Steven Hicks

Markets can become enthusiastic. Sometimes extremely enthusiastic. A commodity begins rising, attracts additional attention, rises again, and suddenly everyone seems to be talking about it. The opposite can happen just as quickly: prices fall, selling accelerates, and pessimism spreads. Eventually an analyst may wonder: Has this market moved too far,

Markets are noisy. One day crude oil rises sharply. The next day it falls. Gold rallies for three sessions, retreats for two, then begins climbing again. Copper can move dramatically on a single economic report and reverse part of that move hours later. If we focus on every individual price

Price gets most of the attention. Gold rises. Crude oil falls. Copper breaks through resistance. Natural gas reverses sharply. Those price movements tell us what happened. But technical analysts often want to know something else: How much participation was behind the move? That’s where volume enters the picture. Volume

Open almost any commodity chart and something interesting begins to appear. Prices often return to the same areas. Crude oil may repeatedly struggle near a particular price before retreating. Gold may decline toward a certain level several times and then rebound. Natural gas might trade inside the same broad range

One of the first things new market observers discover is also one of the most important: Markets rarely travel from Point A to Point B in a straight line. A commodity can be in a strong upward trend and still decline for several sessions. A market can be falling steadily

One of the first indicators many investors encounter is the moving average. Although simple in concept, it remains one of the most widely used tools for analyzing financial markets. A moving average smooths daily price fluctuations by calculating the average price over a specified period, such as 20, 50, or

Markets rarely move on price alone. One of the most overlooked pieces of market information is trading volume—the number of contracts or shares changing hands during a given period. While price tells you what is happening, volume often provides clues about how much conviction is behind the move. Imagine

Successful investing is often portrayed as a search for the perfect strategy or the perfect prediction. In reality, long-term success usually comes from something much simpler: a commitment to continuous learning. Markets change. Economies change. Weather patterns shift. Supply chains evolve. New technologies emerge. Investors who stop learning eventually

No factor moves commodity markets faster or less predictably than geopolitics. A missile strike, a coup, a sanctions announcement or a trade war escalation can move crude oil five percent before most traders have had their morning coffee. Understanding how geopolitical risk flows through commodity markets doesn't make

Energy markets have a rhythm. Crude oil, natural gas and gasoline prices don't move randomly through the year — they follow recurring seasonal patterns driven by demand cycles, refinery maintenance schedules and weather. Traders who understand the calendar have a structural edge over those who don't. The