How to trade natural gas
Interested in trading CFDs on natural gas? This guide covers everything you need to know to get started - from how natural gas markets work to the risks of trading them, plus common strategies and tools that can help you succeed.
What is natural gas?
Natural gas is a fossil fuel formed over millions of years beneath the earth's surface. It’s primarily composed of methane and serves as a major energy source around the world. It's used for heating, electricity generation, and as a raw material in industrial applications such as fertilisers and chemicals.
Why trade natural gas?
Traders are drawn to natural gas because of its high volatility and liquidity, which present opportunities for both short and long-term positions. Prices can move sharply in response to changes in weather, supply and global events, making it a very popular market to trade. However, these characteristics also introduce risks, including large price swings and exposure to geopolitical factors and regulatory changes.
Understanding the natural gas market
Like all markets, price of natural gas is driven primarily by supply and demand. But what drives these forces? Seasonal shifts and weather patterns play a significant role. For example, demand typically increases in winter due to heating and can rise again in hot summers because of cooling needs. Economic growth tends to increase energy consumption, while government energy policies can also significantly shape demand. As for supply, geopolitical disruptions, such as conflicts, trade restrictions or production halts, can limit availability and trigger price surges.
How to trade natural gas with contracts for difference (CFDs)
Trading natural gas with CFDs allows you to speculate on price movements without owning the physical commodity. You can take a long position if you think prices will rise or a short position if you expect them to fall. This flexibility means you can potentially profit in both rising and falling markets. However, you may also incur a loss if the market moves against your position.
CFDs are typically traded on margin, meaning you only need to deposit a small amount of the total trade value to open a position. While leverage can magnify your profits, it also magnifies your risk, and losses can exceed your initial deposit.
To trade natural gas CFDs, you’ll first need to open an account with a regulated broker like Pepperstone. Once you complete the sign-up process and fund your account, you can analyse the market using technical and fundamental tools, choose your position size, manage your risk with tools like stop-loss orders, and place your trade.
CFDs can suit short to medium-term strategies such as day trading or swing trading, thanks to their speed and flexibility. However, they’re not considered ideal for long-term exposure, due to overnight funding charges and the higher risk associated with being a leveraged product.
Other types of natural gas trading
Natural gas is a highly traded commodity, and there are multiple ways to gain exposure. Each method comes with its own benefits and drawbacks, which we’ve outlined below.
Spot trading
Spot trading involves buying or selling natural gas ‘for immediate delivery’ at current market prices. In the underlying market, this type of trading is generally used by those needing to fulfil immediate physical demand or to hedge against short-term price volatility. However, spot CFDs enable you to trade based on the short-term price movements of the underlying commodity, without actually taking physical delivery. This exposes you to price fluctuations in the market without having to store or transport the physical commodity. Spot trading tends to offer tight spreads, however you’ll pay a ‘swap fee’ for holding your position overnight.
Futures trading
Natural gas futures are contracts to buy or sell the commodity at a set price on a future date. They are traded on regulated exchanges and are commonly used by both hedgers and speculators. Futures allow you to lock in prices and take advantage of long-term market trends, but they also carry margin requirements and risk from leverage. When trading futures, you'll pay wider spreads than spot trading, but you won't pay any overnight fees.
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
Natural gas ETFs offer exposure to the sector by tracking an index, a group of futures contracts, or natural gas-related equities. They can be a good option if you’re looking to gain exposure to natural gas markets without managing futures positions directly. While ETFs offer diversification, they also come with management fees and may not track natural gas prices perfectly due to roll costs. Providers such as Pepperstone offer CFD trading on ETF prices, that work in the same way as trading on a share price.
Choosing the right platform and tools for trading natural gas
Choosing the right trading platform is a critical step. Look for platforms that offer competitive fees, fast execution and access to real-time data. This will help you retain more of your capital, get straight to the markets, and stay in sync with the latest moves.
Charting tools are essential for technical analysis, as they allow you to interpret historical price movements and identify patterns. Additionally, fundamental insights from market news feeds and sentiment indicators can also provide context for trading decisions. Pepperstone is a great place to get started, as it offers advanced third-party platforms like MetaTrader 5 and TradingView that provide a wide range of these technical tools and indicators.
