A total of 421,222 contracts were traded at the exchange during March, setting a new record for the calendar month. This exceeds the previous March record of 278,906 contracts set in 2004 by 51 percent.
A new record for the month of March was set in the hard red winter wheat futures contract, with 363,605 contracts trading, an increase of 43.6 percent over the previous record of 253,158 set in 2004.
Hard red winter wheat options volume also set a new volume record for the month of March, with 53,901 contracts traded. This exceeds the previous record of 25,589 contracts for the month of March set in 2004 by 110.6 percent.
Value Line® futures trading volume continues to increase, with volume traded in March tallying 82 times that of March 2005. Volume increased 120.4 percent over last month.
Open interest continues to show increases in all contracts compared to last year. Wheat futures open interest is up 61.2 percent, wheat options are up by 84.7 percent and Value Line open interest is up by 790 percent.
The Kansas City Board of Trade, chartered in 1876, is the world's largest futures market for hard red winter wheat.
(in contracts)
Value Line® is a registered mark of Value Line® Inc., a New York corporation that provides financial services and publications. Since 1982, the Kansas City Board of Trade has been licensed to use the Value Line® mark in connection with its efforts to establish futures markets tied to the Value Line® index. The Kansas City Board of Trade and Value Line, Inc. are not affiliated corporate entities.
