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Futures Trading Courses

Written By

Jemma Grist

Written By

Jemma Grist

Jemma is a writer, editor and fact-checker focused on retail trading and investing. Jemma brings a unique perspective to the forex, stock, and cryptocurrency markets and works across several investment websites as a researcher and broker analyst.

» Jemma Grist Profile Page

Edited By

James Barra

Edited By

James Barra

James is an investment writer with a background in financial services. As a former management consultant, he has worked on major operational transformation programmes at prominent European banks. James authors, edits and fact-checks content for a series of investing websites.

» James Barra Profile Page

Updated

Apr 22, 2024

Futures trading courses can benefit beginners, but we’re skeptical due to the increasing amount of low-quality content, often eye-watering fees, and critically, the need for successful traders to sell these courses. Cynical? Perhaps, but that’s what years in the industry have taught us.

Use our guide to find the right forex trading course for you. We’ve also listed the futures brokers with the best education and demo accounts, supporting new traders without the often hefty price tag.

Best futures brokers

Do I Need A Futures Trading Course?

Futures are complex, high-risk trading products, making educational tools like courses an attractive starting point for aspiring traders.

Futures trading courses could be sensible if you want to learn:

However, if you want hands-on experience practising futures trading strategies, alongside free educational tools and a demo account, consider one of our recommended brokers.

How To Choose A Futures Trading Course

Over the years we’ve seen a wide array of trading courses, with the best delivering in five key areas:

1. Price

If you want free futures trading courses, these are available from providers like CME Group. These are a good place to start if you want to understand the basics, for example, expiration and settlement dates, tick movements, and the roles of speculators and hedgers.

I’ve read many of the articles and watched lots of the videos that form part of the 18-lesson CME course on futures trading.

They’re well-presented, easy to follow, and an excellent entry point for new traders. The quick quiz at the end of each module is also useful for cementing your understanding. 

Jemma Grist

Author

However, what you don’t normally get with free courses are specific strategies, in-depth insights, or real-time tips from actual futures traders. So paying more if they meet our criteria further below, could be worth considering.

Day Trading Academy, for example, runs a full futures trading course that is often priced in the thousands. The fee includes all online access, one-to-one mentoring, weekly webinars, live trading classes, plus video recaps.

2. Learning Style

Choosing a futures course that matches your learning style is key if you want a productive learning experience.

There used to be more in-person futures trading courses, but we’ve seen these shift to online mediums in recent years. Nowadays, most courses are delivered as interactive or pre-recorded sessions, but there are benefits and drawbacks to consider for each…

• Interactive courses allow you to directly interact with the teacher and other futures traders, providing the opportunity to ask questions and receive feedback. However, live courses are restricted to a set date and time, which may not align with many retail investors’ schedules. Interacting with professional traders often costs more too since you’re paying for their expertise and time.
• Pre-recorded courses are a better option if you’re busy and can’t commit to a set timetable. They also tend to be cheaper or even free as you can access the videos at any time. What you need to consider though, is that you often can’t easily ask questions or get explanations if you don’t understand something.

3. Experience Level

The best futures trading courses today provide structured paths depending on your experience level.

Interactive Brokers, for example, has a 10-lesson course on futures trading specifically aimed at beginners, covering market mechanics, the role of margin, and risk management, amongst others. It also includes specifics about trading futures on its TWS platform, making it a stand-out resource if you plan to trade with this trusted broker.

For more experienced futures traders, TradePro Academy may be worth considering. It has a hefty price tag, $1,999 at the time of writing, but its Futures Day Trading and Order Flow Course is designed to help users create a comprehensive trading plan for speculating on futures markets.

4. Community

The best futures trading courses foster an active community where you can share ideas and setups while building confidence in your trading skills.

For instance, we often see Reddit users exchanging futures trading tips, while social investing networks like eToro and TradingView boast millions of active traders globally. In fact, in the time it took me to put together this piece, I saw dozens of ‘futures forecasts’ published on TradingView.

5. Weeding Out Scams

We’re seeing scammers selling low-quality futures trading courses to take your sign-up fee. Anyone can make a fairly legit-looking website these days while an increasing number of scammers make use of social media platforms.

One notable example, reported by Medium, is the ‘Forex Mentor’ scam whereby the course ‘tutors’ claim to have a secret strategy for success. Instead, they use aggressive sales tactics to entice victims to purchase their course.

With that in mind, be wary of these warning signs:

I strongly recommend doing a thorough background check of the futures trading course provider before signing up.

You can do this by Googling the course to check that it hasn’t been involved in scams and receives positive user reviews, keeping in mind that not all reviews may be genuine.

Also remember the age-old saying: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. No futures trading course is going to make you a millionaire overnight.

Jemma Grist

Author

FAQ

What Is The Best Futures Trading Course For Beginners?

CME Group’s Learn To Trade Futures starts at the very beginning, is free and can be revisited.

Simpler Trading’s Quick Start To Futures is another great option for beginners, offering a one-hour crash course in futures day trading.

Finally, Udemy’s futures trading courses are suitable for beginners. They are also pre-recorded and reasonably cheap.