Here are some typical steps in the process of making a commodity trade including the trader's decision-making process and the procedures involved in actually placing the trade. In order to make decisions about when to trade commodity futures, you must have a source of price data.
Many daily newspapers carry some commodity prices in their financial sections.
The Wall Street Journal has comprehensive commodity price listings. All experienced commodity traders prefer to look at price activity on a chart rather than trying to interpret tables of numbers. In financial analysis, charts are indispensable for quickly grasping the essence of historical and recent price action. The typical commodity chart depicts daily price action as a thin vertical bar which indicates the day's high and low by the top and bottom of the bar. The opening and closing prices are shown as tiny dots attached to the left and right side of the bar.