Commodities simulation where students roll a futures position

A commodities simulation is a timed activity where students hold a futures position through the rolls that keep it alive. In the Finsimco Commodities Simulation, each student reads forward curves for crude, natural gas, copper and corn, chooses which contract to hold and when to roll it, then holds the position through a quarter in which spot prices finish flat and the returns do not, because one curve flips from contango into backwardation. Unlike a textbook exercise, the roll schedule is the student's and so is the result.

Undergraduate and postgraduate students on Commodities, Derivatives, Financial Markets, Investments or Energy Finance courses, and MBA programmes. Difficulty is adjustable, so the same quarter can be set with one commodity in steady contango, or with four commodities, storage and convenience yield, a mid-quarter flip and a collateral return for Masters and MBA cohorts.

Very little. Students should know that a futures contract exists and expires. Forward curves, roll yield, contango, backwardation, storage cost, convenience yield and collateral return are explained and computed inside the activity, with worked examples in the tool tips.

Mid module, typically from week five onwards, once futures have been introduced. It also works inside a derivatives module as the applied session on why a rolled position is not a spot position.

The Futures and Forwards simulation covers contract mechanics, margin and basis across asset classes. This one stays with commodities and the thing that is specific to them, which is the shape of the curve and what rolling through it costs.

A case study asks students to explain a commodity index's underperformance after the fact. Here each student chooses the contracts, sets the roll schedule and then lives through a quarter that produces the gap. You get the curve reading, the roll decisions and the reasoning behind every position, rather than a written summary.

Most commodities teaching material defines contango and backwardation and moves on. The Finsimco Commodities Simulation is different because the roll is the exercise. The spot prices are deliberately flat over the quarter, so every basis point of return comes from the curve, and one commodity flips mid-way so the same position earns the roll it had been paying. It suits modules that want commodity exposure taught as a futures position rather than as a price.

It can sit alongside one or replace it. A pricing exercise teaches students cost of carry. This teaches them what carry costs when it is paid twelve times a year, which is the part that shows up in a return.

They take the curve, roll and position roles in turn, read four forward curves and explain each shape, choose which contract to hold and when to roll it, size the exposure, place the collateral, then hold the position through a quarter in which natural gas flips into backwardation and crude's contango steepens.

Every student holds all three. Curve wants the shape read correctly, roll wants the cheapest way to stay exposed and position wants a return the desk can explain. Nothing is submitted until all three are satisfied, so the student has to reconcile them rather than pick a favourite.

No. Holding the front month for responsiveness and rolling further out to cut the cost are both defensible. What scores badly is a position whose return the student cannot decompose, or a contango read as a price forecast.

Single-player. Every student runs the same case independently, so there is no team formation, no minimum cohort size and no group-work marking to untangle. It runs equally well with one student or several hundred.

About three hours with the default timings, and the timings are yours. Every stage can be lengthened or shortened from the professor panel, so the same simulation fits a longer block or a shorter slot.

Yes. It pauses and resumes without losing submitted data. Two configurations work well: two sessions, with Briefing and Position and Roll in the first and The Curve Flip, the Desk Review and the debrief in the second; or three sessions, one per decision stage. Briefing can also be set as pre-reading if you would rather open on the first decision.

Yes to all four. Because students work independently inside the platform, a remote or asynchronous run behaves exactly like an in-room one, which also makes it straightforward to set as homework. Delivery is covered across our simulations for universities.

As much or as little as you like. The simulation is self-running and coaching is optional. You control the timeline, can adjust stage timings, and can monitor student inputs live. See how a Finsimco session runs for the setup, controls and first-delivery support.