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Commodities
Energy, metals, and agriculture — what each market is, its units and benchmarks, and what drives the price.
How It Works
Commodities: The Complete Guide
Commodities are raw materials — from crude oil and natural gas to gold, copper, wheat, and coffee — that trade on global exchanges and form the… · 7 min read
Barrels, Bushels and Troy Ounces: Commodity Units
Commodity prices are quoted in units that vary wildly by market: oil trades by the barrel (42 US gallons), gold by the troy ounce (heavier than a… · 6 min read
What Moves Commodity Prices?
Commodity prices are driven by a recurring set of forces: physical supply and demand, inventory levels, weather, geopolitics, the strength of the US… · 6 min read
Energy
Crude Oil: WTI, Brent and What Moves Them
Crude oil is traded in two main global benchmarks: WTI (West Texas Intermediate), delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma, and Brent, sourced from the North… · 6 min read
Natural Gas: Henry Hub, TTF and Seasonality
Natural gas prices are quoted in two main regional benchmarks: Henry Hub in the United States (priced in dollars per MMBtu) and TTF in Europe (priced… · 7 min read
Lithium, Uranium and the Energy-Transition Metals
Lithium, cobalt, nickel, uranium, and rare-earth elements are the raw materials that power batteries, nuclear reactors, and electric motors at the… · 6 min read
Metals
Gold: Why It Moves and Why It Matters
Gold is a commodity priced per troy ounce that traders and investors have historically used as a store of value and a hedge against uncertainty. Its… · 6 min read
Silver, Platinum and Palladium
Silver, platinum, and palladium are precious metals traded in troy ounces, each with a dual identity: part financial asset, part industrial raw… · 6 min read
Base Metals: Copper, Aluminum and Friends
Base metals are industrially essential metals — copper, aluminum, zinc, nickel, tin, and lead — traded primarily on the London Metal Exchange (LME)… · 7 min read
Agriculture
Agricultural Commodities: Grains, Softs and Livestock
Agricultural commodities cover three broad families: grains and oilseeds (corn, wheat, soybeans), soft commodities (coffee, sugar, cocoa, cotton)… · 6 min read