Futures are traded on various exchanges around the world but mostly in Chicago and New York. The Futures products that Orion has made available for trading are:

Energy Futures	Light Sweet Crude Oil	CL
	Mini Natural Gas	NG
Commodity Futures	Coffee	KC
Index Futures	Dow Jones	DJ
	Mini Dow Jones	YM
	NASDAQ	NQ
	Mini S&P	ES
Currency Futures	EURO	EC
	British Pounds	BP
	Japanese Yen	JY
	Swiss Francs	SF

All futures have expiry months that are abbreviated as follows:

F=JAN	G=FEB	H=MAR
J=APR	K=MAY	M=JUN
N=JUL	Q=AUG	U=SEP
V=OCT	X=NOV	Z=DEC

The most popular and most liquid of all the energy futures is Light Sweet Crude Oil.

Energy Future	Contract size	Value of 1 pip
Crude Oil	1,000 barrels	$ 10.00

For each lot you want to open (trade), you must have a minimum of $1,000 in your account (1% margin).

Therefore if you start your account with $10,000, you can buy or sell up to 10 lots (though not recommended). If you profit $2000 because you made the right decision, then on the next trade you can open 12 lots. If however you lose $2,000, then on the next trade you can only open 8 lots.

Margin a call:
There is no margin call on the account. However, all positions in the account will be closed when the margin level is at 5% (Equity / Margin ratio).

Example:
Equity $10,000 ÷ Margin required $5,000 = 200%
Equity $5,000 ÷ Margin required $5,000 = 100%
Equity $1,000 ÷ Margin required $5,000 = 20%
Equity $250 ÷ Margin required $5,000 = 5% (all positions will be closed)

Profit and loss calculation:

Buy 3 CLH5 at 65.00 / Sell 3 CLH5 at 66.50
(3 x 1,000 x 66.50) – (3 x 1,000 x 65.00) = $4,500 profit

Buy 5 CLJ5 at 66.80 / Sell 5 CLJ5 at 66.00
(5 x 1,000 x 66.00) – (5 x 1,000 x 66.80) = $4,000 loss


NOTE: The above calculations do not include commissions.