The Brent forward curve is sending one of the strongest signals the oil market has produced in decades — and it’s not subtle. The front of the curve has collapsed relative to deferred contracts, pushing the annualized roll yield between the first and second contract to around -110%. By any historical standard, this is extreme. […]
🛢️ When the Oil Market Screams: Brent’s Historic Backwardation Read More »
From Built-In Tools to Advanced Curve Analytics Understanding the forward curve is one of the biggest edges a trader can develop—yet most retail traders completely ignore it. They focus on price.Professionals focus on structure. The forward curve tells you how the market prices time. What Is a Forward Curve (and Why It Matters) A forward
How to Monitor the Forward Curve in TradingView Read More »
Introduction Perpetual futures have become a dominant instrument in modern trading, particularly in cryptocurrency markets. Their rise has been driven by accessibility, deep liquidity, and the ability to trade with leverage without the constraints of contract expiration. At a surface level, perpetual futures appear to be a simple evolution of traditional futures contracts—offering continuous exposure
Perpetual Futures Are Not What You Think Read More »
The VIX futures curve is currently exhibiting an unusually flat structure, with curve compression around ~0.6–0.7. In practical terms, this means the difference between the lowest and highest priced futures along the curve is only about $0.6—an extremely tight range. This type of structure is rare. Looking back to 2004, such compression has occurred in
VIX Curve at Extreme Compression: A Rare Setup Read More »
TradingView has great charting, but when it comes to futures structure analysis—things like forward curves, roll activity, and aggregated open interest—you usually need specialized tools. Over the past months, I built a set of free indicators to fill that gap.They are designed to work together and help traders analyze term structure, positioning, and carry dynamics
A Free Suite to Analyze Futures Markets in TradingView Read More »
If you’ve ever looked at the Silver futures chain and noticed something strange, you’re not alone. April contracts are listed. They’re tradable. They haven’t expired. And yet, most of the volume and open interest sit in May and even July. So what’s going on? Why does Silver futures volume seem to skip April? The answer
Why Silver Futures Volume Skips April: Understanding Serial Months Read More »
Most traders obsess over price.Some add volume.Very few truly understand open interest. Yet in futures markets, open interest (OI) is one of the most powerful tools available. It doesn’t tell you the direction. It tells you something deeper: How much risk is currently active in the system? And when you stop looking at individual contracts
Beyond Price: Understanding Open Interest Dynamics Read More »
Most traders analyze volume and open interest on the front-month futures contract. That’s incomplete. If you look at only one expiration, you are seeing just a fraction of market participation. The real positioning often happens across the entire futures curve. Understanding aggregated futures data reveals: And this insight is valuable even if you don’t trade
Why Total Futures Volume and Open Interest Matter More Than Individual Contracts Read More »
Most traders focus only on price. But in commodities, the real signal is often hidden in the curve. Oil, coffee, natural gas, wheat — they don’t just trade at one price. They trade across multiple expiries. And the relationship between those contracts — called term structure — often tells you more than the chart itself.
The Complete Guide to Backwardation on TradingView Read More »
If you only trade spot markets or CFDs, you’re missing some of the most important information in financial markets. Most retail traders analyze: But professional traders — especially in commodities, indices, and crypto derivatives — focus heavily on futures market data. Why? Because spot shows price.Futures show positioning, pressure, and structure. And structure is where
The Signals You’re Missing by Ignoring Futures Markets Read More »
