Trader Resources : Reading Quotations
To successfully speculate or hedge in futures markets requires the careful study of market data. The most common piece of market information is the contract quotation. Each and every contract available for trading is listed in a quotation, which is comprised of the following:

• A commodity description containing the type of commodity in the contract, the exchange on which the contract is being traded, the volume of commodity in one contract, and in what units the contract price is quoted.
• The contract's price range over the current trading day, which includes the high and low prices for the day, as well as the prices at which the contract opened and closed the trading day.
• The high and low price points for the contract over its lifetime.
• The contract's change in price from the previous day.
• Open interest, which indicates how many open contracts have not been offset by an opposite position at the end of the trading day.
• The previous trading day's volume and the esitimated volume for the current trading day.

This information is provided for all available contracts, and is usually sorted by delivery month. Understanding and interpreting these components of are essential to successfully trade in both FACTSim and real markets.

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