Noob question: say I have $1000 that I want to invest in oil (not in an oil company, but in the commodity itself). How do I go about it? Judging by the article, buying actual oil isn't the way to go.
If you had more money, you could trade futures, which are mentioned in the article. If you sell the future before the date of delivery, then you never have to deal with the physical aspect of the commodity. There are lots of online brokerages you can use for this, for example, E*Trade and TradeStation. But they have higher minimums than $1000.
With $1000, you could trade ETFs, for example USO [0]. The account minimums for ETFs are lower. If you look at what's inside USO [1], it's basically a wrapper for a future (NYMEX WTI Crude Oil CL).
