At the conclusion of trade on Friday, open interest in KCBT wheat options stood at 31,741 contracts, breaking the previous record of 31,461 contracts set on June 23.
Traders said the base of local or independent traders in the KCBT wheat options pit has grown, adding to liquidity in the contract. In turn, the increased liquidity has attracted more business from commercial market participants.
Friday's record adds to a single-day trading volume record for KCBT wheat options set on May 5 of this year and to new singe-day volume records set in KCBT wheat futures at the beginning of this month.
"The Kansas City Board of Trade wheat contracts are having a record-setting, successful summer," said Mike Braude, KCBT president. "We expect to see them continue to grow." Open interest measures the number of open trading positions in a market. The underlying futures contract for KCBT wheat options represents 5,000 bushels of hard red winter wheat.
