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Membership values at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange continue to go up at a record pace with a sale today at $125,000. Membership values have risen more than 70 percent since January 1 of this year. A total of 16 memberships have traded hands in 2007, already surpassing the volume of membership trades for all of 2005 (15 memberships traded hands in 2005).
“Interest in membership at the Exchange has never been stronger,” says Mark G. Bagan, president and CEO of the MGEX. “The commodity markets are strong and the return on investment in exchange memberships throughout the industry has been phenomenal. The potential for growth in the Minneapolis market is outstanding. Our spring wheat contract is trading at record or near record volumes with February’s spring wheat futures volume falling into the top 15 volume months in the Exchange’s history. We’ve experienced very strong growth in our options market as well with options volume in January and February exceeding last year’s January and February volume by 26 percent. The electronic market is gaining popularity and has brought new market participants to the Exchange. It’s apparent that membership in the Minneapolis Grain Exchange is viewed as a sound investment.”
Open interest is also a contributing factor. At the end of February, open interest in the hard red spring wheat futures contract was 55,018, which is 16-percent higher than a year ago.
Total futures and options volume for MGEX so far in 2007 is 266,715 contracts. Volume information is available at http://www.mgex.com/reports.html .
