MCX commodity trading: contracts, sessions and what moves prices

MCX lists futures and options on bullion (gold, silver), energy (crude oil, natural gas), base metals (copper, zinc, aluminium) and select agri commodities. The exchange trades well into the evening, overlapping with US markets, which is where most of the day's real information arrives.

That evening overlap is the segment's biggest practical advantage. A trader working a nine-to-six job cannot participate meaningfully in the equity session, but can trade MCX with full attention after work.

Drivers are global. Gold responds to real interest rates, the dollar and risk sentiment. Crude responds to OPEC decisions, inventory reports and geopolitics. Natural gas responds to weather and storage data, and does so with brutal speed — it is the fastest way to learn about position sizing.

Contract specifications matter more here than in equities. Lot sizes differ sharply between gold and its mini and guinea variants, and tick values vary by contract. Calculate your rupee-per-tick exposure before the first trade, not after.

Treat MCX as its own discipline. The instruments look familiar on a chart and behave nothing like index options underneath.