Agricultural Short-Term options

Explore our suite of diverse Agricultural options to control trading time horizons on your underlying contract of choice.

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Features and benefits

Lower your premium cost

Reduced time frames lower option premium costs for hedgers, providing a cost-effective way to gain market exposure.

Control margin costs

When purchasing short-term options, you’ll know exactly what your margin costs will be. Offset futures margins or lower margin requirements.

Tailor your risk coverage

Manage risk around high-impact events or specific time frames with greater precision.

Explore our short-term Agricultural options

All short-term Ag options expire on a Friday and have the same tick size and expiration style as standard options. This commodity lends itself to overlay hedges on long-term positions or spread trading.

PRODUCT	UNDERLYING	AVAILABILITY	LISTING	STRIKE INTERVAL
Weekly Options	Front Month	Year Round	Listed up to 4 weeks out at a time	25% up/down
New Crop Weekly Options	New Crop	February - August	Listed up to 4 weeks out at a time	20% up/down
Short-Dated New Crop Options	New Crop	Year Round	Monthly Contracts listed 24 months out	25% up/down, 50% up/down, 3 months out

Understanding old crop vs. new crop

Old crop futures represent grain that has already been harvested, whereas new crop futures represent crops that are yet to be harvested. Both contracts are based on the same commodity but are fundamentally very different and can act accordingly. Old crop contracts typically have more volatility given macro sensitivities in comparison to new crop futures.

Short-term option scenarios

Price reactions will differ between old crop and new crop contracts. Market participants can easily define length of exposure and the underlying contract with our suite of short-term Agricultural options. Explore these example scenarios to learn how market participants can use different futures contracts to help manage risk.

SCENARIO	Old Crop - WEEKLY	New Crop - NCW AND SDNC
Weather
USDA Reports
Geopolitical Issues
Export Change
Yield Expectations
Production Hedging / Production Marketing

Weather-driven views

An active trader wants to enter the corn market given an upcoming heatwave that they expect to impact price. New crop contracts represent grain that has not yet been harvested, so the weather has a bigger impact on price volatility. The active trader chooses New Crop Weekly options for a cost-effective way to gain exposure to short-term market fluctuations.

Scale selling for production hedging

In March, a corn producer is looking to forward-sell 20% of their crop by June, anticipating an impending price drop due to supply surplus later in the year. Using a July Short-Dated New Crop put, the producer can purchase a higher strike for a lower cost compared to December options. The put purchase guarantees the producer the right to sell at the strike price while allowing for upside participation.

Managing price changes driven by reports

In April, a cattle feeder who uses soybean meal as an input and has upside price risk to the nearby futures contract. Forecasts, policy change and USDA reports can have a large impact on prices. Weekly options are based on the front-month futures and expire every Friday. The food supplier utilizes a Weekly call option to hedge the price risk of Soybean Meal rising from the USDA WASDE report.

Compare different short-term options

For the shortest time frame exposure on new crop, explore New Crop Weekly options.

Product codes

PRODUCT	CME GLOBEX	BLOOMBERG	CQG	PROPHETX
Corn	CN1-5	OXCA	ZCED1-5	CN1-5
Soybean	SN1-5	OXSA	ZSED1-5	SN1-5

How they are designed:

Underlying futures are based on December Corn and November Soybeans
Option expiration every Friday that is not a Short-Dated expiration from February through August
Same tick size, strike interval, and expiration style as standard options
Listed up to 4 weeks out at a time

How you can benefit:

Very short time frame, resulting in reduced premium costs
Hedge around high-impact events such as USDA WASDE reports pinpointing new crop exposure
Volatility is historically lower for new crop leading to lower premium costs compared to old crop

If you’re looking for exposure one to three months out on new crop, explore Short-Dated New Crop options.

Product codes

PRODUCT	CME GLOBEX	BLOOMBERG	CQG	PROPHT X
Corn	OCD	ODCA	ZCE1-5	@OCD
SRW Wheat	OWD	ODWA	ZWA1-5	@OWD
HRW Wheat	KWE		KWE1-5	@KWE
Soybean Meal	OMD		ZME1-5	@OMD
Soybean Oil	OLD		ZLE1-5	@OLD
Soybean Options	OSD	ODSA		@OSD

How they are designed:

Underlying futures are always based on the new crop
Monthly expirations listed year round extending into two crop cycles
Same expiration date as standard Grain and Oilseed options

How you can benefit:

Hedge long-term exposure in short time frames (weeks to months) to take advantage of market fluctuations on new crop
Useful in North American summer months when Corn and Soybeans have the most volatility and standard option premium is expensive
Effective way to market a portion of grain throughout the growing season

For the shortest time frame exposure on old crop, explore Weekly options.

Product codes

PRODUCT	CME GLOBEX	BLOOMBERG	CQG	PROPHT X
Corn	ZC1-5	1-5XA Comdty	ZCE1-5	@C1-5
Soybean	ZS1-5	1-5SA Comdty	ZSE1-5	@S1-5
SRW Wheat	ZW1-5	1-5WA Comdty	ZWA1-5	@W1-5
HRW Wheat	OE1-5		KWE1-5
Soybean Meal	ZM1-5	1-5DA	ZME1-5
Soybean Oil	ZO1-5	1-5AA	ZLE1-5

How they are designed:

Underlying is the front month futures contract
Expire every Friday that is not a standard option expiration
Listed up to 4 weeks out at a time
Same tick size, strike interval, and expiration style as standard options

How you can benefit:

Expirations every Friday, very short time frame (days) on liquid underlying and strong option liquidity
Year-round, constant hedging for individuals to manage ongoing front month exposure for end users such as ethanol plants, feed lots, or millers
Low premium/exposure for retail traders to take a position in Grains & Oilseeds

Courses

Take self-guided courses on Agricultural futures and options.

If you’re new to Agricultural futures and options, the following courses can help you learn more about the benefits of short-term options and when it’s beneficial to leverage old crop versus new crop contracts.

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