Open interest in Kansas City Board of Trade wheat options has swelled over the past couple of weeks, breaking the previous record of 32,916 contracts, which was set on Aug. 17, 2000. At the conclusion of trade on Thursday, May 31, open interest was at 37,796 contracts. Wheat options also set a new single-day volume record this month. On May 9, 4,322 contracts were traded, which broke the previous single-day record of 3,460 contracts set on May 5, 2000.
Wheat futures open interest is climbing steadily, posting increases of 20.9 percent when compared to May 2000 and 7.2 percent higher than at the conclusion of April. Wheat futures volume is 5.9 percent ahead of last year at this point.
Total exchange year-to-date volume for 2001 is 9.2 percent ahead of the figure at this point in 2000, with 1,090,055 contracts traded compared to 998,196 contracts last year.