Popular natural gas trading strategies
Having a clear strategy is key to managing risk and maintaining discipline when trading natural gas. Discover three popular strategies to try, below:
| Strategy | Description | Benefit | Risk |
Opening and closing positions within the same day to profit from short-term price movements. | Avoids overnight risk and allows quick responses to intraday market fluctuations. | Requires constant monitoring. Rapid market swings can lead to quick losses. | |
Holding positions for several days or weeks to capture medium-term trends. | Capitalises on larger price movements without needing to watch markets constantly. | Can expose you to overnight and weekend risks that can result in price gaps. | |
Making many quick trades to profit from small price changes throughout the day. | Provides frequent opportunities and potential for consistent small gains. | Requires intense focus and discipline. The high transaction volume can chip away at profits. |
Each strategy requires a different risk profile, time commitment, and level of experience. Demo trading, which uses virtual funds rather than real money, can be a great way to practice.
Common pitfalls to avoid when trading natural gas
When trading particularly liquid markets such as natural gas, it’s important to stick to a defined strategy to help you avoid:
Emotional trading: Letting fear or greed dictate trades can lead to over-leveraging and poorly timed entries and exits.
Neglecting proper market research: Failing to keep up with industry news and geopolitical events can leave you exposed to unexpected shifts.
Not having a clear exit strategy: meaning either taking profits too early or holding onto losing trades for too long.
Natural gas trading risk-management techniques
Leveraged products like CFDs magnify both gains and losses, so it’s important to only risk what you can afford to lose and to take a sensible approach to risk management. Stop-loss orders can help you limit losses by closing a position automatically if the market moves against you. You might also consider applying a favourable risk-to-reward ratio, to ensure that potential profits outweigh potential losses.
Technical analysis for natural gas trading involves using price charts and indicators to help predict potential price movements based on historical market behaviour. It’s particularly useful for navigating the often-volatile price action of natural gas.
Commonly used indicators include:
- Moving averages help smooth out price data and highlight the direction of a trend over a given period. Traders often look for crossovers (when a short-term average moves above or below a longer-term average) as potential buy or sell signals.
- The Relative Strength Index (RSI) measures the speed and change of price movements. It ranges from 0 to 100 and is typically used to identify overbought conditions (above 70) or oversold conditions (below 30), which can signal a potential reversal.
- Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) is a momentum indicator that tracks the relationship between two moving averages. It helps traders spot shifts in trend strength and direction, with signal line crossovers and divergences being closely watched.
Some of the key chart patterns in natural gas markets to look out for include:
Head and Shoulders | Typically signals a trend reversal. Formed by three peaks, with the middle (head) being the highest and the two sides (shoulders) being lower and roughly equal. |
Flags and Pennants | Short-term continuation patterns that appear after a sharp price movement (the flagpole). These patterns typically indicate the trend will continue in the same direction. |
Double Tops and Bottoms | Reversal patterns that appear after extended trends. A double top signals a potential bearish reversal, while a double bottom suggests a bullish reversal. |
Fundamental analysis in natural gas trading
Fundamental analysis focuses on the underlying factors that affect natural gas supply and demand.
- Economic reports from organisations like the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) can move prices, especially the weekly natural gas inventory report.
- Weather forecasts, particularly during peak heating and cooling seasons, are another crucial input.
- Geopolitical developments such as sanctions or conflicts can disrupt supply chains and affect global pricing. Staying informed through reliable news sources and data providers, like Pepperstone’s Daily Fix, is key to making informed trades.
Ready to trade natural gas?
Natural gas trading offers opportunities, but it comes with complexity and risk. Understanding how the market works, choosing the right trading method, applying a well-thought-out strategy, and using the right tools can help you trade more effectively. As with any market you want to trade, it's essential to continue learning, stay updated on developments, and use strong risk management practices.
If you're ready to explore natural gas markets, consider opening a Pepperstone demo or live trading account to get started.
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