What Is Hedging?

by Carley Garner

This is the eBook version of the printed book. This Element is an excerpt from "A Trader's First Book on Commodities: An Introduction to The World's Fastest Growing Market" (9780137015450) by Carley Garner. Available in print and digital formats. Hedging 101: Why hedging is now more important than ever--and how it works. Now more than ever, businesses are looking to the futures markets for an efficient means of mitigating the price risk associated with their operations. The opportunity to hedge isn't without costs or inconveniences. Nonetheless, excessive volatility in commodity prices has created an environment in which the burden of hedging can easily be justified by the potential detriment of assuming the price risk outright....

8 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 30, 2010

About the author

Senior Commodity Market Strategist and Broker, STOCKS & COMMODITIES Magazine Columnist, TheStreet.com Contributor, and Author

Carley Garner is an experienced futures and options broker with DeCarley Trading, a division of Zaner Group, in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is also the author of Higher Probability Commodity Trading; A Trader's First Book on Commodities (two editions); Currency Trading in the Forex and Futures Markets; and Commodity Options. Her e-newsletters, The DeCarley Perspective and The Financial Futures Report, have garnered a loyal following; she is also proactive in providing free trading education at www.DeCarleyTrading.com.

Carley is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, from which she earned dual bachelor’s degrees in finance and accounting. Carley jumped into the options and futures industry with both feet in early 2004 and has become one of the most recognized names in the business. Her commodity market analysis is often referenced on Jim Cramer’s Mad Money on CNBC and she is a regular contributor to TheStreet.com and its Real Money Pro service.

Carley authors a monthly column in STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine and has been featured in the likes of Futures, Active Trader, Option Trader magazines, and many more. She has been quoted by Investor’s Business Daily and The Wall Street Journal and has also been known to participate in radio interviews. She can be found on the speaking circuit.