Spring Wheat Futures

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This article describes a futures contract with a discrete termination or delivery date. View articles referencing this futures contract.

 

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Charles Armstrong

Asset Prime

This article is about a specific futures contract. For wheat prices in general, see the article on Wheat Prices.

Spring Wheat Futures (alternately "Hard Red Spring Wheat Futures," "HRS Wheat Futures," "Minneapolis Wheat Futures," or "MGEX Wheat Futures") are traded on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) under ticker symbol MW in cents per bushel.^[1] For electronic trading sessions, the symbol MWE is used.^[1] It should be noted, however, that currently, futures contracts are traded exclusively electronically (e.g. open outrcy on the trading floor has ceased for futures contracts) and, as such, the traditional symbol "MW" is typically used as the exclusive symbol for the futures contract during normal trading hours, with MWE or ME used to denote other, expressly electronic trading.^[1][2]

The chart at left displays the front-month Spring Wheat prices on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) in cents per bushel.

Delivery Dates

Spring Wheat futures contracts are delivered every year in March, May, July, September, and December.^[1]

The following is a table with wheat futures delivery dates and resultant tickers for 2009. For an explanation on commodity tickers see commodity ticker construction.

Contract Specifications

Contract Size

One spring wheat futures contract on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) is 5,000 bushels.^[1]

Daily Price Limit

The daily price limit for spring wheat futures contracts on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) is $.60 per bushel ($3000 per contract) above or below the previous day's settlement price for every other month.^[1] During the spot month, the limit restriction is lifted.^[1]

Last Trading Day

Trading of spring wheat futures contracts on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) ends on the business day prior to the fifteenth calendar day of the contract month.^[1]

Deliverable Grades

Deliverable wheat grades for spring wheat futures contracts on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) are No. 2 (or better) Northern Spring Wheat with a protein content of 13.5% or higher. Wheat with 13% protein count is deliverable at an unspecified discount.^[1]

MGEX Wheat, CBOT Wheat, and KCBT Wheat

Spring Wheat traded on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) is a lesser benchmark for wheat prices in general. More generally, wheat futures traded on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) are used as benchmarks for wheat prices in general. Spring Wheat futures contracts are the third most traded by volume behind CBOT Wheat and Kansas City Wheat Futures, which have the highest and second highest volume, respectively, of domestic wheat futures.^[2]

Generally speaking, the term "wheat futures" refers to wheat futures traded on the CBOT while wheat futures traded on the KCBT are specified to be "KCBT Wheat," "KC Wheat," or "Kansas City Wheat" and Spring Wheat futures are specified to be either "Spring Wheat," "Hard Red Spring Wheat" or "Minneapolis Wheat".

See Also

• Wheat Prices
• Kansas City Wheat Futures
• Wheat Futures
• Mini-Sized Wheat Futures

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} The Minneapolis Grain Exchange's contract specifications for Hard Red Spring Wheat futures
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Barchart.com's coverage of futures contracts