Total exchange volume for the month of April amounted to 290,966 contracts, an increase of 50.9 percent over April 2003 volume. This tally represents an increase of 5 percent when compared to the previous April record of 277,205 contracts that was set in 2002.
The new exchange record was mostly due to a new April record for the wheat futures contract. A total of 262,411 contracts were traded in April, an increase of 54.6 percent compared to the total for April 2003. The new April record represents a 8.6 percent increase from 2000’s record volume of 241,612 contracts.
Wheat options volume continued to trade at an active pace in the month of April. April volume was 24.2 percent higher than volume traded in April 2003 and was 10.9 percent higher than March 2004 volume. Most significantly, year-to-date volume has made large strides. At the conclusion of March trade, wheat options year-to-date volume was running behind 2003 by 15.2 percent. That figure has been slashed in half and is now 7.1 percent.
Year-to-date volume continues to gain momentum when compared to past records, with wheat futures volume ahead of 2003 year-to-date volume by 48.1 percent, compared to a gain of 45.9 percent at the end of March. Total exchange volume is ahead of last year at this time by 40.1 percent, compared to a gain of 36.5 percent at the end of last month.
KCBT members attribute the increase in volume to more volatility in the marketplace in response to tightening world supplies and concerns about the size and condition of the hard red winter wheat crop.
The Kansas City Board of Trade, chartered in 1876, is the world's largest futures market for hard red winter wheat.