WCE established a new record open interest in canola futures on February 13, 2001 at 77,664 contracts, surpassing the previous record of 77,405 contracts established on October 15, 1999, and compared to 44,294 contracts at the start of the 2000/01 crop year.
The record level in open interest for canola futures can be attributed to the strong pit trade volumes seen in canola. Pit trade for February 13, 2001 totaled 18,715 contracts, the third highest daily volume on record at WCE. The daily pit trade volume record for canola futures was set on December 17, 1998 at 19,613 contracts. On February 9, 2001, WCE canola futures established a new record pace for reaching 1 million contracts traded within a crop year.
WCE provides the world’s premier price discovery and risk management tools for canola. Canola is the most actively traded commodity on WCE and has been trading since 1963; options on canola futures have been available since 1991.
Western barley futures open interest has also witnessed significant increases since the start of the 2000/01 crop year, reaching 20,665 contracts as of February 13, 2001 (14,667 contracts on August 1, 2000) However, this is below the record of 25,160 contracts which was established on December 27, 1996.
Also, total futures open interest set new record levels at 111,083 contracts on February 13, 2001. The previous record for open interest in total futures was set April 14, 2000 at 109,789 contracts. Meanwhile, combined futures and options open interest levels reached 127,358 contracts, just 3% below the record 131,225 contracts reported for April 14, 2000.
WCE trades futures contracts in: canola, western barley, flaxseed, oats, feed wheat and field peas; and options contracts in: canola, flaxseed, feed wheat and western barley. Established in 1887, Winnipeg Commodity Exchange is a not-for-profit organization providing financial instruments for price discovery and the transference of risk in an efficient and open manner.
