Kansas City Board Of Trade Wheat Futures Break All Previous Single-Day Volume Records

The Kansas City Board of Trade wheat futures volume on Tuesday, February 22 amounted to 34,874 contracts, exceeding all previous single-day volume records. The previous record of 32,024 contracts was set nearly four years ago, on June 28, 2001. Each wheat futures contract represents 5,000 bushels, meaning trading volume yesterday amounted to 174.370 million bushels.

"A surge in activity has been evident in the wheat pit for at least the past week, spiking on Tuesday to culminate in the largest volume ever in a single day at the Kansas City Board of Trade," said KCBT Chairman Greg O’Brien. "In the past week, the rolling of positions from the March contract into the May and July contracts was a major market feature. And, there was a moderate amount of short-covering by the funds last week, which were net short in the KCBT market. Yesterday, major covering of short positions in fund-related business brought the largest single-day volume in the history of the exchange."

The KCBT wheat futures market saw large-scale gains on Tuesday. The KCBT March contract traded as much as 22 3/4 cents higher before closing up 17 1/2 cents. The May contract traded as much as 25 1/4 cents higher, closing up 23 3/4 cents. The July contract traded as much as 21 cents higher and closed up 19 cents.