CBOT Corn Futures Surpasses One Million Contracts In Open Interest - Days In Exchange History

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT®) announced today its Corn futures contract exceeded one million in open interest on Friday, February 3, closing at 1,041,843 contracts, setting a new Exchange record. The new open interest record surpasses the contract’s previous record of 997,522 contracts, which was set the day before on February 2, 2006.

The CBOT Corn futures contract average daily volume (ADV) increased by 70 percent in January 2006 over January 2005. In January 2006, the contract traded an average of 124,729 contracts per day versus 73,391 contracts that traded on average in January 2005.

CBOT Managing Director of Commodities Market Development Dennis Collins said, “We believe the aggressive lift in open interest within our Corn futures contract can be attributed to more Commodity Trading Advisors recommending physical commodity futures to balance portfolios and to invest in derivative contracts that have a strong liquid base, such as this contract. In addition, we are thrilled to see the growth in our Corn futures contract trading volume over the past year.”

The CBOT also reported that the Exchange’s daily volume on Friday closed above five million at 5,000,089 contracts, marking it as one of the top ten highest volume days in CBOT history.