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Put up to four markets on the same ruler. The shapes do most of the explaining.

EXITSWINGLEVERAGECARRYFRAUDNO RECOURSEBARRIEREXPERTISE
  • Crude oil 53 Tough Liquid and leveraged, with a carry cost hidden in the futures roll — a market that punishes anyone who confuses the price with the product.
  • Natural gas 63 Extreme The worst carry profile of any commodity: some gas funds have lost almost everything while the spot price went nowhere.
  Crude oil Natural gas
Exit difficulty 1 2
Volatility 4 5
Leverage 5 5
Carry cost 4 5
Fraud risk 2 2
Protection gap 3 3
Barrier to entry 2 2
Expertise needed 4 4
Difficulty 53 Tough 63 Extreme
In a sentence The most politically consequential commodity in the world, traded in two main benchmarks that most of the planet prices against.A regional, storage-constrained commodity whose price can multiply tenfold in a cold winter and collapse the following spring.
Unit Barrel (42 US gallons / 159 litres) Therm (UK), megawatt-hour (Europe), MMBtu (US)
Smallest realistic trade Futures lot of 1,000 barrels; retail via ETC or CFD Wholesale lots; retail via ETC, CFD or supplier tariff
Settlement Brent cash-settled; WTI physically deliverable at Cushing, Oklahoma Physical delivery at a virtual hub, or cash settlement against an index

The fingerprint measures how demanding a market is to take part in. It is not a rating or a recommendation.