil
  • Soybean Meal
  • Wheat (CBOT)

4. Interest Rate Sector:

Futures exchanges around the world offer futures on important interest rate instruments, such as short- and long-term government and private debt. The top exchanges in this area include the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (Eurodollars), the Chicago Board of Trade (U.S. Treasury notes and bonds), EUREX (longer-term Euro Zone debt), and Euronext.LIFFE (shorter-term European debt). As interest rates rise and fall, the price of outstanding debt moves in the opposite direction. In simple terms, interest rates reflect the price of money. And like all goods and services, interest rates are determined mainly by supply and demand. Also, central banks can manipulate interest rates -- rates are adjusted upward in an attempt to slow an economy, while rates are adjusted downward to act as a stimulus.

Interest Rate Markets

  • Australian 10-Year Bonds
  • Australian 3-Year Bonds
  • Sydney Bank Bills
  • Euro Bund
  • Japanese Government Bond
  • Eurodollars
  • Treasury 5-Year Notes
  • Treasury 10-Year Notes

5. Meat Sector:

The primary futures in the meat sector consist of live cattle, feeder cattle, lean hogs, and pork bellies. Prices of these consumable commodities are affected by demand, competing protein sources such as chicken, the price of feeds and other inputs, and factors that influence the number of animals born and sent to market, such as disease and weather.

Meat Markets

  • Lean Hogs
  • Live Cattle

6. Metal Sector:

The metals group includes both precious metals, like gold, silver, and platinum, as well as industrial metals, like aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin, and zinc. Metals are used in various industrial applications, in construction, and of course, in jewelry. Geopolitical and economic factors in the dominant producing and consuming countries affect price action, but each metal also has its own unique fundamental influences. Metals are also seen as a gauge of worldwide economic trends. Gold is often seen as an inflation hedge and safe haven investment during times of uncertainty and turbulence.

Metal Markets

  • Aluminum (LME)
  • Copper (LME)
  • Copper
  • Gold
  • Lead (LME)
  • Nickel (LME)
  • Palladium
  • Silver
  • Zinc



7. Soft Sector:

Some of the most interesting futures contracts fall into the soft sector also know as the food and fiber category. Coffee, sugar, cocoa, cotton, and orange juice are the most popular tropical softs among retail futures traders. In addition to global consumer demand, the usual growing factors such as disease, insects and drought affect prices for all of these commodities. International exchange rates affect all of these global products, as well as factors like tariffs and geopolitical events in producing nations.

Soft Markets

  • Coffee
  • Coffee (London)
  • Cocoa
  • Cocoa (London)
  • Cotton
  • Lumber
  • Orange Juice
  • Sugar (London)

8. Stock Index Sector:

Futures contracts related to the equity markets are consistently among the most popular and most actively traded. There are futures contracts based on many of the world's leading stock market indexes. In the U.S., futures are traded on the Dow Jones Industrials, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and many others. There are futures based on the United Kingdom's FTSE-100 index, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, the SPI 200 in Australia, the Nikkei 225 in Japan, and the Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 in the Euro Zone. Fundamental factors influencing stock markets include corporate earnings, news about the global and domestic economy, inflation, currency values, politics, and interest rates.

Stock Markets

  • Eurex DAX
  • Dow Jones
  • Hang Seng Index
  • Russell 2000
  • S&P 500
  • Stock Price Index