Gone are the days when it was relatively easy to see where the oil market was headed. Up until July the trend was definitively upward. Then it was definitively downward.

Now the experts say that prices look like they'll swing in a tighter range for awhile, which makes it more difficult to place a bet that oil will rise or fall and then just walk away for a few months.

But on a day-to-day or even minute-to-minute basis, the market can be just as volatile as ever. Here's your opportunity to make - or lose - a lot of money in a short time.

Average investors can buy oil contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange through hundreds of Web sites targeting the mom and pop investor. What's more, brokerages will lend you the money to trade - with a minimum investment of $1,000 or $1,500. But tread carefully. You can lose half your investment on a dollar swing in the price of oil.

The key is taking advantage of the large swings in the market, and to do that you have to make several trades a day. "You should be able to make money in a $10 range, that's huge," said Andrew Lebow, a Broker at Man Financial in New York. "You just have to be a little more nimble."