NXW Investment Library · 6 modules · 22 chapters

Commodity Investing

Based on the book Commodity Investing: From Theory to Practice (Dr MAI Huu Minh)

How commodity prices are formed, futures curves and the roll, energy, metals and agriculture, where returns come from, and how to invest — with a focus on Asia and Vietnam.

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Contents

6 modules, 22 chapters

Chapter 1 is free to read online; the other chapters open a preview with their objectives and sections.

Module 1 — Foundations

3 chapters

1	What Is a Commodity? Raw materials, standard grades and why they behave differently from stocks 8 sections 1.1 A raw material with a world price 1.2 Standard grades and contracts 1.3 The three families 1.4 Why commodities are different from stocks and bonds 1.5 Who buys and sells commodities 1.6 Four ways to invest in commodities 1.7 Commodities and the Vietnamese economy 1.8 Commodity investing: a first map of the book	Read FREE
2	A Short History of Commodity Markets From grain fairs to global futures exchanges 10 sections 2.1 Trading the harvest before it exists 2.2 The problem with forward contracts 2.3 Osaka and Chicago: the first futures markets 2.4 Margin and the clearing house 2.5 London and New York: metals, softs and energy 2.6 Gold, the US dollar and the 1970s 2.7 Oil moves to the exchange, and crises change the rules 2.8 Indexes, funds and financialisation 2.9 Asia and Vietnam join the market 2.10 Lessons for today's investor	🔒 Preview
3	How Commodity Prices Are Formed Supply, demand, inventories and cost curves 10 sections 3.1 Prices that do all the work 3.2 Why supply is slow 3.3 Why demand is slow 3.4 Small imbalance, large price move 3.5 Inventories as a shock absorber 3.6 Spare capacity 3.7 Cost curves: the long-run anchor 3.8 Weather, politics and the US dollar 3.9 Reading a market balance 3.10 From world prices to Vietnamese farm gates and pumps	🔒 Preview

Module 2 — Markets and instruments

4 chapters

4	Spot, Forward and Futures Markets How commodities are traded and settled 10 sections 4.1 Three markets, three prices 4.2 The spot market and physical premiums 4.3 Forward contracts 4.4 Reading a futures specification 4.5 Margin and daily settlement 4.6 Leverage and its dangers 4.7 Physical delivery or cash settlement 4.8 Convergence and basis 4.9 Who trades: hedgers, speculators and arbitrageurs 4.10 Trading futures from Vietnam	🔒 Preview
5	Term Structure: Contango, Backwardation and the Roll The futures curve and why it matters for returns 9 sections 5.1 A curve, not a price 5.2 The cost of carry 5.3 Convenience yield and the theory of storage 5.4 Contango and backwardation 5.5 How a fund rolls its futures 5.6 Roll yield in practice 5.7 Managing the roll 5.8 Reading the curve as a market signal 5.9 The curve seen from Vietnam	🔒 Preview
6	Options and Volatility in Commodities Protection, income and the price of uncertainty 9 sections 6.1 Options on futures: rights, not obligations 6.2 The language of options 6.3 What an option is worth 6.4 Why commodity volatility is high and unstable 6.5 Floors for producers 6.6 Caps for consumers and low-cost collars 6.7 Skew and seasonality 6.8 Options for investors 6.9 Options in Vietnam and Asia	🔒 Preview
7	Exchanges and Benchmarks Where prices are made and who publishes them 9 sections 7.1 Three ways prices are made 7.2 The world's commodity exchanges 7.3 Crude oil: Brent, WTI and Dubai 7.4 Gold and precious metals 7.5 Base metals: London, New York and Shanghai 7.6 Assessed prices and price reporting agencies 7.7 Who guards the benchmark?7.8 Vietnam's commodity exchange 7.9 Choosing the right benchmark	🔒 Preview

Module 3 — The sectors

5 chapters

8	Energy Oil, gas, coal and power 9 sections 8.1 Why energy is different 8.2 The crude oil market 8.3 Refined products and crack spreads 8.4 Natural gas and LNG 8.5 Coal and electricity 8.6 Geopolitics, the dollar and price shocks 8.7 Energy in the energy transition 8.8 Energy investing in practice 8.9 Energy in Vietnam	🔒 Preview
9	Precious Metals and Gold Money, jewellery and safe haven 9 sections 9.1 Why gold is special 9.2 Supply and demand 9.3 What drives the gold price 9.4 Units, benchmarks and the VND price 9.5 Silver and the platinum-group metals 9.6 Ways to own gold 9.7 Gold miners and the NXW Gold Plus index 9.8 Gold in a portfolio 9.9 Gold in Vietnam	🔒 Preview
10	Industrial Metals Copper, aluminium, nickel, zinc and steel 9 sections 10.1 Copper: the metal with a doctorate in economics 10.2 Aluminium: electricity in solid form 10.3 Nickel, zinc, lead and tin 10.4 Iron ore and steel 10.5 Mines and smelters 10.6 Exchange inventories and warehouses 10.7 China and Asia 10.8 Investing in industrial metals 10.9 Industrial metals in Vietnam	🔒 Preview
11	Agriculture and Softs Grains, oilseeds, coffee, sugar, cocoa, rubber and livestock 10 sections 11.1 Food, feed, fibre and fuel 11.2 Grains and oilseeds 11.3 Softs: coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton and rubber 11.4 Livestock and other farm markets 11.5 Weather, seasons and the crop calendar 11.6 Stocks, crop reports and price spikes 11.7 Policy: export bans, biofuels and stockpiles 11.8 Vietnam's agricultural commodities 11.9 Hedging for exporters 11.10 Investing in agriculture	🔒 Preview
12	New Commodities: Carbon, Battery Metals and Water Markets created by the energy transition 10 sections 12.1 Markets created by policy and technology 12.2 How a carbon market works 12.3 The world's carbon markets 12.4 What drives the carbon price 12.5 Battery and critical minerals 12.6 Small, opaque markets 12.7 Water and other new markets 12.8 Policy risk: when governments write the rules 12.9 Vietnam and the new commodities 12.10 How to invest	🔒 Preview

