Trading on the internet has opened new vistas and opportunities for all types of investors. Very recently, information related to the performance of the various commodities is made available directly to the investors online and on a real-time basis by substituting a phone call with a 'click' of the mouse. The regulatory authorities planned the entire process meticulously, with almost the entire commodity trading companies going online by the end of the last decade.
The legislation introduced through appropriate acts, including the Depository Act has led to the incorporation of the lead regulatory authority that has added teeth to the existing system to deal with the problems associated with commodity trade. In addition, the regulatory authority initiated the process of persuading and instructing companies to accelerate the process of dematerialization of certain commodity bonds.
The concerted efforts have yielded good results. As on early 2010, more than 200 companies have joined the transfer-cum-demat scheme. Most of the trading platforms that incorporate the indices of the prominent commodity trades have some link with each other.
The regulatory authority has authorized the prominent exchanges to offer the internet trading option to their investors. Even though countries like India entered the cyber-trading era only on 1st February 2000, many of the other prominent Asian economies have been part of the online trade since the early 1990's itself. By the end of 2010, an investor will have a few other options as well.
The
commodities trading platform that has gone online has five subsystems, which are well connected by a secure network. This network is a combination of Internet and Intranet (VAN). The subsystems are:
Depository
Broker
Commodity exchange
Issuer companies and/or their R& T agents
Bank
Internet trading: taking a giant leap forward 
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