Best agricultural commodities book out there?
I have not a grain of clue in agricultural commodities; I'm really a beginner in softs and agrinomics yet I'm eager to learn.
A bit of googling gave me these titles below , and I don't know which book would be best for elementary-intermediate-advanced(separately) level readers. Or if anyone in the industry has any suggestions for where to get started, I'll really appreciated it.
- Agricultural prices and commodity market analysis, by John Ferris
- Commodity and commodity derivatives, by Heylette Geman
- Agricultural and mineral commodities year book, by Europa and David Lea, year 2002 and 2007 -Agri-food commodity chains and globalising network, by Christina Stringer and Richard Le Heron
I find that looking up the books up on amazon and checking their reviews is a great way of finding out which books are for real and which just waste space.
Gekko21: That is what I was trying to do (I searched these books through amazon), and I agree that it is very helpful to make a purchase decision. In this case though, there is but only one review for a book out of all four - so I can't really decide based on reviews.
just apply for a job at cargill or louis dreyfus
This is to do my homework for the ag job that I will soon start.
Physical Agricultural Commodities Trading - Books and Resources? (Originally Posted: 02/28/2012)
I'm looking to prepare for my internship- does anyone know any good books on commodities trading, specifically trading/hedging/shipping agricultural physical commodities?
My past internships have been in equity trading so I don't know very much about commodities. So far, I've bought the books "Commodities for Dummies" and "Hot Commodities" by Jim Rogers. Thank you in advance for any advice.
Also interested in this...
PS sorry to dig up such an old thread
Reading merchants of grain by dan morgan helped me gain an overall understanding of the market. Nothing technical tho, just how business is done. If i would have to read it again i would skip the first chapters as i found them a bit distant from today (it starts with the history of grain trading from very early times to today)
Commodities is a random walk a lot of the time. If you don't have news to go off of, it's largely serially correlated
OP, I haven't read this book but I think it would give you a decent feel for what a physical grain trader concretely does: The Art of Grain Merchandising by Sherry Lorton
Any good books on Olive Oil and Cocoa?
Anything on soft commodities?
not agricultural but king of oil, about legendary oil trader marc rich. not everything is specific to oil
sorry for digging up this post, would like to know more
Merchants of Grain is pretty much the definitive history of the major grain houses. Will give you a solid idea of how the business works. Uncommon Grounds is an interesting read on Coffee.
Basic Fixed Income / Commodities books (Originally Posted: 05/10/2011)
Hi guys,
So, everytime I search on this forum all the advice seems to point to one book: Fabozzi. Now, having looked through the Fabozzi book in my library, it's an absolute monster and coming from a non-Finance background I need to read up on a more basic book in order to get the bigger picture first.
So, do you guys have any good FI / Commodities books that really start from the basics?
If you define how basic you want I can try and help. Fabozzi is not for beginners, its a resource for people with a certain background.
Unfortunately the math scales up quite quickly with analysis of fixed income products.
General understanding: Investments (Bodie, Kane, Marcus) has 3-4 chapters Fixed Income and 1 or 2 on Futures corporate finance (Breally Allen Myers) not as good but a standard intro text.
There are several ways to look at derivatives pricing from an advanced level. Either you'll need a strong understanding of probability theory (this is what I refer to as the "numeraire approach") or stochastic processes, or differential equations (this is the standard used to achieve BS formula via Ito's lemma).
Are first-year analysts working in sales (and not trading) expected to be familiar with advanced probability theory or advanced math? Looking at mainly equity deriv., commodities, and credit desks. Are only traders responsible for the advanced technicals, and salespeople just need a "general" understanding?
Mishkin's textbooks are great for a basic fixed income understanding; I believe the title of a good one is "Money and Financial Markets."
Thanks guys. Any other opinions will still help out! :)
To answer your question Callmedtop,
If you haven't done that sort of work and they hired you, then they don't expect it from you. They may teach you, but they won't expect you to know it coming in. Also there is a huge range of knowledge w.r.t. fixed income derivatives.
Good luck with you SA position.
