In 2008, the price of crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) hit an all-time high of $147 per barrel. And, within (6) months, the price had fallen to about $35. Again, in 2014, oil was over $100/Bbl in June only to fall to below $50/Bbl by December. While many factors led to these "peaks and troughs, the nature of futures trading and the exchange itself made this possible. The New York Mercantile Exchange has been around since the late 1800s. Financial energy commodity contracts, such as futures contracts, are traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and it is still the most influential financial energy commodities exchange in the world. Futures contracts are financial tools to hedge against the price fluctuations. In this lesson, we will explore the history of the exchange, how it functions, who participates, what commodities are traded and futures contracts. In this lesson, we will also learn about the NYMEX order flow. Standardized Order Forms are used on the floor of the NYMEX during order execution. All orders placed on the NYMEX to buy or sell contracts are done in a very precise manner where each party involved is fully aware of the details of the transaction.
At the successful completion of this lesson, students should be able to:
This lesson will take us one week to complete. The following items will be due Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
If you have any questions, please post them to our General Course Questions discussion forum (not email), located under Modules in Canvas. The TA and I will check that discussion forum daily to respond. While you are there, feel free to post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.