Module 4 — Theory

3 chapters

13	Where Do Commodity Returns Come From? Spot return, roll return and collateral return 10 sections 13.1 A puzzle: an asset with no cash flows 13.2 Three sources of return 13.3 Spot return 13.4 Roll return and the shape of the curve 13.5 Collateral return 13.6 Hedging pressure and the risk premium 13.7 What the evidence says 13.8 The diversification return 13.9 Realistic expectations 13.10 Returns in Vietnamese dong	🔒 Preview
14	Commodities in a Portfolio Diversification, inflation protection and risk 9 sections 14.1 Three jobs for one asset class 14.2 Correlation and diversification 14.3 When correlations rise 14.4 Inflation protection: when it works and when it doesn't 14.5 Gold or a broad basket?14.6 How much to hold 14.7 Rebalancing and the diversification return 14.8 Implementation: what you hold matters 14.9 The Vietnamese investor's starting point	🔒 Preview
15	Commodity Indexes How the main indexes are built 9 sections 15.1 Why indexes matter 15.2 What a commodity index holds 15.3 Weighting methods 15.4 The main index families 15.5 Caps, sector limits and rebalancing 15.6 Rolling rules 15.7 Spot, excess-return and total-return versions 15.8 The 5% versus 25% puzzle 15.9 Reading an index methodology	🔒 Preview

Module 5 — Products and practice

4 chapters

16	Commodity Funds, ETFs and ETCs How to buy exposure with one trade 9 sections 16.1 One trade, many wrappers 16.2 Physically backed products 16.3 Futures-based funds 16.4 ETCs and ETNs: debt-like structures 16.5 Vault or futures? The gold question 16.6 Costs and tracking 16.7 Structure, tax and regulation 16.8 A scorecard for commodity products 16.9 Commodity products in Vietnam and Asia	🔒 Preview
17	Commodity Equities and Producers Investing through companies 10 sections 17.1 A share is not a barrel 17.2 Operating leverage: profits move faster than prices 17.3 Two exposures in one share 17.4 Upstream, midstream and downstream 17.5 Royalty and streaming companies 17.6 Hedging and debt: what the balance sheet does to exposure 17.7 Management, costs and politics 17.8 Gold miners in the NXW Gold Plus index 17.9 Producers in Vietnam 17.10 When to choose producers	🔒 Preview
18	Physical Assets: Bars, Storage and Farmland Owning the real thing 9 sections 18.1 Why own the real thing?18.2 Bars and coins: formats and premiums 18.3 Gold in Vietnam: the domestic premium 18.4 Where to keep it: storage options 18.5 Safety and authenticity 18.6 Silver and the other precious metals 18.7 Farmland and timber: productive real assets 18.8 Liquidity and the total cost compared 18.9 Legal and tax aspects	🔒 Preview
19	Building and Back-Testing a Commodity Index A hands-on lab in Excel and R 9 sections 19.1 Why build your own index?19.2 The data you need 19.3 Contract months and the roll calendar 19.4 Excess return, step by step 19.5 Adding collateral: the total return 19.6 A five-commodity basket 19.7 The engine in R 19.8 Pitfalls specific to commodity back-tests 19.9 From test to publication	🔒 Preview

Module 6 — Invest

3 chapters

20	Commodities in Vietnam and Asia Exporters, consumers and exchanges 9 sections 20.1 Vietnam's commodity profile 20.2 The exporter's side: rice, coffee, rubber, pepper and cashew 20.3 The importer's side: energy, feed and metals 20.4 The Mercantile Exchange of Vietnam and access to world futures 20.5 Hedging for exporters and importers 20.6 Domestic prices: fuel, food and gold 20.7 Asian commodity exchanges 20.8 Products for Asian investors 20.9 Practical uses and rules to check	🔒 Preview
21	Risks, Regulation and Behaviour What can go wrong and how to avoid it 9 sections 21.1 Why so many traders lose money 21.2 Leverage and margin 21.3 Limit moves, gaps and stop orders 21.4 Basis, roll and liquidity risk 21.5 Extreme events: what history teaches 21.6 Counterparty, structure and fraud 21.7 Behavioural traps 21.8 Position sizing and a simple risk budget 21.9 Rules and investor protection	🔒 Preview
22	The Future of Commodities Energy transition, critical minerals and climate 9 sections 22.1 A new super-cycle?22.2 Critical minerals for electrification 22.3 The supply challenge 22.4 Fossil fuels in transition 22.5 Investment consequences 22.6 Climate change and agriculture 22.7 Data, AI and new products 22.8 Principles that will not change 22.9 Conclusion: from theory to practice	🔒 Preview

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