when you start out try to use small amounts and only make one trade at a time if possible don t overwhelm yourself overtrading can cause you to take on far more risk than you can handle 
the commodity futures trading commission cftc commodity futures contracts and their trading are regulated in the u s by the commodity futures trading commission cftc a federally mandated u s regulatory agency established by the commodity futures trading commission act of 1974 1the cftc regulates the commodity futures and options markets its goals include the promotion of competitive and efficient futures markets and the protection of investors against manipulation abusive trade practices and fraud commodity futures faqscommodity futures contracts are standardized to facilitate trading on an exchange but while they re easily transferable the obligation within the contract remains valid both forward contracts and futures contracts are agreements to buy or sell an asset at a predetermined price at a specific date thus commodity brokers use them primarily to mitigate the risk of fluctuating prices by locking in a price beforehand the irs requires a specific form when reporting gains and losses from commodity futures contracts form 6781 the irs considers commodities and futures transactions as 1256 contracts the commodity futures modernization act cfma signed into law on december 21 2000 is u s federal legislation stating that over the counter otc derivatives would remain unregulated 2