CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S. — CME Group announced on July 30 the launch of Short-Dated New Crop Options on KC Hard Red Winter (HRW) Wheat futures. Pending Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) review, these new short-dated options will be available for trading on the Chicago trading floor and CME Globex on Aug. 26. These products will be listed with and subject to the rules and regulations of the KCBT.

“Since acquiring KCBT last year, we’ve significantly developed the HRW wheat options complex through the introduction of innovative new products and the growth of standard options,” said Tim Andriesen, managing director, Agricultural Commodities & Alternative Investments, CME Group. “These new short-dated options will provide market participants with a cost-effective tool to manage their price risk during targeted timeframes in the hard red winter wheat growing season. At the same time, average daily volume in our standard KC HRW Wheat options has increased by 30 percent since December 2012.”

KC HRW Wheat Short-Dated New Crop Options are options on the July 2014 futures with earlier expiring contract months being listed – December 2013, March 2014 and May 2014. 

Since their introduction, Short-Dated New Crop Options on Corn and Soybean futures have traded more than 975,000 contracts, and reached a peak of more than 240,000 in combined open interest ahead of the July options expiry.