Kansas City Board Of Trade Posts Third-Largest March HRW Wheat Trading Volume

The Kansas City Board of Trade’s Hard Red Winter Wheat futures trading volume for the month of March was the third largest in the exchange’s history for the calendar month. A total of 273,549 HRW wheat futures contracts were traded during the month of March, behind only March 2006 and 2009 trading volumes of 363,605 contracts and 280,459 contracts, respectively.

HRW wheat futures open interest swelled during the month of March, ending at 152,059 contracts, an increase of 82.1 percent compared to March 2009 and 11.3 percent compared to the end of last month. At month’s end, open interest was the highest it has been since Sept. 12, 2007, when it was at 152,424 contracts. All-time high open interest in the contract is 172,936 contracts, set on July 12, 2006.

Wheat options trading volume was active during the month of March, posting an increase of 16.7 percent when compared to March 2009 and 2.6 percent when compared to last month. Open interest also showed gains, up 4.8 percent compared to March 2009 and 67.9 percent compared to the end of last month.

Year-to-date trading volume for the exchange is running 20 percent ahead of last year at this time, with wheat futures trading volume up 20.5 percent compared to last year at this time.

The Kansas City Board of Trade, founded in 1856, is the world's largest futures market for hard red winter wheat. Daily quotes, market commentary, historical data and charting services are available on our website at www.kcbt.com.