Commodities

Oil and Gas ETFs: Dirty Truth

Stock quotes in this article:USO, UNG 
See More Videos

My advice continues to be: If you want to trade futures, trade futures. Get a specialized futures account and trade the E-minis; they have terrific platforms to trade futures where you can get as comfortable as with your stock-trading platforms.

More on USO

Real Money Previews

And if you're looking for a long-term oil investment that acts like a stock, trade stocks. There are plenty of stocks whose correlation with oil's price is so strong, you can use them almost totally as proxies for long-term oil price investment.

But I know you're going to go out there and play in the mud. I can't seem to stop you. Just try to keep as clean as you can.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints

1 2 3 4
At the time of publication, Dicker had no positions in the stocks mentioned, but positions can change at any time.

Dan Dicker has been a floor trader at the New York Mercantile Exchange with more than 20 years' experience. He is a licensed commodities trade adviser. Dan's recognized energy market expertise includes active trading in crude oil, natural gas, unleaded gasoline and heating oil futures contracts; fundamental analysis including supply and demand statistics (DOE, EIA), CFTC trade reportage, volume and open interest; technical analysis including trend analysis, stochastics, Bollinger Bands, Elliot Wave theory, bar and tick charting and Japanese candlesticks; and trading expertise in outright, intermarket and intramarket spreads and cracks.

Dan also designed and supervised the introduction of the new Nymex PJM electricity futures contract, launched in April 2003, which cleared more than 600,000 contracts last year alone. Its launch has been the basis of Nymex's resurgence in the clearing of power market contracts over the last three years.

Dan Dicker has appeared as an energy analyst since 2002 with all the major financial news networks. He has lent his expertise in hundreds of live radio and television broadcasts as an analyst of the oil markets on CNBC, Bloomberg US and UK and CNNfn. Dan is the author of many energy articles published in Nymex and other trade journals.

Dan obtained a bachelor of arts degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1982.

TheStreet Premium Services

Jim Cramer
Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS:
Trade right alongside a Wall Street pro — enjoy access to his Charitable Trust portfolio and be sent trade alerts BEFORE he makes a move. Learn More
Login Try it Free
OptionsProfits
OptionsProfits:
Get 50+ trade ideas a week from the industry's top options experts. Plus — exclusive commentary on market trends and essential trading tools. Learn More
Login Try it Free
Real Money
Real Money:
Our team of professional Wall Street Pros — including Jim Cramer, Doug Kass, and Nicholas Vardy — delivers intelligent analysis, timely trade ideas, and colorful commentary. Learn More
Login Try it Free
Stocks Under $10
Stocks Under $10:
Break into the market with small- and mid-cap stocks... all $10 or less! David Peltier tells you exactly which low-priced stocks he's buying and selling. Learn More
Login Try it Free
To begin commenting right away, you can log in below using your Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, OpenID or Yahoo login credentials. Alternatively, you can post a comment as a "guest" just by entering an email address. Your use of the commenting tool is subject to multiple terms of service/use and privacy policies - see here for more details.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Dow Jones S&P 500 NASDAQ 10-Year Note
12,393.45 1,310.33 2,827.34 15.81
Oil *
101.78
DOWN
26.41
DOWN
2.99
DOWN
10.02
DOWN
0.44
10 Yr
1.58%
SPDR Gold
151.62
-0.21%
-0.23%
-0.35%
-2.71%
Data delayed 20 minutes

Top Stories and Tools

Articles From

After the Bell

Before the Bell

Booyah! Newsletter

Midday Bell

TheStreet Top 10 Stories

Winners & Losers

We respect your privacy.
Manage Newsletters
Podcasts

TheStreet Mobile Edition

Connect with TheStreet