KCBT Wheat Options Open Interest At All-Time High, Exceeding 75,000 Contracts

Recent active trading in Kansas City Board of Trade wheat options contracts has led the contract to set a new open interest record of 75,948 contracts. The contract has been setting open interest records throughout the summer and has been holding above 75,000 since the close of last Friday's session. In June open interest reached over 50,000 contracts and has been climbing since.

Volatile wheat market conditions this fall have led to a surge in volume for both the wheat futures and wheat options contracts and have contributed to the wheat options open interest record.

Options trading has seen large volume gains in 2002. Year-to-date volume through Oct. 15, compared to the same time period last year, is posting a 97.7 percent gain. Options volume thus far this year is 70 percent higher than total 2001 volume.

Wheat futures year-to-date volume through Oct. 15 is 8.6 percent ahead of the same time period last year and only 240,140 contracts shy of beating the 2000 annual volume record of 2,427,950 contracts.

The exchange as a whole is geared to set a new annual volume record very soon, with only 48,764 contracts needed to break the exchange record of 2,664,669 contracts set in 2000. The Kansas City Board of Trade, chartered in 1876, is the world's largest futures market for hard red winter wheat. Options give a buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a KCBT wheat futures contract at a specified price.