Commodities are products, resources, or raw materials that are sold in bulk, such as sugar, oil, gas, or precious metals like gold and silver. Financial commodities include currencies, stock indexes, and treasury securities. Individuals who invest in commodities are called speculators. They speculate or bet on the future movements of commodities and profit from price changes. Many investors choose to invest in commodities as a way of diversifying their portfolios.

You can invest in commodities in various ways. One of the most common ways is to enter into a futures contract in which you agree to buy or sell a certain amount of a commodity at a specific time. You can open a futures account with a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), which allows you to directly trade futures contracts, options, and derivative products through commodity exchanges.

You can also use the services of an investment professional known as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA), who is authorized by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA) to trade on behalf of their clients.

A Commodity Pool Operator (CPO) can also invest in the futures markets for their clients. They pool their individual client accounts into one large client account in order to trade in the market as a group.  This method is advantageous because it gives clients more leverage and increases the purchasing power of the fund. Also, clients only risk losing their principal should anything go wrong, because the CPO is usually registered as a company.