CHARTING SERVICES ON THE NET
QUOTE SERVICES ON THE NET
OPTIONS ANALYSIS

The Future: Love It or Leave It

Commodity and futures trading people need information. They want lots of information fast. Just flip through an issue of Futures or Technical Analysis and you will see page after page of full page full color advertisements for information vendors. This is clear testimony that you can make money in futures trading...by selling information.

One of the problems with those Four Color Companies is that their products are not cheap. Quote screens will cost you high hundreds of dollars per month. System test programs will run near $1,000. Chart services cost $500 a year. Ad nauseam.

There are several main reasons for the high cost of these products. One of those reasons is that there is a cost of delivery of those products. A quote screen requires a terminal or computer plus a satellite dish, leased line, or FM radio receiver.

Another major cost is the advertising cost. It would be difficult to compete with Omega Research, even if you had a better product simply because their advertising budget scares away competition. The cost of that advertising must be borne by the user, you and me.

The net result is that futures trading information is not cheap and often not quick.

That is changing.

The Internet is the cause of this change. It dramatically cuts the cost of distribution. The need for special equipment is largely eliminated.

The Internet tends to level the advertising playing field. CTCR can look like as big a company as General Motors on the Net. This will encourage greater innovation and competition.

What this means to you is that you will have greater access to commodity futures trading information in a more timely fashion for less cost.

Cut Through the Hype To Find the Value.

Having said that, there is still a tremendous amount of hype and fraud on the Net. It's CTCR's job to cut through that and bring you the tools for making more money.

Each column will sift and test through the mass of data on the Net to find the gems that can help you make or save money trading futures.

I will also revisit areas of interest to keep you abreast of the fast-changing and dynamic state of the Web. I also recommend you visit the CTCR site to keep up-to-date.

I will assume that you have access to and understand how to access the World Wide Web. If you do not know how, you should sign up with an Internet provider and learn.