Stockpiles:
Long Futures generally shouldn't have a stockpile.
Short Futures generally should have a stockpile.
Spot Prices:
If a planet is selling a commodity, divide the offer price by 1.1 to get the spot price.
If a planet is buying a commodity, divide the buying price by 0.9 to get the spot price.
If a planet is buying and selling a commodity, add both prices and divide the result by 2 to get the spot price.
Spreads:
For Long Futures, subtract the Contract Price found in the DI FUTURES from the Spot Price.
For Short Futures, subtract the Spot Price from the Contract Price found in the DI FUTURES.
Formulas:
Long/Buy: Spread=(Buy_Price/0.9)-Contract_Price
Long/Mix: Spread=((Buy_Price+Sell_Price)/2)-Contract_Price
Short/Sell: Spread=Contract_Price-(Sell_Price/1.1)
Short/Mix: Spread=Contract_Price-((Buy_Price+Sell_Price)/2)
New_Value: New_ValueValue/225(you can plug New_Value into the above formulas for Contract_Price)
Futures Actions:
Long: You want the price of a long to go HIGHER.
Short: You want the price of a short to go LOWER.
Good Futures, and When to Liquidate:
Spreads must be positive and should be above 20.
Above 100 is better.
If a spread goes below 20, liquidate the future.
Any futures you hold at morning reset will be liquidated automatically.
Margins:
You want your margins to stay above 4000.
For every 1000 above 4000 you will gain one point.
For every 1000 below 4000 you will lose one point.
If your margin goes below the minimum, the broker issues a margin call and liquidates.
Futures and Socialization:
Once you have bought your futures, you can return to your favorite bar or the Traders Lounge.
Your futures can be checked remotely using DI FUTURES and remote price checking.
DI FUTURES will show you every contract you have if you aren't in an exchange.
C PRICE commodity planet will show you the price for commodites you have futures for, and you don't need to buy remote pricing to do it.
Once the spread falls below 20, go to the exchange for that future and be ready to liquidate.
On the second line of your DI FUTURE you will see Value: xxxxxxig
This is the current value of your contract (Cost is what you paid for it). If you divide this number by 225 you will get the contract price you need to plug into the formula to check the spread on your future.
I keep these notes on Stickies on my computer tower to check regularly.
What effects futures:
Events--Check by DI EVENTS
Factories--Check by DI PLANET
Merchants--Good luck predicting merchant activity. Check by WHO MERCHANT.