KCBT Open Interest Swells In Many Contracts

During the month of October, many contracts at the Kansas City Board of Trade saw increases in open interest when compared to September 1999. Wheat options open interest increased by 7.7 percent; Value Line® stock index futures open interest grew 15.6 percent; Mini Value Line® open interest increased 3.6 percent; and Mini Value Line options open interest increased 107.1 percent. Wheat futures open interest grew 30.2 percent when compared to October 1998. Wheat options volume traded in October increased 34.2 percent when compared to September 1999, continuing the recent trend of growing volume levels. Open interest in the western natural gas futures contract continued to decline as positions were being offset before the transition from a flat price contract to a basis contract. The anticipated start date of the basis futures contract is Monday, Nov. 29, 1999, pending CFTC approval. Open interest measures the number of open trading positions in a market. Each KCBT wheat contract represents 5,000 bushels of hard red winter wheat.