This record was fueled by two other new May records - wheat futures and wheat options volume. Wheat futures trading was 198,843 contracts, breaking the old record of 154,781 contracts set in 1996. Wheat options volume of 18,612 contracts exceeded the previous record of 11,647 set just last year. Traders attribute the surge in volume to increased industry participation in front of harvest. There is great dissent on the size of the hard red winter wheat crop and people are entering these markets either to hedge or to take advantage of speculative opportunities.
Wheat futures and options open interest also posted increases when compared to April 2000. Wheat futures open interest increased 1.8 percent, while wheat options increased 23.3 percent.
