BASIC & RECENT MARKET INFO

Written in 2012. The US Dollar Index measures the value of the US dollar compared to six other major currencies. As the dollar index goes...

Marketing grain involves two markets. Wrap your head around that concept. Two markets! Everyone in the USA uses the “cash market” to buy the items for their daily needs of food, gasoline, clothing, etc. A car dealer sells a car and is given money in exchange. That is a “cash market” sale. There is a “cash market” in the grain business. A farmer delivers grain to the elevator, and he is paid money for that grain. Corn delivered to an ethanol plant is exchanged for money; th

What Makes Futures Trading So Dangerous…And Very Profitable Written in 2019 when soybean futures were $9.00 There is hardly an adult in...

Good morning, Roger, When you make recommendations to sell July 22 wheat $6.60 or higher are you recommending a 10% sale or are you...

Cold, hard cash is the lifeblood of the futures market. Since delivery of the grain is not required, money is the required “commodity” in the absence of the cash commodity. The cost (commission) to execute a trade at a futures exchange ranges from 59 cents to $150 per 5,000-bushel contract. The typical “full service” commission is $75 per round turn (buy and sell). The commission on mini-contracts (1,000-bushel contracts) is about half as much per contract, but three times mo

The first HTA in Ohio and possibly the Corn Belt was written December 29th, 1984. It was done at Shepard Grain Company in southwest...

Published in 2021, updated in 2025 Two of the four factors that we use to determine whether one should price the futures is the seasonal trend and profitability of the current price. If the seasonal trend is down, that is a sell indicator; if the seasonal trend is up, don’t sell signal. If the current price is profitable, that is a sell signal; if not profitable, don’t sell signal. If you had priced a substantial percentage of your corn the third week in June every year if th

How HTA Contracts Are Rolled to the Next Crop Year and the Risk of Inverted Market The market plan I recommend includes your merchandiser...

To be an effective and successful grain marketing person, one absolutely must fully understand that there are two grain markets, how those two markets function and how they are connected to determine cash grain prices. For this discussion, the term “cash” market refers to goods of monetary value (corn, wheat, soybeans, hogs, rice, cattle, etc) which can readily be exchanged for green cash dollars. The word “grains” will be used to include not only grains (corn, wheat, oats,

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was founded on April 3, 1848, by 83 merchants at 101 South Water Street in, believe it or not, Chicago!...

This time of year (winter), generally speaking, old crop prices move more than new crop prices. Old crop prices are sensitive to current...

Quotes of Commodity Futures: Why the Ten Minute Delay 4 November 2020 With the advent of internet technology, the price of the last...

The more experienced I get, the more I have promoted the concept of using one's futures account to make the most money with the least...

How NASS Collects and Prepares Weekly Crop Progress Reports Crop progress and condition estimates are based on survey data collected each...

1 May 2021 For a year I have been preparing a “Weekly Summary and Recommendations” in which I identified four factors to determine if you...