Thanks for your help. To go a little further:
I've read a bunch of threads on SA prep for S&T interns, but a lot seemed to focus on the trading side. I'm doing sales, and I'm concerned that I don't have enough technical knowledge in general to "fit in" with desks and even the other interns. I've taken classes like Finance, but I don't really have a strong grasp on anything beyond the basics (basic calls/puts, yield curves, pricing bonds, etc). I've gotten a bunch of textbooks, including the recs. above, but I'm concerned that I won't be on the same level as the other interns.
Unnecessary worrying? I consider myself a smart (and easygoing) guy, and obviously I follow the markets closely, but I want to make sure that I go into the summer ready to do whatever is asked of me.
Lastly - what's the best way to prepare/practice for an open outcry trading game?
Don't want to come across as a neurotic worrier...just want to make sure I can hit the ground running come June.
Fabozzi didn't write just one book. In fact, he seems to have a new book every couple of weeks.
His books are the gold standard for fixed income, so start there ... but look for one of his intro books and not the giant handbook.
Don't suppose you know any of them, do you? My University Library is quite poor when it comes to this so I'd appreciate your help.
Here's the full list - just look for something that piques your interest.
http://www.frankfabozzi.com/Authored_books.html
At the end of the day, you get what you put in. You might not need to know this stuff before you start working. However, it will definitely help and you will be able to dominate your internship. This is a competitive field. Your competition is your fellow analysts. Obviously don't sabotage them but know that in the back of your mind.
If you want a comprehensive FI look:
Basics: grab the Fixed Income book Fabozzi wrote for the CFA institute. You should know the stuff about bootstrapping, yield basics, bond basics cold. Read up on the specific product chapters (CMOs etc) only if you will be on that desk.
Once you have that, I suggest getting the book Fixed Income Securities by Martellinni. This is an awesome book to really drill down and get into the specifics of the calculations that go into fixed income pricing and valuations. Obviously, more math focused that Fabozzi but its important to know.
Even if you are on sales, you should know all of this. Think of the amount of time you put into finals for school which really don't matter. Well, this matters because this is your career. Get at it.
Also, don't go out and spend a ton of money on these books. I know you can grab the Fabozzi one I recommended online. Go on ebookee or something and do a search.
Books (anything else) on trading in Physical commodities(crude, nat gas) (Originally Posted: 07/25/2014)
Good morning, can anyone recommend any great material on the basics and more detailed information regarding the physical trading of commodities, particularly crude oil?
Thank you
Oil 101 by Downey and Trading Nat Gas by Sturm
Commodities book advice ? (Originally Posted: 02/13/2012)
Hello everyone, I'm looking for some good book talking about the commodities market.
What I'm looking for is a book that discusses the specities and particularities / DRIVERS of the commodities market, not a book that just discusses some general stuff about futures where they replace asset names with "oil".
I already know all derivatives stuff for equities/FX so I'm really looking for a book that discusses what matters in commodities trading, not just a refurbished equity book with different variables.
Do you happen to know such a book ?
Thanks a lot :)
Oil 101
Thanks, i'll give it a look ;)
What are you talking about ? I'm just curious because I have a decent knowledge of all asset classes except Commodities and Credit, so I'm trying to repair that :)
I would just study for the Series 3. That taught me more about the practical side of commodities than any other book out there.
Just watch the weather channel.
Im currentely reading oil 101 and energy trading and investing by edwards
All you need. For energy at least
Fundamentals of the Futures Market by Donna Kline, Extreme Weather and The Financial Markets: Opportunities in Commodities and Futures,
both a pretty solid. Read the descriptions of them before you buy, but I'm pretty sure this is what you're looking for.
.
Thanks guys :)
Books on commodities (Originally Posted: 08/28/2013)
I was wondering if anyone has read the below books and could tell us if they are worthwhile
Mastering the Grain Markets Merchants of Grain A trader's first book on commodities Broker trader lawyer spy The handbook of international trade and finance Boom Bust Boom A story about copper Dynasties of the Sea Trading commodities and Financial Futures
I read merchants of grain, good book, im currently working as trader in grain industry, PM me if you'd like
Also read merchants of grain. I think the first few chapters are boring, the rest of the book is great.
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