Is there a particular local/veteran that swings large positions in the cattle pit that is usually right on the ball or is followed closely ? Sort of like a Borsellino for cattle? How many actual physical traders are in the live cattle pit ? Is it highly populated? As a typical feedlot hedger, what sort of margin do you keep to finance hedges ? What's a typical commercial account worth?
I don't know any names off hand but there are a few veteran locals who sort of run the show. Keep in mind that things are very very quiet compared to Borsellino trading in the 80's or even the S&P pit of today. When I was last in Chicago a year ago the meat pit did not have a lot of activity, it is sort of one area with the live cattle and lean hogs being the main show with feeders and bellies sort of a post to the side. I would guess that each of the top FCM's has a few folks in the area (not all in the pit) so maybe 50 to 80 people work in that section of the floor ( I would guess). As far as margin goes most just send a check to the broker when needed but to give you an idea if one LC contract equals 30 or so head of cattle and a large cattle feeder (not a feedlot but an individual feeder) had 2,000 head on feed and they wanted to hedge them all they would need roughly 67 contracts with margin requirements for hedgers of roughly $1100 =$73,700. Keep in mind that feedlots act as bankers and will finance cattle, feed, and often times hedging costs because they are selling them now on the board andwill collect all the money when the cattle are fat. What is interesting is that sometimes when we are trying to put on an option position, say 50 contracts, we are the size trader in the options.
When do relevant cash trade figures post for a given week that traders watch for with so much expectation ? Where do they "hit the wire" and are published?
Cash trade occurs generally on thurs. and Friday during the day but depending on how many cattle are needed for weekend/next weeks slaughter. What is often more important than the actual prices are sentiment and expectations for the prices. check out this site www.barnhardt.biz. Ann is a top notch cattle marketing expert and a very good broker. Reading her daily comments will give you a feel for the cash side and what matters to cattle marketers.
hi criv. these are the sites where i have been digging through and getting info. http://www.cattlenetwork.com/feedercattle_portal.asp http://www.cattlenetwork.com/swine_news.asp http://marketnews.usda.gov/portal/lg http://www.ams.usda.gov/LSMNpubs/index.htm http://albert.mannlib.cornell.edu:8080/USDAreports/index.jsp http://www.farms.com/news/default.asp the one site,ag marketing service will email you whatever report you decide you want. but its probably better just to get a news service like AAA suggests
guess from the COT report from last week it looks like 20k long for funds and 20k short for small specs . guess retail specs got taken out today.
Couple of really stupid questions here First I have really only ever traded the SP and primarily the Emini so I am used to 4-5 dollar commissions. What would a good commission be for any pit traded commodity (meats or grain complex) Secondly if you put on a crush (cattle or soybeans) how does the order work exactly? Do you give the broker three separate orders? Is there a danger if you use limit orders you might get filled on 2 and not on the 3rd one etc. Anyone with experience in actually physically placing crushes or spreads I'd love to hear your experience things to watch out for etc.