Most of my trades are on U.S. equities.  Hell, most of my investments have some root in U.S. equities.  After last week's punishment, nothing really survived, except for one shining ETF.  I have put some of my long term holdings in commodities through the DBC.  Last week, this ETF hit a new high for me.  It got me to thinking about hedging real life.  Many companies will buy or sell futures based on the commodities they deal in.  People in this country most likely need to purchase both oil and natural gas (or maybe heating oil??).  The DBC holds some 35+% in oil futures and 20 or so percent in heating oil.  What a good way to hedge your every day needs with an ETF.  Since being a consumer of these items, you'll likely want some price protection or hedging benefits.  To mitigate this risk, you may consider buying DBC.  Now I don't know if DBC is going higher or lower from here, but you may find some comfort filling up at $4.00+ per gallon if your portfolio is gaining while you're doing it.  I don't think this is a way of locking in a price for certain, but it's certainly a hedge against some of these commodities that you must purchase in uncertain times.  I purchased DBC as part of an "asset balanced" portfolio.  To date, this is easily the top performing ETF that I hold to date.  It's doing even better than emerging markets.

 

You can use oil and natural gas ETFs to hedge those particular commodities instead of buying a basket through DBC.  Be aware though, these funds seem to suffer some tracking error and they're also subject to contango and backwardation.  (Hint: if you don't know what these mean, you'd better figure it out before you buy or sell these ETFs).  The hedge isn't going to be perfect, but it could help.  Another potential cost to this is taxes.  I'm no tax expert, but you may want consult your tax expert before considering this idea as well.