Commodities under Restricted Trading?

So in past roles I've had to avoid individual equities on a "No Trade" list, but nothing more restrictive then that. I'm starting a new role soon that will require approval of all buy/sell orders on individual equites, which frankly sounds like the juice isn't worth the squeeze from a headache standpoint.  

I've typically kept some portion of my investments in a self-managed account and traded somewhat frequently, primarily because I enjoy it as a hobby and it keeps me better connected to markets and news cycle. Moving this piece over to my PWM and going passive with it is probably the best thing for my finances, but I'll miss trading to an extent. 

I'm curious if anyone working in a role where trading individual equities is cumbersome has opted to trade commodity futures in a personal account? It's something that's always been interesting to me and I know there are risk-averse strategies that don't require constant management of the positions.  

 
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Know many people who do it, not sure I recommend it. But if your firm is more open to you trading futures than equities and it gets that itch you got to trade then see no reason why not. Typically people stick to mor liquid products like metals/energy.

Since you mention PWM I assume you would easily qualify for any broker to trade futures.

Main thing to remember is that futures trading has “initial margin” so one of the easier ways for retail is to trade option spreads near the money (never be overly naked). Beyond that you will need to learn how “curve structure and settlement” works. Again I am sure you can learn this stuff easily if you enjoy to trade and are in high PE individual.

 

Good advice. I guess it would have been more accurate to title my initial post as "futures" instead of commodities, as I'm guessing rates and indices would be permissible as well.

The platform I'm on offers micro and/or mini futures contracts on 10yr, all major indices, crude/nat gas, corn/beans/wheat, and a few metals. Probably will just pick one or two of the more liquid micros/minis and put on some spreads and see if I can get a feel for it. 

Might be out of your purvey, but any recommendations as far as commodity-specific fundamental (as opposed to technical) resources? Chart reading won't scratch that "equity research-esque" itch unfortunately.  

 

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