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How to Buy Corn Futures

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Corn is one of the most highly traded commodities globally.
Corn prices are affected by weather and global demand for ethanol.
Trading corn futures contracts is suitable for both fundamental and technical trading strategies.
Corn is one of the most highly traded commodities in the world because of its liquidity and the opportunities to take advantage of price movements. Corn futures contracts are traded Sunday through Friday from 7:00 p.m. to 7:45 a.m. CT and Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. CT, which enables traders to react quickly almost around the clock to world events and news.

Although corn is mostly used as a feedstock for poultry and cattle, 40%of U. S. corn production is used as a blend for ethanol and 10-20% is exported, mainly to China.1

Here’s a guide on how to buy corn futures contracts.

Here’s a basic overview of how to get started

Learn more about trading futures at TradeStation

Contract Specifications for Corn Futures Contracts

Below are the specifications for a corn futures contract.

Ticker symbol: C is the root ticker symbol for corn futures. A specific contract is identified by adding the letter code for the month and the two-digit code for the year. For example, the full symbol for a September 2022 futures contract would be CU22, where U is the letter code for September and 22 represents the last two digits of the contract year.

Contract size: A full-size corn contract is 5,000 bushels. However, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) also offers a mini-corn future at 1,000 bushels.

Minimum price fluctuation: Contracts trade in one-quarter-cent (0.0025) increments, or $12.50 per bushel. A full one-cent move equals $50 per contract.

Trading months: The trading months for corn futures are March, May, July, September, and December.

Exchange: Corn futures contracts are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

Get 50% off futures brokerage fees.

$0.25 to $0.75 per contract per side*

  • Free market data (CME Globex Value Bundle)
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  • Access to over 350 futures and futures option products
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Fundamentals for Trading Corn Futures

To learn how to trade corn futures, it’s important to first understand the factors that affect supply and demand for corn and changes in the commodity’s price.
Weather: Droughts have a significant effect on corn production. In the U.S., states to watch for weather events include Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. 2 Tornadoes, which occur frequently in the Midwest, can also affect corn production.
Seasonality: Corn is planted in spring and harvested in fall. Generally, corn prices tend to be higher in the spring and lower in the fall when supply increases after the harvest.
Export demand: Steady growth in the global population may increase demand for corn as a food product. 3
Projected crop size: The USDA makes a projection each year for the expected supply of corn.4
Demand for ethanol: The U.S. government subsidizes ethanol production, so any changes in government policy could affect the demand for corn.
Exchange rate for the U.S. dollar: Changes in the exchange rate of the dollar affect the amount of money that farmers actually receive for their corn. This also may influence farmers’ decisions to export their corn or sell it for feedstock.

Futures Trading Demystified:
Your Futures Questions Answered

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Margin Requirements for Corn Futures Contracts

Futures contracts are highly leveraged, meaning you can control a large value with a relatively small amount of capital. The CME initial deposit requirements for trading corn futures contracts range from 5-10% of the contract value.

The deposit requirements for the mini-corn contracts are one-fifth the amount of the full contract.

Corn Futures Trading Strategy

By studying the fundamentals, you can develop your own opinions on the directions of corn prices, and then look at technical indicators and price charts to support your predictions. You can open a TradeStation account and develop your corn futures trading strategy based on either fundamental or technical analysis, or a combination of both.

To learn about trading commodities and more, check out TradeStation’s desktop platform tools to test your strategies with back-testing or paper trading.

Download TradeStation’s ebook, Futures Trading Demystified: Your Futures Questions Answered, to learn the ins and outs of futures trading.

Corn grains

Futures Trading Demystified: Your Futures Questions Answered

In Futures Trading Demystified, get answers to the most commonly asked futures questions. Get your free guide to learn:

FutureseBook
  • How futures trading works
  • Why traders choose futures
  • Answers to frequently asked futures questions
  • And much more

Sources

  1. U.S Department of Agriculture. “Feedgrains Sector at a Glance.“
  2. U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Grain Stocks.”
  3. U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Corn exports.”
  4. U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Corn Prospective Plantings forecast.”

Important Information: This content is for informational and educational purposes only. This is not a recommendation regarding any investment or investment strategy.

Investing involves risks. Past performance, whether actual or indicated by historical tests of strategies, is no guarantee of future performance or success. There is a possibility that you may sustain a loss equal to or greater than your entire investment regardless of which asset class you trade (equities, options, futures, or digital assets); therefore, you should not invest or risk money that you cannot afford to lose. Before trading any asset class, first read the relevant risk disclosure statements on the Important Documents page, found here: www.tradestation.com/important-information.
Futures offered through TradeStation Securities Inc. TradeStation Securities, Inc., TradeStation Crypto, Inc., and TradeStation Technologies, Inc. are each wholly owned subsidiaries of TradeStation Group, Inc., all operating, and providing products and services, under the TradeStation brand and trademark. When applying for, or purchasing, accounts, subscriptions, products and services, it is important that you know which company you will be dealing with. Please click here for further important information explaining what this means.

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Get 50% off futures brokerage fees.

$0.25 to $0.75 per contract per side*

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  • Powerful futures trading and analysis platform
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Past performance, whether actual or indicated by historical tests of strategies, is no guarantee of future performance or success. There is a possibility that you may sustain a loss equal to or greater than your entire investment regardless of which asset class you trade (equities, options, futures or cryptocurrencies); therefore, you should not invest or risk money that you cannot afford to lose. Online trading is not suitable for all investors. View the document titled Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options. Before trading any asset class, customers must read the relevant risk disclosure statements on our Other Information page. System access and trade placement and execution may be delayed or fail due to market volatility and volume, quote delays, system and software errors, Internet traffic, outages and other factors.

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